“What is your interest in the bracelet?” Tobias asked.

“Have ye heard of a small, very exclusive club known as the Connoisseurs?” Mr. Nightingale asked softly.

Lavinia inhaled sharply, a small, startled gasp. But she kept silent.

“We know of it,” Tobias said. “What does it have to do with this case?”

“The number of members is limited. Openings occur rarely. They come about only when a member dies, quits, or is tossed out of the club. Competition to join the club is fierce.”

“Go on,” Tobias said.

“As it happens,” Mr. Nightingale continued softly, “such an opening has existed for a year now and word has gone out that it will at last be filled. Rumor has it that the Connoisseurs is accepting applications.”

“Prospective members must present an artifact for the club’s private museum of curiosities, I believe,” Tobias said. “The person whose offering is judged the most suitable will be admitted to the club.”

“You are well informed, Mr. March.” Nightingale nodded approvingly. “The Keeper of the club’s museum makes the final decision, and the deadline for applications is less than a fortnight away.”

“You think the Blue Medusa will appeal to the Keeper, is that it?” Tobias asked.

“The Keeper is known to have a strong preference for British-Roman antiquities. They say he has a passion for ‘em.” Mr. Nightingale shook his head. “Don’t understand it meself. Most collectors of a truly discriminating nature prefer relics from the ancient ruins abroad. Hard to compare a cameo found in some English farmer’s field with a fine statue discovered in Pompeii, if you ask me. But there ye have it. Each to his own, I suppose.”

“Given the Keeper’s personal preference for artifacts discovered in England,” Lavinia said, “the Blue Medusa would suffice nicely as a membership offering for the club’s private museum.”

“Aye.” Mr. Nightingale’s eyes gleamed briefly in the deep shadow of his shapeless hat. “I believe it’s fair to say that whoever presents it to the Keeper will be admitted to the Connoisseurs.”

“What precisely is your interest in the bracelet?” Tobias asked. “Thinking of applying for admission?”

“Me?” Nightingale gave his raw laugh again, as if Tobias had said something vastly entertaining. “I’ve no wish to join a fancy club. My interest is in the money to be made in the process. I intend to hold a very private auction, ye see. I will invite only certain exclusive persons to bid.”

“Persons who are anxious to join the Connoisseurs and will pay whatever it takes to obtain the relic that will ensure admission, is that it?” Tobias asked.

“Precisely,” Mr. Nightingale said.

“Assuming we find the bracelet,” Tobias said, “why the devil should we turn it over to you?”

“I hear ye’re a man of business, sir. I’m offering a business proposition. If ye and your associate here turn up the bracelet, I am prepared to pay ye a handsome fee.”

“I’m afraid it will be quite impossible for us to turn the bracelet over to you,” Lavinia said briskly.

Tobias cleared his throat. “Uh, Lavinia-”

“If we should happen to locate it,” she continued, “we would be obliged to return it to its rightful owner.”

“Who will soon be dead, according to the rumors I’ve heard.” Mr. Nightingale snorted softly. “Where he’s going, I doubt he’ll have any need of it.”

“That doesn’t mean that you have any right to steal it from his estate,” Lavinia snapped.

Tobias tried again. “Lavinia, I think you’ve said enough.”

“I’m not talking about stealing the bloody bracelet,” Mr. Nightingale growled. “I’m discussing a business proposition.”

Lavinia raised her chin and looked down her nose at Nightingale. The little man was, Tobias thought, one of the few people in the world whom she could look down at, given her own stature.

“My associate and I do not engage in illicit bargains of the sort you are describing,” she said coldly. “Is that not correct, Mr. March?”

“It might be possible to fulfill our commission and engage in a legal bargain that is profitable for all concerned,” Tobias said carefully.

Lavinia and Mr. Nightingale both looked at him.

“Just how do you intend to accomplish that?” Lavinia demanded.

“I’m not certain yet,” he admitted. “But given the amount of money at stake in this affair, I fully expect inspiration to strike at some point.”

Mr. Nightingale gargled. “A man after me own heart, ye are, sir. Not one to let a golden opportunity slip through your fingers, are ye?”

“Not if I can help it,” Tobias said. “Given that you have asked for our assistance, I have a few questions for you.”

“What sort of questions?”

“Have you heard any rumors at all about the mesmerist’s wife?”

“The lady who was murdered in this affair?” Mr. Nightingale moved his twisted frame in a negative motion. “They say she conspired with her lover to steal the bracelet. Some say that when the deed was done, he strangled her and took the damned thing. Others say her husband followed her to the rendezvous that night and murdered her. Either way the antiquity has vanished. That is all I know.”

Tobias watched him. “But the Medusa has not come up for sale on the underworld market or else you would not be seeking our assistance.”

“Ye have the right of it, sir,” Mr. Nightingale said. “Been no rumors of the damned thing being offered for sale. None at all.”

“Doesn’t that strike you as odd?” Tobias asked.

Mr. Nightingale squinted in the shadows. “Odd?”

Lavinia glanced at Tobias. “Why do you find it strange?”

“Given the value of the Medusa in certain quarters, I would have expected the killer to contact a man of business in the antiquities line, a professional such as Mr. Nightingale here, as swiftly as possible. One would think that the villain would be anxious to turn a profit immediately.”

“Perhaps the thief is waiting until the furor over the murder fades,” Lavinia suggested.

“But holding on to the bracelet puts him at great risk,” Tobias said. “It is dangerous to keep it in his possession, because it is evidence of a murder that could send him to the gallows.”

Lavinia contemplated that briefly. “You have a point. Furthermore, the killer is no doubt aware by now that we are looking for him. One would, indeed, think that he would want to get rid of the Medusa as swiftly as possible.”

Mr. Nightingale studied Tobias from beneath his slouchy cap. “The murder is your affair. I told ye, I’ve got no interest in it. I’m a simple man of business, and me only concern here is for the profit that’s to be made if this thing is handled properly. Well, sir? Have we got a bargain?”

“Mrs. Lake is correct,” Tobias said slowly. “If we recover the bracelet, it must be returned to its rightful owner.”

“Now, see here,” Mr. Nightingale began heatedly, “I thought ye just said-”

Tobias cut him off with a raised hand. “However, as you noted, the owner is not in the best of health, and the lady who is in line to inherit apparently has no particular interest in antiquities. For a fee, I would be willing to put your offer before her. I cannot guarantee that she will deal with you, but at least you would have a chance of obtaining the Medusa.”

“Huh.” Nightingale mulled that over for a long moment. “The profit would not be nearly so high if I must first purchase the Medusa from Banks’s heir. I would no doubt be obliged to give her a fair price for the damned relic. And then there would be your fee on top of it, March.”

“Something tells me you would do very nicely out of the arrangement,” Tobias said easily. “Your clientele is not the sort to quibble over your inflated prices. All they care about is acquiring the Medusa.”

“And just think of the advantages, sir,” Lavinia said smoothly. “Any bargain you struck with Banks’s heir would be legal and without risk.”

Mr. Nightingale waved that aside with a cramped hand. “Takes some of the sport out of it, if ye ask me.”