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“I know right where to start.”
“Lead the way,” Sam said. “We’re open to suggestions.”
“So where is it we’re going?” Remi asked Sergei from the back of his car.
“The Amber Museum. There’s someone there who knows everything there is to know about what was smuggled into the castle during the war. If anyone can talk about what else was stored there, he can.”
The museum, housed in one part of an old Teutonic castle, held thousands of amber displays, one of the more unusual pieces containing an entire lizard. While fascinating, he and Remi both gravitated toward the display on the history of the Amber Room, an entire chamber in the Catherine Palace made of amber panels backed with gold leaf. An enlargement of a photo from 1931 showed how the room appeared before the Nazis had discovered it at the palace after invading Russia. They disassembled and carried it off to Königsberg, where it remained and was most likely destroyed when the Allies bombed the castle in 1944. No one had seen it since, though there were rumors that the Amber Room had somehow survived the bombing and the Nazis had smuggled it out of the castle prior to the end of the war.
Next to the photograph of the original was a photo of the reproduction of the Amber Room, re-created in the same chamber at the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg. Remi compared the two photos. “Imagine finding the original. That would be the discovery of the century.”
“One thing at a time, Remi,” Sam said, noting that Sergei had moved off to talk with one of the curators. After a brief discussion, he waved them over. “Let’s go see what he’s found.” Sam and Remi turned at the exact moment that a man and woman walked in, nearly running into them. “Sorry,” Sam said.
The couple gave him a cold stare, both making a sudden about-face to look at a different display.
“Not very friendly,” Remi said, glancing back at them.
“Sergei,” Sam said. “I take it you’ve got news for us?”
The young man gave a wide smile. “Pay dirt! That’s how you say it, yes?”
“I believe so,” Sam said, figuring he’d reserve judgment on the end result.
“This,” Sergei said, turning to a tall, thin man with gray hair, “is Andrei Karpos. Historian and guest lecturer at the university.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Remi said.
Sam shook his hand, asking, “On what subject?”
“The lost treasures of Königsberg castle,” Andrei said.
“Definitely pay dirt,” Sam said.
22
Andrei suggested they take a walk outside since he was about to go on break. He guided them toward the vendor stalls located in the front of the museum, where tourists shopped for amber trinkets and jewelry. “Cheaper than in the museum shop,” he said, greeting one of the vendors as they strolled past. “Sergei tells me that you’re here about the Amber Room. That’s what they all come for.”
“Actually,” Sam replied, “we heard the Amber Room might not be the only thing moved from the castle. We’re more interested in the other treasures that might have been smuggled out before the bombing.”
“Anything in particular? The Nazis moved a lot of stuff.”
“The Romanov Ransom.”
He glanced over at them, somewhat surprised. “Not many people know that story.”
“So you’ve heard of it?”
“More on the legend side of things . . . but, yes,” he said, continuing on until they reached the park.
Sam waited a few moments, and when Andrei didn’t volunteer any more information, Sam asked, ?
?What legend?”
He stopped, his gaze landing first on Sam, then Remi, as if to convince himself they were worth his time. “First, how is it you learned of the ransom?”
“Documents from a downed German plane in Morocco.”
“It’s finally been found, then?”
