Page 38 of Traitors Gate

‘Sure is, miss,’ he said.

‘Please tell him I need his help with hanging a picture and pronto.’ The lad immediately scampered off. Beth stood there, staring at the empty frame, and didn’t stop praying while she waited for the works manager to appear. Fred joined her a few minutes later, tool bag in hand with an assistant in tow carrying two small stepladders.

Fred and his assistant fell on their knees and set about extracting each screw from the crate one by one while Beth looked on, becoming more and more frustrated as she wondered if they could take any longer.

When the last screw had been removed, she quickly stepped forward to assist in yanking the lid off the crate but was once again held up as he and his assistant took their time removing first the polythene and then the acid-free tissue wrappings from around the canvas that had protected it from any mishaps during its long journey.

When the last acid-free layer had been removed, Beth stared down at the painting, still unsure if it was a masterpiece or an old friend returning home after a weekend abroad. It took the three of them to slowly, very slowly, lift the painting out of the box and ease it gently back into its frame. It was then the turn of the two hangers to step forward and mount the four steps of the ladder one by one before slowly lowering the chain back on its hooks. Beth stared up at the central figure that dominated the canvas, still unsure if he was the saviour or an imposter.

As ten o’clock struck on the long case clock in the hall, thefront door was opened to allow the public to enter. The first person to come rushing in was a drenched and bedraggled Christina, taking Beth by surprise. They stood and stared at each other for some time, not a word passing between them until Beth finally demanded, ‘Which one is it?’

‘You’ve got the original,’ said Christina, ‘and Miles now has your copy hanging in his apartment. But promise me you’ll never let on,’ she whispered, ‘because if Miles found out …’ It was the last sentence that convinced Beth that Christ had risen from the dead.

She threw her arms around her old friend and said, ‘How can I begin to thank you,’ just as William came charging through the door.

‘I’m so sorry,’ were William’s first words as he looked up at the painting, ‘but he saw us coming,’ he added, staring accusingly at Christina.

‘You couldn’t have done any more,’ said Beth as Christina’s mobile began to ring.

‘Good morning, Mrs Faulkner,’ said a cheerful voice. ‘It’s Craig Walker at Midland Bank. Just wanted to let you know that the first transfer of fifty thousand pounds arrived after close of business on Saturday, and a second one for the same amount has just been deposited with us. So your personal account has been credited with one hundred thousand pounds.’

• • •

Miles took a long-distance call from the manager of the Schwartz Gallery in New York after he’d returned home from a celebration lunch with Booth Watson at the Savoy. He’d had a little too much to drink.

‘Thought I ought to let you know, Mr Faulkner, that thepainting you asked me to switch on Sunday didn’t quite fit the frame. Just a few millimetres too large, and I wondered if you wanted me to make the necessary adjustment?’

‘That won’t be necessary,’ said Miles. ‘It was switched back after you’d left.’

‘I don’t think so, sir,’ said the manager. ‘Because when I dropped into your apartment earlier this morning to double-check everything had gone to plan, I found the copy you commissioned from us some years ago was now hanging on the wall.’

‘So where’s the original?’ demanded Miles.

‘When I last saw it, sir,’ said the manager, ‘it was in a crate due to be shipped back to London. And as it’s no longer here, I can only assume …’

Miles hurled the phone from one end of the room to the other.

BOOK II

‘Stirred up with envy and revenge.’

John Milton,

Paradise Lost

CHAPTER 14

FAULKNER SAT AT HIS DESKand began to write out two lists of names. The first was those who’d been responsible for stealing his Rubens, and the second was the team that would assist him in exacting revenge.

For

Against

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