‘Alex tells me the bank will go bust and we’ll be broke.’
‘So, no pressure,’ said Rosenthal. ‘Mind you, I could always offer Alex a job as a runner at the gallery. He’d be rather good at it.’
‘Or he could have my job, as you’ll need someone to fill in for me when the baby is born.’
‘No, he’s not that good,’ said Rosenthal, as the plane reached 40,000 feet and banked towards the east.
*
‘How much notice do you have to give?’ said Ackroyd.
‘The bank’s statutes require fourteen days,’ said Fowler, ‘so I was thinking of sending letters to all the directors this morning.’
‘But the moment Miss Robbins opens the mail, she’ll be alerted and tell Karpenko about the emergency board meeting, and if he’s half as bright as you say he is, it won’t take him long to work out what we’re up to.’
‘I’d thought of that,’ said Fowler, ‘and intend to send Karpenko’s letter to his apartment in Brooklyn. Now that he’s taken up residence in Boston, it will be lying on his doormat until he returns.’
‘And the motion to replace him as chairman will have been passed before he has a chance to do anything about it. So why don’t you post those letters, Ray?’
*
Anna emerged from the plane soon after they’d touched down in Nice, and was greeted by a warm evening breeze. She wished Alex was with her to share her first visit to France. But she knew he couldn’t risk being away from his desk for even a few hours.
Once they’d cleared customs and walked into the arrivals hall, a man, dressed in an open-necked floral shirt and a now fashionable light blue suit, rushed up to Rosenthal and kissed him on both cheeks.
‘Welcome, mon ami. Allow me to introduce you to Dominic Duval, whom I have chosen to mastermind this operation.’
When his Citro?n joined the early evening traffic heading towards Nice, Duval began to brief his co-conspirators.
‘As soon as Mr and Mrs Lowell-Halliday left the villa, I called Pierre in Paris to let him know they were on their way to Boston.’
‘How could you be so sure they were going to the airport?’ asked Anna.
‘Three suitcases was a minor clue,’ said Duval.
‘It also suggests,’ said Rosenthal, ‘that Evelyn intends to remain in Boston for some time.’
‘I then called Nathanial in New York,’ said Pierre – the first time Anna had heard anyone call Mr Rosenthal by his first name – ‘to tell him they were on the way, and immediately flew down to Nice to make sure we’re ready for tomorrow’s exchange.’
‘Why so soon?’ asked Rosenthal.
‘We have to take advantage of the fact that Thursday is the butler’s day off. Otherwise we’d have to wait another week. And Mrs Lowell-Halliday might well have returned by then.’
‘Is your team in place?’
‘Ready and waiting,’ said Duval. ‘First thing tomorrow morning I’ll call the villa and tell the maid I have an important package for delivery.’
‘Do we know anything about the maid?’ asked Rosenthal.
‘Her name’s Maria,’ said Duval. ‘She’s worked there for several years, and she’s the only one who’s around on the butler’s day off. She’s not particularly bright, but she has a heart of gold.’
‘And as we have a comprehensive list of the paintings that have to be exchanged, we should be able to carry out the whole exercise in less than an hour,’ said Pierre.
‘But you can’t pack fifty-three valuable paintings in under an hour,’ said Rosenthal. ‘They’re not cans of baked beans. It’s likely to take at least three or four hours.’
‘We can’t even risk an hour,’ replied Duval. ‘We’ll remove them as quickly as possible from the villa, then drive to our warehouse, which is only seven kilometres away, where we can pack them properly for the flight. Don’t forget, we’ve already got the crates containing the copies.’
‘Impressive,’ said Rosenthal, ‘but I still worry that the maid might be a problem.’
‘I have an idea,’ said Anna.
*
‘As it seems I can’t even stay in my own home,’ said Evelyn, ‘we’ve had to take a suite at the Fairmont, which doesn’t come cheap, so I do hope, Douglas, that you’ve got everything set up for next Monday’s meeting.’
‘Everything’s in place,’ said Ackroyd. ‘Although the board’s divided, with your vote, we’ll still have a majority, so by this time next week Karpenko should be on his way back to New York worrying about pizzas, and I’ll be chairman of the bank.’
‘And I can move back into Beacon Hill and remove the rest of the pictures, before the IRS discovers that Lowell’s isn’t even a piggy bank.’
*
He phoned the villa at ten past eight the following morning.
‘Hi, Maria, it’s Dominic Duval,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a delivery for Mrs Lowell that needs to be dropped off at the villa.’
‘But Mrs Lowell isn’t here, and it’s the butler’s day off.’
‘My instructions couldn’t be clearer,’ said Duval. ‘Madame insisted that the package should be delivered before she returns from America, but if you’re in any doubt, please call her in Boston, though I should warn you, it’s two o’clock in the morning there.’ His first risk.
‘No, no,’ said the maid. ‘When should I expect you?’
‘In about an hour’s time.’ Duval put the phone down and joined the rest of the team, who were waiting for him in the van.
‘And how’s my wife?’ he said as he sat next to Anna. She gave him a weak smile.
Duval drove the van out of the warehouse and onto the main road. He stuck to the inside lane, and never exceeded the speed limit. During the journey, he took every member of the team through their roles one last time, especially Anna, Pierre and Rosenthal.
‘And don’t forget,’ he said, ‘only Anna and I are to leave the van when we arrive.’
Forty minutes later they drove through the front gates, up the driveway, and came to a halt outside a magnificent villa. Anna would have loved to stroll through the colourful, well-tended gardens, but not today.
She and Duval walked up to the front door hand in hand. Duval pressed the bell, and moments later the maid appeared. She smiled when she recognized the van.
‘One package to be delivered to Mrs Lowell,’ said Duval. ‘If you’ll just sign here, Maria, I’ll fetch the crate from the van.’
Maria smiled, but her expression turned to anxiety when Anna collapsed on the ground at her feet, clutching her stomach.
‘Ah, ma pauvre femme,’ said Duval. ‘My wife is pregnant, Maria. Do you have somewhere where she could lie down for a few minutes?’
‘Of course, monsieur. Come with me.’
Duval helped Anna to her feet and they followed the maid into the house and up the wide staircase to a guest bedroom on the first floor, while he studied the pictures on the way.
‘I’m sorry to be such a nuisance,’ said Anna, as Duval helped her onto the bed.
‘It’s not a problem, madame,’ said Maria. ‘Should I call for a doctor?’
‘No, I’m sure I’ll be all right if I can just rest for a few minutes. But, darling,’ she said to Duval, ‘would you fetch my bag from the van, there are some pills I ought to take.’
‘Of course, darling, I won’t be a moment,’ he said, taking a closer look at the picture above the bed.
‘You’re so kind,’ said Anna, clinging on to Maria’s hand.
‘No, no, madame, I have four children of my own. And men are so useless in these situations,’ she added as Duval slipped out of the room.
He ran down the stairs to find his team were already in full swing, with Rosenthal acting as ringmaster, while Pierre cracked the whip. One by one the masterpieces were removed from the walls, to be replaced moments later with copies.
‘You’ll find the Matisse above the fireplace in the drawing room,’ Rosenthal said to one of the couriers. ‘The Picasso belongs in the master bedroom,’ to another, ‘and the Rauschenberg goes right there,’ he said, pointing to a large empty space on the wall in front of him.
‘I’m looking for a Dalí,’ said Duval. ‘It goes in the guest bedroom,’ he added as a de Kooning disappeared out of the front door.