False Impression (40 page)

A
nna felt her
lunch with Ken Wheatley could have gone better. The deputy chairman of Christie’s
had made it clear that the unfortunate incident that had caused her to resign
from Sotheby’s was not yet considered by her colleagues in the art world to be
a thing of the past. And it didn’t help that Bryce Fenston was telling anyone
who cared to listen that she had been fired for conduct unworthy of an officer
of the bank. Wheatley admitted that no one much cared for Fenston. However,
they felt unable to offend such a valuable customer, which meant that her
re-entry into the auction house arena wasn’t going to prove that easy.

Wheatley’s words
only made Anna more determined to help Jack secure a conviction against
Fenston, who didn’t seem to care whose life he ruined.

There wasn’t
anything suitable at the moment for someone with her qualifications and
experience,
was how Ken had euphemistically put it, but he
promised to keep in touch.

When Anna left
the restaurant, she hailed a cab. Perhaps her second meeting would prove more
worthwhile. Twenty-six Federal Plaza,’ she told the driver.

Jack was
standing in the lobby of the New York field office waiting for Anna some time
before she was due to arrive. He was not surprised to see her appear a couple
of minutes early. Three guards watched Anna carefully as she descended the
dozen steps that led to the entrance of 26 Federal Plaza. She gave her name to
one of the guards, who requested proof of identity. She passed over her
driver’s licence, which he checked before ticking off her name on his
clipboard.

Jack opened the
door for her.

‘Not my idea of
a first date,’ said Anna as she stepped inside.

‘Nor mine,’ Jack
tried to reassure her, ‘but my boss wanted you to be in no doubt how important
he considers this meeting.’

“Why, is it my
turn to be arrested?’ asked Anna.

‘No, but he is
hoping that you will be willing to assist us.’

‘Then let’s go
and bell the cat.’

‘One of your
father’s favourite expressions,’ said Jack.

‘How did you
know that?’ asked Anna. ‘Have you got a file on him as well?’

‘No,’ said Jack,
laughing, as they stepped into the elevator. ‘It was just one of the things you
told me on the plane during our first night together.’

Jack whisked
Anna to the nineteenth floor, where Dick Macy was waiting in the corridor to
greet her.

‘How land of you
to come in, Dr Petrescu,’ he said, as if she’d had a choice. Anna didn’t
comment. Macy led her through to his office and ushered her into a comfortable
chair on the other side of his desk.

‘Although this
is an off-the-record meeting,’ began Macy,

‘I cannot stress
how important we at the bureau consider your assistance.’

“Why do you need
my assistance?’ asked Anna. ‘I thought you had arrested Leapman and he was
safely under lock and key.’

*We released him
this morning,’ said Macy.

‘Released him?’
said Anna. ‘Wasn’t two million enough?’

‘More
than enough,’ admitted Macy, ‘which is why I became involved.
My speciality
is plea-bargaining, and just after nine o’clock this morning, Leapman signed an
agreement with the Southern District Federal Prosecutor to ensure that, if he
fully cooperates with our investigation, he’ll end up with only a five-year
sentence.’

‘But that still
doesn’t explain why you’ve released him,’ said Anna.

‘Because Leapman
claims he can show a direct financial link between Fenston and Krantz, but he
needs to return to their Wall Street office so he can get his hands on all the
relevant documents, including numbered accounts, and several illegal payments
into different bank accounts around the world.’

‘He could be
double-crossing you,’ said Anna. ‘After all, most of the documents that would
implicate Fenston were destroyed when the North Tower collapsed.’

‘True,’ said
Macy, ‘but if he is, I’ve made it clear he can look forward to spending the
rest of his life in Sing Sing.’

‘That’s quite an
incentive,’ admitted Anna.

‘Leapman’s also
agreed to appear as a government witness,’ said Jack, ‘should the case come to
trial.’

‘Then let’s be
thankful that Krantz is safely locked up, otherwise your star witness wouldn’t
even make it to the courthouse.’

Macy looked
across at Jack, unable to mask his surprise. ‘You haven’t read today’s final
edition New York Times?’ he asked, turning to face Anna.

‘No,’ said Anna,
having no idea what they were talking about.

Macy opened the
file, extracted an article and passed the clipping across to Anna.

Olga Krantz,
known as the kitchen knife killer because of the role she played as an
executioner in Ceau§escu’s brutal regime, disappeared from a high-security
hospital in Bucharest last night. Krantz is thought to have escaped down a
waste-disposal shaft, dressed in the clothes of a hospital porter. One of the
policemen who had been guarding her was later discovered with his...

I’m going to be
looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life,’ said Anna, long before she’d
reached the last paragraph.

‘I don’t think
so,’ said Jack. ‘Krantz won’t be in a hurry to return to America, now she’s
joined nine men on the FBI’s most wanted list. She’ll also realize that we’ve
circulated a detailed description of her to every port of entry, as well as
Interpol. If she were to be stopped and searched, she’d have some trouble
explaining the bullet wound in her right shoulder.’

‘But that won’t
stop Fenston seeking revenge.’

‘Why should he
bother?
asked
Jack. ‘Now that he’s got the Van Gogh,
you’re history.’

‘But he hasn’t
got the Van Gogh,’ said Anna, bowing her head.

“What do you
mean?’ asked Jack.

‘I had a call
from Tina, just before I left to come to this meeting.

She warned me
that Fenston had called in an expert from Christie’s so that he could have the
painting valued for insurance. Something he’s never done before.’

‘But why should
that cause any problems?’ asked Jack.

Anna raised her
head.
‘Because it’s a fake.’

‘A fake?’ both
men said in unison.

‘Yes, that’s why
I had to fly to Bucharest. I was having a copy made by an old friend who’s a
brilliant portrait artist.’

