Page 38 of Irish Reign

“Alix?” I finally ask.

“Sorry. I’m just thinking through the variables. We can run the auction, that’s not a problem. But with a turn-around like that, I don’t know how many large institutions we can get to bid. Museums, libraries, that sort of thing.”

“But you can get the word out to private collectors, right?”

“A good number of them.”

“And private collectors are likely to pay more than museums?”

“Generally speaking. But with a treasure of this magnitude?—”

“Do it.” I cut her off.

Another silence, but a much shorter one this time.

“Of course,” she says. “Let me check dates, and I’ll get back to you.”

I hang up the phone with the impatience of a child waiting to open presents from Father Christmas. Now that I’ve decided to sell the book, I want it out of my gallery immediately.

I want my twenty-five million dollars.

I need them.

Now.

16

SAMANTHA

I’ve spent enough time in courtrooms to know when judges hate the arguments they’re hearing. I can tell the three board members on the ethics panel despise my case from the moment they walk into the room.

They’re wearing business suits instead of black robes, and they sit behind a table instead of on a raised platform. But these three people will decide my entire future, based on whatever I say during the next two hours.

Sonja introduces herself and me. I’m invited to make an opening statement—the one Sonja and I rehearsed for so long yesterday.

“Good afternoon,” I begin. “May it please?—”

“Is it true, Ms. Kelly,” starts one of the board members, but then she interrupts herself. “Or should I call you Ms. Canna? That is your name, isn’t it? Before you changed it tomisrepresent your connection to the dangerous Russo crime syndicate?”

“I changed my name because?—”

“How much of your current legal practice involves representing figures involved in organized crime?” asks the second member.

“The identity of my clients is confidential,” I respond.

“So you agree that you are employed by Mafia dons, Irish mob bosses, and the like.” That’s the third member, peering at me over her cat’s-eye glasses.

“No! I’m employed by Diamond Freeport.”

“A tax haven organized under the laws of the state of Delaware?—”

“Yes, the?—”

“—specifically to thwart the enforcement of United States tax statutes and regulations.” Board Member Number Two speaks over me, reading from some document. And then he says, “I’m surprised to hear you admit it.” He sounds like I barbecue babies for breakfast.

“The freeport is organized?—”

“Ms. Canna,” the first one interrupts. “Are you directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of anyone other than the three individuals listed in the ethics complaint we’re deciding today?”

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