Parisian Affair Page 23

  When she reached the fifth floor, she stopped on the small landing and caught her breath. Her feet had begun to ache in the four-inch heels she'd worn. How on earth does the old man ever get up and down these steps? she asked herself. On the landing she noticed a water spigot that emptied into an dented, tarnished copper basin mounted on the wall. It was probably the only source of water when the building went up, she thought.

  When she reached the sixth-floor landing, the door to apartment number seven stood ajar, and just inside it, she saw an ancient bent man who'd once been tall. Wisps of snow-white hair stood out straight all over his head, giving him the appearance of a man who'd stuck his finger in an electric socket. His brushy white eyebrows weren't concealed by the thick glasses on his large nose, and his mustache was slightly yellowed around his lips. He was wearing a shirt and tie, both a little rumpled, over which was a gray cardigan sweater. A paperback book poked up out of one of its pockets. In his hand was a wooden cane with a silver handle. He stared at her with rheumy eyes surrounded by a mass of wrinkles.

  'Mr. Weiss?' Allegra asked.

  He nodded. 'Oui, mademoiselle,' he replied. 'Please come in.' He opened the door wider and stepped to the side.

  Allegra stepped into the apartment and put her hand out. 'I'm so glad to meet you, Mr. Weiss,' she said.

  He took her hand and moved his up and down a fraction of an inch, then let it go. 'I'm always glad to make the acquaintance of a beautiful young woman,' he replied.

  Allegra saw the smile on his lips and the twinkle in his eyes. 'Thank you,' she said. 'I'm so grateful that you'd let me visit with you.'

  'Come this way,' he said, slowly going down a narrow hallway, his cane thumping against the bare wood floor.

  She followed him into a large, stuffy, overfurnished room whose walls were covered with drawings and paintings. The four windows were all shuttered, permitting little light into the room. She saw that books were everywhere: on shelves, on tables, chairs, and couches, and in high piles on the floor.

  'Please, Mademoiselle Sheridan,' he said, 'make yourself comfortable.' He indicated a tufted, leather-covered chair, its upholstery torn and its springs coming loose.

  Allegra sat down gingerly on the chair and looked around the room. It looks English, she thought. Edwardian. There wasn't a single piece of furniture that appeared to be French. 'This is a fascinating apartment,' she said. 'You must love to read.'

  'Yes,' he replied. 'Always have. My late wife and I, both of us incurable readers.' He had seated himself in a chair similar to hers and looked over at her with a steady gaze. 'But I don't assume you came to listen to me ramble on about my personal life. It's my career at Jules Levant you want to know about, isn't it?'

  Allegra nodded. 'Yes, Mr. Weiss,' she said. 'I did some reading on the Internet this morning and discovered that you worked for Jules Levant for many years.'

  'Yes,' he said in a wistful voice, his gaze directed at some distant point. 'I was there practically from the beginning. We were very close, Hannah, Jules, Elisse—my late wife—and myself. After Hannah and then Jules died, Ramtane inherited the business, and I worked for him for some years until I decided it was time for me to retire.' He drew in his gaze and looked at her. 'But you don't want to listen to me reminisce. You want some sort of very specific information is my guess. Am I right?'

  Allegra nodded. 'Well, yes,' she replied, a little startled by his directness. 'I... I came to Paris to bid on a ring that Jules Levant sold several years ago.'

  'Ahhh,' he said knowingly. 'Princess Karima's.'

  'Yes,' Allegra said.

  'So you're the beautiful and mysterious young American woman who placed the successful bid?'

  Allegra felt herself blush. 'Well,' she replied, 'I did place the successful bid.'

  He chuckled. 'Your modesty is refreshing, Mademoiselle Sheridan,' he said. 'But do go on. Tell me what it is you want to know.'

  Allegra told him everything that had happened up to this point in Paris.

  Monsieur Weiss shook his head and muttered under his breath as she told her tale, but didn't interrupt her. When she was finished, he pushed himself to his feet and shuffled over to a tray of bottles, carafes, and glasses that sat on a bookshelf. He turned to her and asked, 'A glass of wine, mademoiselle? Regrettably, it's a vin ordinaire, but not a bad Bordeaux.'

