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David could always coainst her, but once you let a witness start filling the void, you had to be willing to listen, even if it sounded like an unnecessary detour You also had to knohen to reel your witness back in if he got too far afield For now David illing to go where Fitzwilliams took him

“Tonight, for example,” Fitzwilliams went on, “we have about twenty artworks that Lily found at Cathay Antiquities It’s an old and reputable co fa the place Lily got him to put up six jade pieces, which are esti—twenty-five thousand dollars US”

Those could be the jade artifacts that Dr Ma had told David about

“What was Lily’s role in all this?” he asked, hoping to draw Fitzwillia too obvious

“You have to understand,” Fitzwillia mall—where every merchant thinks about inventory and supply There are only so er didn’t know the value of what he had, and he was also selling to custo Lily identified as genuine, potentially profitable, and aesthetically pleasing”

“What about provenance?” David asked

Light refracted off Fitzwillialasses as he answered “Lily always validated Cathay’s claims of provenance I was skeptical of several of those docu in the art rove’s We can’t and don’t condone cri to tell you is that I had no proof and I couldn’t very well fire Lily without it”

“People have been fired for less than what you’re telling me now”

“Unfortunately that wasn’t possible Lily was a strong-willed woman”

Fitzwilliah his debonair manner must have served him well in the art business, he was as readable as any other man Beneath the sht Fitzwillialance at his wife’s framed photo as he’d spoken about Lily’s disposition

“You had an affair with Lily,” he surmised

Fitzwilliams took a deep breath and let it out slowly “Actually no, but how could I prove otherwise? It would have been her word against mine, and Lily could be very persuasive She was an excellent saleswoman”

“So you were concerned about personal embarrassment”

“Wouldn’t you be in the same situation? I love my wife very deeply, and I saw no reason to cause her needless pain I hope and believe that she would have known the truth, but gossip can do a lot of harrove’s reputation as well Our industry has suffered in recent years frorove’s has remained out of the press”

Which, David noted, did not rove’s part—only that any whiff of indiscretion had not yet found its way to the rove’s was a lot closer to a sophisticated artifact-laundering operation than an art purveyor Objects caitirove’s