Free The Amber Knight by Katherine John Page B

address book. Do you want me to look it up?’
    ‘If it’s not too much trouble.’
    She disappeared up the stairs.
    ‘She likes you.’ Feliks opened a door set below a display cabinet and pulled out a bottle of vodka.
    ‘And she’s living with you.’
    ‘Only because she wants the trade secrets I keep up here.’ Feliks tapped his head. ‘I love her,’ he declared mournfully, ‘and I’d do anything to make her happy. Sleeping with you would make her happy.’
    ‘That’s ridiculous.’
    ‘No, it isn’t. She doesn’t get enough sex from me.’
    ‘I don’t sleep with my friends’ women.’
    ‘Damned western morality.’
    ‘Here it is.’ Elizbieta, who had overheard the last part of their conversation, slid her forefinger along Adam’s thumb as she handed him Krefta’s address. ‘You going to write to him?’
    ‘I thought I might look him up in the flesh.’
    ‘In Kaliningrad? You don’t speak Russian,’ Feliks reminded him.
    ‘He’s probably moved on since Elizbieta last saw him,’ Adam replied.
    ‘And even if he hasn’t, you might have difficulty recognising him from that photograph. You’ll need an interpreter. If you like, I could go with you,’ Elizbieta offered archly.
    ‘That could be helpful, seeing as how you’ve met him.’
    ‘Only a couple of times, a long time ago when my father worked for him. But Feliks is right – he might not still be at this address.’
    ‘It’s somewhere to start.’
    ‘When are you thinking of going?’
    ‘Tomorrow.’
    ‘Perfect, I could do with a day off. But Americans need a visa to cross the border.’
    ‘That’s not a problem. I’ll pick you up here. Be ready at six, we’ll leave before the heat sets in.’
    Felix accompanied Adam up to street level. ‘Enjoy yourself with her.’
    ‘I’ll have her back before nightfall and, just to ensure there’ll be no hanky-panky, I’ll take Magdalena along.’
    ‘You Americans never know when you’re well off.’
    ‘We’re worse off than most Poles think we are, which reminds me. Helga said something about a pair of gold and sapphire earrings?’
    ‘She was taken with them, but then she would be, a collector like her, and I don’t mean jewellery. Why don’t you find yourself a nice girl…’
    ‘Like Elizbieta?’
    ‘At least she doesn’t charge for her favours.’
    ‘If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about women in the last twenty-eight years, it’s that they always present a bill for their services. How much are the earrings?’
    ‘The ones she saw were a special order for Radek. He’s paying three thousand dollars.’
    ‘American?’
    ‘No, Mickey Mouse money,’ Feliks mocked. ‘What do you think I am? A miracle worker? You want top quality goods; you have to pay the price.’
    ‘Not three thousand dollars, I don’t. What can you do for three hundred?’
    ‘You expect me to answer that?’
    ‘Come on, there can’t be that much gold in them.’
    ‘Now you’re telling me my business.’
    ‘Haven’t you anything you can substitute for sapphires?’
    ‘Nothing that will fool Helga or the jeweller she’ll sell them to.’
    ‘Three hundred’s my limit.’
    ‘I could do crystal for that price.’
    ‘Only if it’s blue.’
    ‘I’ll see what I can find.’
    ‘Adam!’ Waleria waved to him from across the street. ‘Josef Dalecka’s looking for you.’
    ‘Probably to warn you against buying any hi-jacked shipments of raw amber.’ Feliks was still smarting at the loss. Adam presumed because he’d have to buy in Polish amber at an inflated price in order to continue trading.
    ‘Whoever has the knight has offered it to more than one museum. Do you think they could have stolen the shipment to make a copy?’ Adam asked.
    ‘Could probably make a few, certainly two, on what went missing.’
    ‘What price the knight when every major museum in western Europe has one?’ Adam murmured.
    ‘I’m in the wrong business. Amber-encased bodies at fifty million American