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do we start?”
    “Today,” Miranda told him as Elise gestured toward a doorway. “I’ll want tests run on the corrosion layers and the metal right away.”
    “I think Richard Hawthorne would be helpful to you.” Elise tapped the shoulder of a man hunkered over the keyboard on a computer.
    “Dr. Hawthorne.” Miranda watched the balding man blink owlishly through his glasses, then fumble them off. There was something vaguely familiar about him, and she struggled to place him.
    “Dr. Jones.” He gave her a shy smile that added appeal to his face. His chin was short, his eyes a distracted and pale blue, but the smile was sweet as a boy’s. “It’s nice to see you again. We’re, ah, happy to have you here. I read your paper on early Florentine humanism. It was quite brilliant.”
    “Thank you.” Oh, yes, she remembered. He’d done a stint at the Institute a few years earlier. After a moment’s hesitation, which Miranda knew came only because Elise had recommended him, she relented. “Elise has an office for me. Could you join us for a moment? I’d like to show you what I have.”
    “I’d be delighted.” He fumbled with his glasses again, hit a series of keys that saved his work.
    “It’s not a large space.” Elise began with an apology as she ushered Miranda through a door. “I’ve set it up with what I thought you’d need. Of course you can requisition anything you like.”
    Miranda took a quick scan. The computer station appeared efficient and neat. A wide white counter held microscopes, slides, and the small hand tools of her trade. A tape recorder had been provided for detailing notes. There was no window, only the one door, and with the four of them inside, barely room to turn around.
    But there was a chair, a phone, and the pencils were sharpened. It would do, she thought, very well.
    She set her briefcase on the counter, then the metal box. Carefully, she removed the wrapped bronze. “I’d like your opinion, Dr. Hawthorne. Just on a visual examination of the bronze.”
    “Of course, I’d be delighted.”
    “The project’s been the hot topic around here for the last day or two,” Giovanni put in as Miranda began to unwrap the velvet. “Ah.” He let out a sigh as she set the undraped bronze on the counter. “Bella, molto bella.”
    “A fine execution.” Richard pushed his glasses back into place and squinted at the bronze. “Simple. Fluid. Wonderful form and details. Perspective.”
    “Sensual,” Giovanni said, bending to look closely. “The arrogance and the allure of the female.”
    Miranda cocked a brow at Giovanni before giving her attention back to Richard. “Do you recognize her?”
    “It’s the Dark Lady of the Medicis.”

    “That’s my opinion as well. And the style?”
    “Renaissance, unquestionably.” Richard reached out with a tentative finger to stroke the left cheekbone. “I wouldn’t say the model was used to represent a mythical or religious figure, but herself.”
    “Yes, the lady as the lady,” Miranda agreed. “The artist portrayed her, I’d guess, as she was. From an artist’s standpoint, I would say he knew her, personally. I’ll need to do a search for documents. Your help would be invaluable there.”
    “I’d be happy to help. If this can be authenticated as a major piece from the Renaissance period, it will be quite a coup for Standjo. And for you, Dr. Jones.”
    She’d thought of it. Indeed, she’d thought of it. But she smiled coolly. “I don’t count my chickens. If she spent any amount of time in the environment in which she was found—and it appears she did—the corrosion growth would have been affected. I’ll want the results of that, of course,” she added to Giovanni, “but I can’t depend on it for true accuracy.”
    “You’ll run relative comparisons, thermoluminescence.”
    “Yes.” She smiled at Richard again. “We’ll also be testing the cloth, and the wood from the stair tread. But the documentation will make it