Page 40 - Just Deserts

Excessories

shouldn’t be buying ivory even it was an antique because it was a
bad example. And a lot of other things she said that I am sure she
picked up at that school.

Now she will give me no peace unless I get rid of the thing and
make some sort of amends. I will not go back to that shop where I
bought it. She agreed that giving it back to those people in Africa
was probably the right course of action but I don’t know how to
get in touch with them. So I am sending it to you in hopes that
you will know what to do with it.

Yours truly,

A reader of your paper

It being the slow season for political intrigue, Swerdlow had
started using the newspaper’s resources to track down the source of
the object. He repeatedly asked the foreign desk for information
about East Africa, the art editor for leads on stolen treasures, the
crime writers for tips on international smuggling. Those inquiries
yielded nothing. Then, following an inspiration, he conducted a
lengthy review of the society pages for the prior year, scanning
hundreds of photographs of well-to-do and socially prominent
women dressed in all their finery at charity balls and gala premieres.
Using a magnifying glass he identified several beaded accessories
which could have been the inspiration for his unknown informant—
as well as a number of other ornaments and articles of attire probably
fashioned from the shells, tusks and hides of species on the
endangered list.
His next move had been to frequent the shops in Beverly Hills.
This had been frustrating; despite his care in donning a navy blazer
and silk ascot, he suspected the salespeople in Cachet/Sachet,
Bibelots de Luxe and the Lavisharium could tell he was not a wealthy
stockbroker looking for something special for a wife or mistress. But
he knew human nature well enough to detect a certain hesitation in
their voices when he asked about ivory necklaces and tortoise shell
bracelets. Obviously a wider selection of luxury items could be shown
to the right sort of person.

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