“It will work.” He got out of the driver’s seat and came around to open her passenger door. “All we have to do is make it easy for them. Some of the other bank employees may possibly have seen Adah Ziller, but it’s not likely. This is a private bank.”

“What does that mean? What’s the difference?” Jock asked as he got out of the back and changed to the driver’s seat.

“Private banks are often by invitation only, and that invitation is extended principally to individuals with extremely high assets. Or by recommendation by another current customer in good standing. Since on the surface Adah doesn’t appear to have that kind of money, I’d bet that her recommendation must have come from one of her past liaisons. One of the privileges is that she’d be assigned a bank officer to take care of her assets.”

“Henrik Barnard,” Jane said.

He nodded. “And the chances are that there would have been some personal contact between them or that he would have at least seen a photo of her.”

“Then you’re screwed,” Jock said flatly.

“No,” Caleb said. “Not if I go in first and prepare the way. Adah Ziller is probably not particularly high-profile on the bank’s charts. Unlike what the movies would lead you to believe, there’s no high-tech retina scan or fingerprint analysis. We only have to jump over the barrier of the bank officer. Here’s the way it’s going to work. Barnard will escort you to the vault and get your safety-deposit box. The box is actually a box within another box. You have a key and so does the bank officer. You both have to use your keys to open the outer box. Then he’ll take the inner box and you to an adjoining room and leave you there to go through the contents in privacy. You call him when you’re done, and he takes the box back to the vault.”

“What if they already know that she’s been murdered?” Jane asked as a sudden thought occurred to her. “What if it’s in today’s newspaper or something?”

“It’s a possibility, but that happened in Paris. It’s not local news here in Switzerland. We have a good chance of her death not being noticed here so soon. If it is, it won’t be front-page news. I’ll know before I call you to come into the bank. I’ll tell him I’m your attorney, Jason Smythe, and wish to accompany you to the vault.” He opened the glass door. “Wait here, Jane. It shouldn’t take long.” He disappeared into the bank.

“It can’t work,” Jock told Jane. “It’s not too late to change your mind.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“You really believe he can pull it off.” Jock shook his head. “It’s not possible. He can’t just march in there and convince that bank officer that black is white.”

“Actually, he’s going to convince him that white is black,” she said ruefully. “I hope.”

“We’ll see.” He glanced up and down the busy city street. “I don’t like this. I feel… uneasy.”

So did Jane, but how else could she feel under the circumstances? she thought. Jock was right, this entire scenario was bizarre in the extreme. “It should be over soon.” It couldn’t be over too soon for her.

“Adah.” Caleb had opened the gold-lettered glass entrance door and was smiling at her. “I’ve already told Mr. Barnard how sorry we are not to have called and made advance arrangements.” He turned to a small, plump, gray-haired man in a navy blue pinstriped suit. “I promise we won’t keep you too long.”

“Nonsense.” Barnard was beaming at Jane. “As I told Mr. Smythe, I’m at your disposal twenty-four hours a day. All you’d have to do is call me, and I’d have come back and opened the bank for you, Miss Ziller. Come in. Come in.”

“That’s very kind.” She moved into the bank and was at once enveloped in the aura of hushed murmurs, charcoal-colored granite countertops, rich mahogany executive desks. “I don’t want to be a bother. My attorney just told me that he had to have those docu-”

“That’s none of my concern,” Barnard said. “My only business is to make things as easy for you as possible. Step this way, and we’ll get the matter taken care of immediately.” He smiled as he led her toward the back of the bank. “And may I say how wonderful you’re looking today? I understand you were a trifle ill when that photo I have of you was taken. But now you appear very fit.”

“Thank you.” She supposed that translated to the more than twenty pounds she had over Adah Ziller. “I’m feeling much better.” She glanced at Caleb. “Aren’t I, Mr. Smythe?”

“Blooming,” he murmured. “Though you couldn’t look anything but beautiful. That comes from within.” He stepped aside to permit her to precede him into the vault. “I’ve always known that you have an extraordinary soul. It shines through.”

“This way.” Barnard was waiting at the wall of boxes and gazing down at the numbers on the sheet in his hands. “You have your key?”

“Yes.” She reached into her bag and grasped the gold key. “I’m ready when you are, Mr. Barnard.”

JOCK GLANCED AT his watch-5:20 P.M.

Jane and Caleb had been in the bank for over fifteen minutes.

Not a long time, but he still was experiencing the frisson of uneasiness that had plagued him before Jane had gone into the bank.

He glanced down the street again. Just a typical urban rush hour, with all its attendant noise and bustle.

Not typical. His every instinct was telling them that there was something wrong, something that had nothing to do with Caleb’s weird shenanigans in that bank.

5:22 P.M.

Come on, Jane. Let’s get the hell out of here.

THE LARGE SAFETY – DEPOSIT BOX was empty except for a fourteen-by-ten black container that was no more than four inches in depth.

“That’s it?” Jane glanced down at it. “That’s not a jewelry box. It looks too heavy-duty. Maybe you’re right, and it’s blackmail letters or something.”

“Or something.” He lifted the black container onto the table. “It has some weight to it.”

She lifted the lid. “What the hell?” She frowned as she pushed aside the cotton padding. Inside was another box, but this one was gold and studded with blue lapis. “Wow. Now this is worthy of a Swiss bank deposit. But she’d have to have a lot of jewelry to fill this beauty.” She lifted the thin, filigreed lid. More cotton padding. She impatiently pushed it aside. “A tablet?” A large stone tablet with script that was tiny, precise, and completely filled the tablet. She studied the script. “Arabic?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe Aramaic…” His eyes were narrowed. “This is granite, and it looks old. Not that I’m an expert.”

“Well, we’re not going to be able to do anything with it here.” She closed the lid and put the black box in her tote. “It is heavy. And it must have been important to Adah if she put this in a safety-deposit box.”

“Maybe.” Caleb shut the deposit box and locked it. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What do you mean? ‘Maybe’?” She followed him into the vault room, where Barnard was waiting. She forced a smile as she handed him the metal box. “Thank you again, Mr. Barnard.”

“It was my pleasure.” He put the deposit box into the larger outer box and turned the key. “If you please?”

Jane inserted her key and turned it.

Caleb looked up at the video camera in a corner of the room. “It’s a shame you’re having trouble with those cameras, Barnard.”

Jane’s eyes widened. Count on Caleb to cover their tracks. She hadn’t even thought beyond getting to the box.

Caleb was shaking his head. “Perhaps if you erased the video and started it over, it would reset them?”

Barnard frowned. “I suppose that’s possible. Yes, I’ll try it. It’s a shame that you can’t trust technology when you need it.”

“I’m sure it will be fine once you reset it. You Swiss are the true masters of fine workmanship.” He took Jane’s elbow and urged her down the corridor toward the front door. “Good day, Mr. Barnard. I can’t tell you how helpful you’ve been.”

“Good day.”