Page 88 of The Stolen Queen

Charlotte stepped from behind the gate, followed by Annie. They waited in the temple’s courtyard as the woman approached, looking confused.

She was the same docent trainee who had helped her friend through a disastrous presentation about the Cerulean Queen two weeks prior, the one who had mouthed answers from the back of the room.

The one named Mona.

“What’s going on?” Mona stood perfectly straight in her Chanel tweed suit, her words echoing in the spacious gallery.

Back in Cairo, once Annie had explained to Charlotte that the woman standing next to Heba in the photograph was one of the Met’s docent trainees, Charlotte realized that shehadseen her, albeit briefly, standing near her and Frederick during an error-filled history of the Cerulean Queen in the Egyptian Art collection, the same statue this woman later arranged to have stolen during the Met Gala. And now they were face-to-face. Everything depended on this single conversation.

“Mona. I’m Charlotte Cross, as you know.”

“I’m sorry, how would I know you?” Mona’s expression was one of polite interest.

“You arranged to steal my research folder.” Mona opened her mouth to deny it, but Charlotte cut her off. “I don’t know why. I don’t care. I just want it back.”

“I assure you I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you don’t mind, I’ll head back to my lecture now.” She turned to go.

“I’d stick around if I were you. We know you were behind the theft of the Cerulean Queen.”

Mona turned back. A small muscle twitched at the corner of her mouth. “I heard about the theft. A terrible loss,” she said.

“We’re aware that you’re involved with Ma’at, along with Leon Pitcairn.”

At the mention of Leon’s name, Mona stiffened. She glanced back and forth between Annie and Charlotte, her composure rattled. “How do you know Leon?”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” said Charlotte. “I care about my file, nothing else.”

“Your file. Even if I did have it, why would I give it back to you?”

“Because otherwise I will tell Mr. Lavigne that you were behind the theft of the Cerulean Queen. Look, as far as I’m concerned, it should be on Egyptian soil, I don’t care if the Met never gets it back,”she lied. “What Idocare about is my career, and that file, as you know, is vitally important.”

Mona looked around the courtyard, as if assessing whether it was safe to speak. “It looks like we each have something to hold over the other. How do I know if I give you back the file that you’ll keep your mouth shut?”

“You don’t. You’ll have to trust me.” Charlotte looked at Annie. “Trust us.”

Mona looked Annie up and down. “I thought you were banned from this place.”

“I’ve been assisting Charlotte.”

Mona let out a breezy laugh. “Good luck with that. Mrs. Vreeland is ruing the day she ever hired you.”

The direct approach wasn’t working, so Charlotte would try a different tack. “In any event, Ma’at appears to be shaking up the stodgy art world. I’m curious, what exactly is Ma’at up to? It’s not as if they can place a stolen work in an Egyptian museum without international outcry. Why bother?”

“Why bother? How would you feel if your beloved Constitution was on display in the Soviet Union? You’d want it back, right?”

She had a point. “I suppose so.”

Charlotte’s concession appeared to embolden Mona. “Ma’at is named for the Egyptian goddess of truth and justice. Our country has either given away or sold off some of its most important treasures, and Ma’at is fighting for the repatriation of Egyptian art and antiquities from those who plundered our past.” The more she spoke, the more animated she became, clearly thrilled to toss off the docent-trainee guise. “We see no difference between objects that were smuggled out and those that were looted with the full approval of the government. They all belong to the people. They should be in theEgyptian homeland, not flaunted in the trophy cases of museums like the Met.”

If Mona had her way, the only way to view the Benin bronzes or an Egyptian stela would be to go to the countries themselves. What a shame that would be for scholars and educators, or for children who would lose the chance to see actual antiquities from around the world up close. For Mona, there were no shades of gray whatsoever. Yet after Charlotte’s conversations on the subject with Annie while they were in Egypt, she’d come to understand that there were no easy answers to the question of repatriation.

Annie spoke up. “Are you the one who called the Museum of Natural History and told them to switch the butterflies for moths?”

This seemed like the least pressing of questions, but Charlotte kept quiet.

Mona laughed. “When Priscilla told me about your little project, I figured it would make the perfect distraction. And you pulled it off brilliantly. What an absolute travesty.”

“I’m guessing that you and your husband are the donors behind the loan of the broad collar,” said Charlotte. “Weren’t you worried that would attract undue attention, considering you were planning a major heist?”

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