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"A passion for exotic art," answered Ragsdale "The old guy loved to touch and fondle the figurines when no one was around, but then a new curator made him take a cut in pay as an austerity measure just when he expected a raise This ered his desire to possess the jade from the exhibits It seemed from the first the theft could only have been pulled off by a first-rate team of professionals or someone from the inside I narrowed it down to the senior security director and obtained a warrant to search his house It was all there on his fireplacetrophies" '

"Working on a new case?" asked Gaskill

"Just had one laid in my lap"

"Another museum theft?"

Ragsdale shook his head "Private collection The oent to Europe for nine ht watercolors by Diego Rivera, the Mexican painter and muralist"

"I've seen the murals he did for the Detroit Institute of Art"

"Insurance co at the mouth It seems the watercolors were insured for forty million dollars"

"We e notes on this one"

Ragsdale looked at hiht be interested?"

"A thin possibility we have a connecting case"

"Always glad to have a helping hand"

"I saw photos of what may be your Rivera watercolors in an old box of Stolen Art Bulletins ht I'll knohen I compare them with your list If there is a connection, four of your watercolors were reportedfroled into the United States, that makes it a Customs case"

"That's ancient history"

"Not for stolen art," Gaskill corrected hiuins vanished fro an exhibition"

"I gather you're alluding to that old master art thief, as his name?"