  'Yes,' she said, 'that would be lovely.'

  He poured two glasses of wine from a carafe, and Allegra noticed that his hands shook slightly. She got up and crossed to him, and he held a glass up for her. 'Thank you,' she said.

  'You'd better taste it first,' he replied with a chuckle.

  They returned to their chairs and sipped the wine. 'It's quite good,' Allegra said.

  'Palatable,' he said. Then he looked at her with a serious expression. 'I have several immediate thoughts about what you've told me. Allow me to express them. Then you may ask me whatever it is you think I might be able to help you with. First, the business at Dufour is absolutely execrable. Someone in the auction house was involved, of course, but the more important question is, who was this person working for? Princess Karima? Ram Tadjer? Some other interested party? Naturally, I don't know the answer, but my guess would be that the princess or Ram was trying to pass off a copy of the ring to you.'

  'Why one of them?' she asked. She took a sip of the wine.

  'Princess Karima because she didn't want to let go of the ring,' he replied, looking at her through his thick lenses. 'She's rich beyond belief and will never want for money, but that ring held a very special place in whatever heart she's got. Donati, the Italian, was more than a great love affair to her. He gave her entree—legitimacy, you might say—to international society.'

  'It sounds to me like she does have a very big heart,' Allegra said. 'Getting rid of all of her possessions and setting up this charitable foundation.'

  'Ha!' the old man exclaimed. 'Nothing but public relations. I don't know what it is, but the princess has something up her sleeve. For one thing, she's only divesting herself of her Paris holdings. I know that amounts to many millions of dollars, but she's got plenty besides. Her millhouse they keep referring to in the press is a multimillion-dollar pile in the forest of Fontainebleau.'

  'So you really believe that she might be responsible for Dufour trying to pass off a copy of the ring to me?' The thought hadn't even occurred to Allegra, and she was genuinely surprised with this information.

  He nodded. 'Absolutely.'

  'And Ram . . . Ramtane Tadjer?' she said.

  'He went there expecting to get the ring,' Weiss said, 'but he was overlooked for you.'

  'What do you mean, 'overlooked'?' she asked.

  'I'm certain he would have outbid you, but at the last minute the auctioneer simply failed to recognize him and let you win the ring.'

  'Are you serious?' she asked, appalled that such a thing could take place.

  He nodded. 'Happens all the time,' he said with confidence. 'The auctioneer didn't want Ram to have the ring even if it meant letting you have it for a million or few less.'

  Allegra was silent for a moment, digesting this tidbit. She didn't know whether to believe the old man or not, but this was yet another angle she hadn't considered.

  'But there's something more important,' Weiss said.

  Allegra looked over at him. 'What's that, Monsieur Weiss?'

  'Something that I think you may know a bit about, since you are a jewelry designer.' He paused and took a sip of his wine. 'Ram has been buying back certain jewels that were sold over a period of years by Jules Levant Joaillier,' he went on, 'and Princess Karima's ring was yet another of these purchases.'

  Allegra felt gooseflesh run up her arms. Monsieur Weiss had just fit in a missing piece of this puzzle for her. 'And do you know what those pieces of jewelry are?'

  He set his wineglass down and looked into her eyes. 'Mademoiselle,' he said, 'all of the jewels he bought back were emeralds. All the same size.

  'Do you have an
y idea as to why he might have bought them back?' she asked.

  'Not the faintest. None. You may know more about that than I do. I was simply a cutter—one of the best, if I say so—and a polisher and setter. I know stones, but I'm not a designer nor am I a historian or even a salesman. I've never worked in the front of the store. Hardly ever set foot there, in fact.'

  Allegra looked puzzled and then, thinking aloud, said, 'He sold all of these emeralds, but then set about buying them back. They're all the same size, so they almost definitely belonged together at one time. Belonged to the same person.'

  Monsieur Weiss nodded. 'Yes,' he said, 'but who that person was? I don't know. And why he wants them back? I don't know that, either.'

  'Do you know who he sold them to initially?' she asked.

  He shook his head. 'No,' he said. 'I never paid much attention to that sort of thing. I loved the stones. Cutting them, polishing them, setting them to perfection. The rest I left to the others.'

