Page 26 of Traitors Gate

‘And what about you, Peter?’ asked his father as they jogged down the steps to the tube station. ‘What did you learn from the experience?’

‘That we’ve found our subject for the prize essay competition,’ Peter said triumphantly.

‘Dare I ask?’ said William.

‘Colonel Blood,’ said Artemisia. ‘Hero or villain?’

CHAPTER 11

Private & Confidential

The Fitzmolean Museum

Kensington Gardens

London W8

Dear Mrs Faulkner,

As you know, the board have appointed Dr Elizabeth Warwick to be the next director of the Fitzmolean Museum and will be issuing a press statement to that effect later in the week.

As you were the only member of the board who opposed Dr Warwick’s appointment, I would understand if you felt unable to continue serving as a board member.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to let me know your decision as soon as it’s convenient.

Yours sincerely,

Nicholas Fenwick

Sir Nicholas Fenwick, Chairman

cc. Dr Elizabeth Warwick PhD MA

CHRISTINA HADN’T OPENED THE LETTERuntil after lunch on Sunday. After all, it had been a long night, and she hadn’t got home until well after midnight.

She became even more anxious after she’d read the letter a second time. Christina was aware the chairman didn’t like her, but she had no intention of resigning, confident that her annual donation would prevent him from attempting to remove her. But she would still have to see Beth before she read the letter so she could tell her side of the story. Time wasn’t on her side.

• • •

The first thing Beth did as the prospective Director of the Fitzmolean was to take a tiny scraping from the museum’s painting ofChrist’s Descent from the Cross, before sending both samples to the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Whittlesford for testing.

A week later, a letter came back marked private and confidential, confirming that one of the works contained a pigment that had not been invented until 1916, while the other was unquestionably painted early in the seventeenth century.

Beth stared up at a painting that had fooled the art world for several years and had to admit that part of Miles Faulkner’s genius – as James had pointed out – was that while the museum was in possession of the original frame, Miles still owned the masterpiece.

Beth blamed herself for not checking the provenance more carefully, but at the time she hadn’t looked a gift horse in the mouth. They had all been so overwhelmed by the generosity of the benefactor, no one gave it a second thought. As keeper of pictures, she should have given it a third thought. If themuseum had been buying the work from an established dealer, the painting would have gone through a series of rigorous checks before they handed over any money. But they didn’t have to hand over any money, which was all part of Faulkner’s plan to make sure they ended up with the wrong picture. William had once told her that it’s easy to be conned if you want to believe the conman.

Beth took a step back, admired the copy, and wondered if the best course of action was to say nothing. But she feared it could only be a matter of time before the truth came out and Christina reminded the board that she’d been keeper of pictures at the time.

She called James in Washington to tell him the news. He was sympathetic but didn’t sound surprised. However, she was shocked when he said, ‘I know exactly what I’d do in the circumstances.’

• • •

‘There’s something I haven’t told you,’ said William, after Beth had revealed the results of the paint analysis.

‘Don’t tell me you knew all along we weren’t in possession of the original Rubens?’

‘I had my suspicions,’ he admitted.

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