On Wednesday morning one of Lillian’s prepaid phones rang at six o’clock. Knowing who would be on the other end of the line, she reached across the pillow to pick it up from the night table. Although she was already awake, she still resented the early-morning intrusion. Her “Hello” was abrupt and sullen.
“Lillian, did you phone Richard last night?” the caller asked, his tone frigid and even threatening.
Lillian debated about whether to lie, then decided it was not worth it. “He knows I have the parchment,” she blurted out. “Jonathan told him he gave it to me. If I don’t sell it to him, he’ll go to the police. Do you realize what that could mean? When the cops were here, I had to admit that the night Jonathan died I was having dinner only twenty minutes from his house in New Jersey. We both know that Kathleen killed him, but if Richard tells them I have the parchment, they could turn it all around and say I went to the house, that Jonathan let me in, then I killed him and took the parchment.”
“You’re getting hysterical and jumping to absurd conclusions,” the caller snapped. “Lillian, how much is Richard going to pay you?”
“Two million dollars.”
“And I am offering you four million dollars. Why are you doing this?”
“Don’t you see why I’m doing this?” she screamed. “Because if I don’t sell it to Richard, he’ll go straight to the detectives. He’s already seen the parchment. He trusts Jonathan’s judgment that it’s authentic. Jonathan told him that he gave it to me. And of course Richard would deny he ever tried to buy it from me. He’ll tell them he’s been trying to persuade me to give it back.”
“Richard has already denied to both Mariah and those detectives just last night that he ever saw the parchment. If he changes his story they’ll start suspecting him. You should call his bluff and tell him to get lost.”
Lillian pushed herself up to a sitting position. “I have a splitting headache. I can’t deal with this much longer. I already lied to the cops when I told them that Jonathan was going to try to sneak out and meet me for dinner the night he was shot. I already told Alvirah I didn’t speak to Jonathan during those last five days, and I’m sure she’s passed that on to Mariah and the cops.”
“Lillian, listen to me. I have an alternate plan that can make this a win-win situation for you. I’ll give you four million dollars for the parchment. Stall Richard until Friday. I can have a first-class expert make a perfect copy of it on two-thousand-year-old parchment, and you can give that one to Richard. He’ll pay you two million, so you end up with six million dollars. That should help dry your tears over Jonathan. And when Richard finds out that it’s a fake, he’ll just think that Jonathan was wrong about it. What do you expect he’s going to do? Go to the police? He’d be knee-deep in trouble himself. Don’t forget, we’re talking about a parchment that was stolen from the Vatican Library. Dear Richard will just have to swallow the whole thing.”
Six million dollars, Lillian thought. If I decided to give up teaching, I could travel. Who knows? I might even meet a nice guy who doesn’t have a crazy wife.
“Where is the parchment, Lillian? I want it today.”
“It’s in my safe-deposit box at the bank a couple of blocks from here.”
“I warned you that the police may very well be getting a search warrant for your apartment and any safe-deposit box in your name. You’ve got to get that parchment out of your box now. Be at the bank when it opens at nine o’clock. Don’t even think about bringing it back to your apartment. I’ll call you in an hour and tell you where to meet me after you’re finished at the bank.”
“What about the four million dollars? When do I get it and how do I get it?”
“I’ll wire it to an overseas account and I’ll have the paperwork for you when I give you the copy Friday morning. Look, Lillian, we have to trust each other. Either one of us could blow the whistle on the other. You want the money. I want the parchment. You give Richard the phony parchment Friday afternoon and collect your money from him. Then everybody’s happy.”