‘Which would
explain the drawing in your apartment,’ said Jack.

‘You’ve been in
my apartment?’ said Anna.

‘Only when I
believed that your life was in danger,’ said Jack quietly.

‘But...’ began
Anna.

‘And that also
explains,’ jumped in Macy, ‘why you sent the red box back to London, even
allowing it to be intercepted by Art Locations and delivered on to Fenston in
New York.’

Anna nodded.

‘But you must
have realized that you’d be found out in time?’ queried Jack.

‘In time, yes,’
repeated Anna. ‘That’s the point. All I needed was enough time to sell the
original, before Fenston discovered what I was up to.’

‘So while your
friend Anton was working on the fake, you flew on to Tokyo to try and sell the
original to Nakamura.’

Anna nodded.

‘But did you
succeed?’ asked Macy.

‘Yes,’ said
Anna. ‘Nakamura agreed to purchase the original self portrait for fifty million
dollars, which was more than enough for Arabella to clear her sister’s debts
with Fenston Finance while still holding on to the rest of the estate.’

‘But now that
Fenston knows that he’s in possession of a fake, he’s bound to get in touch
with Nakamura and tell him what you’ve been up to,’ said Jack.

‘He already
has,’ said Anna.

‘So you’re back
to square one,’ suggested Macy.

‘No,’ said Anna
with a smile. ‘Nakamura has already deposited five million dollars with his
London solicitors, and has agreed to pay the balance once he’s inspected the
original.’

‘Have you got
enough time?’ asked Macy.

‘I’m flying to
London this evening,’ said Anna, ‘and Nakamura plans to join us at Wentworth
Hall tomorrow night.’

‘It’s going to
be a close-run thing,’ said Jack.

‘Not if Leapman
delivers the goods,’ said Macy. ‘Don’t forget what he has planned for tonight.’

‘Am I allowed to
know what you’re up to?’ asked Anna.

‘No, you are
not,’ said Jack firmly. ‘You catch your plane to England and close the deal,
while we get on with our job.’

‘Does your job
include keeping an eye on Tina?’ asked Anna quietly.

‘Why would we
need to do that?’ asked Jack.

‘She was fired
this morning.’

‘For what
reason?’ enquired
Macy.

‘Because Fenston
found out that she was keeping me informed of everything he was up to while I
was chasing halfway round the world, so I fear that I’ve ended up putting her
life in danger as well.’

‘I was wrong
about Tina,’ admitted Jack, and looking across at Anna added, ‘and I apologize.
But I still can’t make out why she ever agreed to work for Fenston in the first
place.’

‘I have a
feeling I’ll find out this evening,’ said Anna. ‘We’re meeting up for a drink
just before I leave for the airport.’

‘If you have any
time before take-off, give me a call. I’d be fascinated to know the answer to
that particular mystery.’

Anna nodded.

‘There’s another
mystery I’d like to clear up before you leave,

Dr Petrescu,’
said Macy.

Anna turned to
face Jack’s boss.

‘If Fenston is
in possession of a fake, where’s the original?’ he demanded.

‘At Wentworth
Hall,’ Anna replied. ‘Once I’d retrieved the painting from Sotheby’s, I grabbed
a cab and took it straight back to Arabella. The only thing I came away with
was the red box and the painting’s original frame.’

‘Which you took
on to Bucharest so that your friend Anton could put his fake into the original
frame, which you hoped would be enough to convince Fenston that he’d got his
hands on the real McCoy.’

‘And it would
have stayed that way if he hadn’t decided to have the painting insured.’

No one spoke for
some time, until Macy said, ‘And you carried out the whole deception right in
front of Jack’s eyes.’

‘Sure did,’ said
Anna with a smile.

‘So let me
finally ask you, Dr Petrescu,’ continued Macy, ‘where was the Van Gogh while
two of my most experienced agents were having breakfast with you and Lady
Arabella at Wentworth Hall?’

‘Plead the Fifth
Amendment,’ begged Jack.

‘In the Van Gogh
bedroom,’ replied Anna, just above them on the first floor.’

‘That close,’
said Macy.

Krantz waited
until the tenth ring, before she heard a click and a voice enquired, ‘Where are
you?’

‘Over the
Russian border,’ she replied.

‘Good, because
you can’t come back to America while you’re still regularly appearing in the
New York Times’

‘Not to mention
on the FBI’s Most Wanted list,’ added Krantz.

‘Fifteen minutes
of fame,’ said Fenston. ‘But I do have another assignment for you.’

Where?’ asked
Krantz.

Wentworth
Hall.’

‘I couldn’t risk
going back there a second time...’

‘Even
if I doubled your fee?’

It’s still too
much of a risk.’

“You may not
think so when I tell you whose throat I want you to cut.’

‘I’m listening,’
she said, and when Fenston revealed the name of his next victim, all she said
was, ‘You’ll pay me two million dollars for that?’

‘Three, if you
manage to kill Petrescu at the same time – she’ll be staying there overnight.’

Krantz
hesitated.

‘And four, if
she’s a witness to the first throat being cut,’ added Fenston.

A long silence
followed, before Krantz said, I’ll need two million in advance.’

‘The
usual place?’

‘No,’ she
replied, and gave him a numbered account in Moscow.

Fenston put the phone
down and buzzed through to Leapman.

‘I need to see
you – now.’

While he waited
for Leapman to join him, Fenston began jotting down headings for subjects he
needed to discuss: Van Gogh, money, Wentworth estate, Petrescu. He was still
scribbling when there was a knock on the door.

‘She’s escaped,’
said Fenston the moment Leapman closed the door.

‘So the New York
Times report was accurate,’ said Leapman, hoping he didn’t appear anxious.