  Allegra took a sip of her wine, then set the glass down. 'I wonder if there's a way to find out,' she said.

  'Ramtane Tadjer knows,' Weiss said, 'but I would advise you to stay well away from him. Especially considering what you've already told me. One thing I'm sure of, Mademoiselle Sheridan.' He pointed a finger at her. 'He'll stop at nothing to get that emerald. Nothing.'

  Allegra felt a sense of dread. 'But then there's the princess, too,' she said.

  He nodded. 'Both of them are lethal.'

  'You're really serious about that?'

  'Absolutely.' He nodded emphatically. 'You can tell yourself—and I can't blame you for doing so—that I'm just a crazy old Jew. That Ram and the princess are of Arab descent, and that I have it in for them. But you'd be wrong, mademoiselle.'

  'I don't think that would've even occurred to me, Monsieur Weiss,' she said honestly.

  'Well, it would to a lot of people,' he replied. 'But I have my reasons for mistrusting them. Especially Ram. I was there when the Levants took him in. I saw his rise within the company, and I might add that he deserved it. He was a relentless worker and brilliant young man. But I was also there when Jules died and left everything to Ram, and I think there was some ... I think there were extenuating circumstances.'

  'What do you mean?' Allegra asked. 'Are you implying that—?'

  'Think what you will,' Weiss said. 'But in my opinion, Ram might have helped poor Jules along.'

  Allegra almost stared openmouthed. Surely not, she thought. If he had been taken in by them, adopted for all practical purposes, what would he have to gain by hurrying Jules Levant to his death? It didn't fit with the Ramtane Tadjer she'd met. He seemed far too intelligent and patient a man to risk losing everything—when he knew he was going to get it anyway—by trying to speed up the process.

  'And the princess?' she said. 'Why would you mistrust her?'

  'I can't really give you any tangible evidence of her . . . shall we call it lack of character, for want of a better phrase? No. She has done nothing reprehensible that I can name. Not yet, in any case.'

  'Then why do you mistrust her? Why do you question her motives concerning her charitable foundation?'

  He shrugged. 'Call it instinct, mademoiselle,' he said. 'An unsatisfactory answer, I know. But this I do know: the princess is a woman rife with resentments. She is a woman who has suffered grave emotional damage in the past. And I think she's the last person on earth to follow some spiritual course. No. I think she's much more likely to be planning some sort of revenge on those who've wronged her.'

  Allegra didn't know what to believe. Were Monsieur Weiss's thoughts merely the ramblings of an ancient, resentful man? But, she asked herself, what did he have to gain by sharing these thoughts with her? He certainly seemed to have his wits about him, and he didn't seem to have any particular ax to grind.

  'Are you in contact with Monsieur Tadjer any longer?' she asked.

  He shook his head. 'No,' he replied. 'Ram has no use for an old man like me.' Then he smiled and a sly look came into his eyes. 'But I have seen him from time to time over the years, though he doesn't know it.'

  Allegra looked at him with curiosity. 'What do you mean?' she asked.

  'Ram still has the little apartment in this building that Jules and Hannah gave him all those years ago.'

  Allegra's eyes widened in surprise. 'An apartment here? In this building?'

  The old man nodded. 'Yes,' he said. 'They did the same for him that they did for Elisse and me. After they took him in, they gave him an apartment here, and even though he lives like a pasha in his great mansion a few blocks away, he's kept his little place here.'

  'That's incredible,' Allegra said.

  'Not really,' he replied. 'You see, he brings women here. Women that he'd prefer not to take to his home, I assume.'

  Allegra swallowed and sat silently, digesting this news in silence. Finally, she said, 'It sounds a bit. . . unsavory.'

  Monsieur Weiss laughed softly. 'The least of his less appetizing characteristics, I should think. Many men here keep mistresses or girlfriends, as I'm sure they do in America, but I don't think that's precisely the case with Ram. It's been many women over the years, so I'm told and so I've observed. But that's neither here nor there, is it?' He sipped the last of his wine and set the glass down. 'I hope I've been of some help to you, mademoiselle.'

  Allegra was glad for the opportunity to excuse herself. 'I'm sure you have,' she said, 'and I can't thank you enough for your seeing me today. It was very kind and generous of you to share your time with me, and I've enjoyed meeting you very much.'

