The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections(89)

Christopher Wolfe was a great scholar. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of book history and had done extensive research about the Plantin Polyglot Bible when it became apparent that the library might find the money to acquire it. One could write about an artifact without possessing it. But that had not happened in this case. Christopher had felt the binding under his fingertips. He had turned the pages and smirked at the flirty serifs. Which should have been impossible, because the book had been delivered on a Friday afternoon and presumably locked in a safe at the university while Christopher was home for the weekend before having his stroke early on Monday.

President Garber’s first reaction was disbelief. The two detectives did not share this sentiment. Men of the law know that the most obvious suspect in a crime is usually the ultimate culprit, and who could be more obvious than the man who had greatest access to the library’s collections over the years? Garber stood and shouted. Liesl asked him to sit and be quiet. Detective Yuan provided more water. He knew that upset witnesses could often be calmed with water. Liesl began to talk about carbon dating. Garber drank his glass of water in one swallow and explained that he and Christopher had belonged to the same club, that they had dined together dozens of times. Liesl produced the carbon-dating report about the Peshawar. Garber argued against the validity of the science. Detective Yuan asked him if he was a scientist. Garber explained that he was an economist. Liesl offered to add Rhonda Washington to their quartet. Garber reminded everyone in the room that Rhonda was a mathematician, not a physicist.

President Garber had conducted interviews with dozens of outlets about the superiority of the university’s laboratory facilities. He had personally fundraised for the radiocarbon accelerator. Liesl recounted her conversation with Don Lake. Garber continued to argue, though his volume dropped. Detective Yuan filled their glasses of water again. The quality of the facsimile in Lake’s shop was exceptional, Liesl reported. No one was a fool for having been fooled. Garber held the glass of water like a security blanket. At the conclusion of Liesl’s explanation, the four sat at the table in silence. Everyone’s glass of water was empty, as was the pitcher that had been used to refill them. No one had anything left to offer.

Garber had been made a fool. To their credit, the detectives were largely silent during Liesl’s presentation so that Garber could convince himself that he was being made a fool of in front of Liesl only. By his own telling, Garber had been friends with Christopher. They had dined together. And Christopher had made him a fool. If what Liesl was describing was true, then the scale of Garber’s blindness, his ineptitude, was marvelous. And a man like Garber did not take kindly to being made a fool. So he doubled down on his denial.

“There isn’t enough here to convince a judge,” Garber said.

“I’m not in front of a judge,” Liesl said. “My goal here is for you to understand what happened at the library. To understand what Christopher did.”

“It’s hardly fair to accuse a man who can’t stand to defend himself.”

“That’s what we’ve done to Miriam.”

“And why are the police here? Christopher is dead. He can’t be prosecuted.”

“That’s true of the courts. But not of the press.”

It’s an ugly thing to watch people be so ugly with one another. Detective Yuan cleared his throat and stood, drawing the attention of the room over to him and away from Liesl’s blackmail attempt, which was wholly reasonable but was nonetheless unwise to conduct in the presence of law enforcement. Garber was right that Christopher would not be posthumously prosecuted, but there was still the not-insignificant matter of trying to recover the library’s property. Here Garber was stumped. The recovery of the books would allow him to issue tax receipts, reassure donors, and altogether save face. But the recovery of the books, if they were recovered from Christopher’s home or office or wherever else he may have put them, would prove absolutely that Garber had been a fool. So he tried a last approach.

“Christopher’s isn’t the only name on the manuscript. If he can’t be prosecuted, then it seems he has an accomplice who can be.”

“The detectives here have indicated that they don’t believe Francis was involved.”

“But if he were? He would be humiliated. Or even worse.”

“Professor Garber, I’m going to stop you right there,” Detective Yuan said. “Mr. Churchill is the one who brought Christopher’s writing, which we consider the key piece of evidence, to our attention. He shared the early chapters of the manuscript, chapters which were as incriminating to himself as they were to Mr. Wolfe, with Liesl shortly after the first theft was discovered. Mr. Lake has indicated that Christopher acted alone in the purchase of the Peshawar facsimile. Mr. Churchill is not under suspicion at this time.”

***

The property crimes unit secured a warrant to search Christopher and Marie’s home, but they needn’t have done so. Had they asked, Marie would have held the door wide open for them. When Detective Yuan recounted the scene to Liesl later, he described Marie as resigned, prepared for the detectives. Dressed in her layers of knit fabrics, she hadn’t even glanced at the warrant when they held it for her inspection. She waved her hand to let them in and suggested they begin in Christopher’s home office.

“She walked us to his office door,” Detective Yuan said. “But she refused to go inside while we looked.”