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“He’s Curator of the Greco-Roman Collection.”

“And why would he want to murder von Grümh?”

“Well, Lieutenant, I’m not saying he wanted to murder him. In fact, I doubt very much he could have.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I doubt very much he has the …”

“Testicular fortitude?”

“Exactly. What I’m saying is that the two of them never got along. Heinie always managed to treat Phil as a lackey. And Phil had difficulty accepting Heinie’s appointment as Honorary Curator of the Numismatic Collection. Heinie kept telling Phil how to do his job. Phil insinuated on several occasions that Heinie’s coins were fakes …”

“Is that a possibility?”

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should disclose the e-mail from Worried. “When it comes to anything in a museum, forgery is always a possibility. It is an art form in and of itself.” I paused. “As a matter of fact, here’s an e-mail sent anonymously to me this morning.” I handed him a printout of Worried’s communication and waited as he read it.

“Have you asked the curator about it?”

“Not yet. But I plan to.”

He nodded. “Let me know if you turn up anything.”

“Of course.”

“So your curator and von Grümh didn’t get along?”

“There was a chronic, low-grade aggravation between them, but nothing, as far as I can see, that would lead to murder.”

“Anyone else?”

“I suppose Colin Saunders wouldn’t mind seeing Heinie among the dead.”

“Who’s Colin Saunders?”

“Col Saunders is the Groome Professor of Ancient Greek Civilization and Curator of Classical Antiquities in the Frock. You know, Wainscott’s …”

“I do. Groome with an e?”

“Right. Heinie’s late father. He funded the chair in a bequest, and Heinie was on the search committee that helped select Saunders. Only he campaigned against his appointment.”

“Why?”

“Who knows. Heinie was like that. A gadfly in the ointment, as Izzy Landes called him.”

“So Saunders might carry a grudge?”

“Indeed, but it goes deeper than that.”

He waited and, I must say, his skeptical gaze put me on edge.

“Well, as you know, we are having some battles royal where the university has been concerned. We have conceded that, though independent, we are historically affiliated with the university and want to remain so. But there is an element in the Wainscott administration that will settle for nothing less than unconditional surrender. For them the revenues from the Genetics Lab …”

“Saunders and von Grümh,” he said, cutting off what might have become a familiar recitation.

“I’m getting to it,” I said, worried now about his acerbity, wondering what it might signify. “The sticking point has been our Greco-Roman Collection. Saunders has been claiming that it belongs in the Frock because, in truth, the various bequests to the MOM that resulted in our very modest but excellent Greco-Roman inventory contain ambiguous language in which it would appear that the donors considered the university and the museum as part of the same entity.”

“So?”

“So Saunders, perhaps in league with this cabal in the university’s administration, has been insisting that the museum accede to the transfer of the items in that collection to the Frock.”

“How might this tie in with von Grümh’s murder?”

“Well, Heinie has been a significant contributor to the museum, and he’s been more than vociferous in his opposition to combining the two collections.” I paused. I lowered my voice. “Strictly off the record, Lieutenant, I should tell you that for ethical and professional reasons I am willing, with proper legal safeguards, to consider joint title to any item with ambiguous provenance. But not everything. We are, after all, the Museum of Man in His Many Manifestations.”

“Did von Grümh know this?”

I hesitated. “I don’t think so.” But what if Diantha, in their pillow talk, had mentioned it to him? I’m afraid I colored just a little. “I mean these things have a way of circulating.”

The lieutenant gave me a keen, hard look. But he didn’t press me. He said, “What can you tell me about Merissa Bonne?”

I shrugged, a little too theatrically perhaps. “Not a whole lot. She was Heinie’s third wife.