He had been an SS officer too. Of course, Montaine would know all about that. There was even a Wikipedia page on the bastard.

“So, are you interested in the case?” Montaine asked in a way that showed he already knew the answer.

“All right, but five hundred a day, not four hundred.”

“You’re quite expensive, Mr. Muller.”

“I’ll get your case done quick. I got things to do.”

“So I’ve heard,” Montaine said. Heinrich felt irritated that he was showing off how much he knew. “Set things right in Greece and then you can set things right in Warsaw. You’re hired as of today. My assistant will give you the paperwork. You’ll leave tomorrow. Shall I hire you a Greek tutor for the day?”

Heinrich shook his head. “No. I’ll download some apps. Thalia can be my tutor.”

Thalia gave him an amused look. “You’re going to learn Greek? Just like that?”

“I did with Polish, and I already know ancient Greek thanks to the fact that I wanted to read Thucydides and Xenophon in the original.”

“Ancient Greek is as different from modern Greek as Old English is from what we’re speaking right now.”

Heinrich cocked his head and gave her his best winning smile. “Then I guess we’ll be spending the day together.”

CHAPTER FOUR

 

By the end of the day Heinrich had a vocabulary of two hundred words and had learned how to construct sentences using the present, present progressive, simple past, and future tenses. He had also earned Thalia’s respect. They’d had lunch at a little Greek restaurant, wandered around the Classical section of the Met, and sat in Central Park. By the time dinner came around and they’d gone to another Greek restaurant, Heinrich was ordering moussaka and youvetsi with confidence.

In addition to teaching him some Greek, Thalia filled him in on the gang.

“They’ve been operating for a couple of years now. Of course, there’s always been looting, but it’s gotten more organized. Montaine says that the core of the group is a gang of thieves and kidnappers who did some time in prison a few years ago. They decided that antiquities was a safer racket than abusing and grabbing people. They absorbed a couple of the smaller antiquities gangs, scared off the others, and now run most of the operations in Greece.”

“So there’s big money in this?” Heinrich asked. They were wandering through the Met, admiring the artifacts.

“Oh yes. See this terracotta figurine?” Thalia asked, pointing to a little statue of a woman in a robe that stood about five inches all. “These are quite common. Any small-town museum in Greece has dozens of them. It would sell on the open market for a thousand dollars.”

“And what about something fancier, like one of these?” Heinrich moved to a case containing several black vases adorned with red figures of clashing warriors and nymphs dancing with satyrs. At the last moment, he realized that he was pointing at one showing a satyr with an immense erection. If Thalia noticed, she didn’t let on.

“Low five figures.