  'It was a pleasure to meet you, too, Mademoiselle Sheridan,' he replied. 'I hope you find what you're looking for.'

  'I think I will,' she said, 'and partly because of you.' She rose to her feet. 'Please don't get up. I can let myself out.'

  'No, no,' he replied, pushing himself up out of his chair. 'I may be old, but not so infirm as to have to be uncivilized.'

  Allegra followed him down the hall and waited for him to open the door for her, then smiled and gave him her hand to shake. He took it in his and merely held it for a moment. 'You're a lovely young woman,' he said. 'Come again if you want. It would be a pleasure to receive you.'

  'Thank you, Monsieur Weiss,' Allegra said. 'It would be a pleasure to talk with you again.' Her reply was heartfelt, and even though she was in a rush to meet Todd, she was reluctant to leave him.

  When she finally reached the street, she felt a powerful sadness sweep over her. He's so old and alone, she thought, yet so interesting and lively. She doubted that she would ever see him again. Looking about for a taxi, she saw that there was none about and started walking, hoping she was aiming in the direction of a major thoroughfare. She wondered whether she should tell Todd about what she discovered today, and couldn't make up her mind. One thing for certain was that she was more obsessed than ever with the emeralds and more determined to find out what was going on.

  CHAPTER 18

  Allegra trotted along the arcade at the Palais Royal toward Le Grand Vefour. When she reached the restaurant, she rushed inside and saw Todd already seated at a table for two in the grand dining room. He saw her and immediately got to his feet. The maitre d' didn't fail to notice.

  'Mademoiselle Sheridan?' he said.

  Allegra nodded. 'Yes,' she said. 'I see my party back there.'

  'Would mademoiselle like to hang up her coat?'

  'No,' she replied. 'I think I'll keep it on.' It had been breezy and gray outside, and she hadn't quite recovered from the chill.

  'As you wish,' he said. 'Please follow me.'

  At the table, he pulled her chair out, and Allegra seated herself. The maitre d' handed her a menu, and she thanked him. He poured her a glass of champagne from a bottle that rested in an ice bucket on a stand next to the table. 'Ah,' she said, 'elixir of the gods. Thank you, monsieur.'

  The waiter nodded, then left the table.

  Todd sat back down and beamed across the table at her. />
  'You look happy about something,' she said, smiling.

  He reached across the table and took her hand. 'I'm just so happy to see you.'

  'Well, I'm glad to see you, too,' she replied.

  'But I had no idea this place was practically next door to Jules Levant Joaillier when I made the reservation.'

  'Do you think we ought to leave?' she asked, looking around her, taking in the grand restaurant's elegant designs painted on the glass and mirrored ceiling.

  'I don't think we have to take a drastic measure like that,' Todd said. 'In fact, I happen to know that Ramtane Tadjer is not in the shop today, so I don't think we run the risk of seeing him.'

  Allegra lifted her eyebrows in surprise. 'And how do you know that?' she asked, shrugging out of her coat and putting it around her shoulders.

  'Just wait till I tell you what happened,' he said in a soft but gleeful voice. He took a sip of his champagne. 'I had a run of good luck while you were out shopping.' His expression abruptly changed. 'Where are your shopping bags?'

  'I couldn't find anything I wanted,' Allegra lied glibly.

  He stared at her for a long moment. 'Allegra,' he said, 'do I look like I was born yesterday? You're in Paris, and you couldn't find anything you wanted?' He set his champagne glass down. 'Now try telling me the truth.'

  'First, you have to tell me your news,' she countered. 'You're being very mysterious, and I gather you were up to a lot more than a walk around the streets of Paris. How do you know that Ramtane Tadjer is not going to be in the shop today, for example?'

  'I thought I'd try to help you find out more about the emeralds,' he said slowly and cautiously.

  Allegra's eyes burned into his.

  'I figured that Tadjer knows what you look like, but nobody at Jules Levant has ever seen me before,' he said quickly.

  Though Allegra was peeved, her ears perked up. 'Go on.'

  'So I went there and acted as if I were a customer looking for an emerald ring,' Todd said. 'In fact, I told the saleslady that I'd come to Paris to bid on Princess Karima's ring.'