Painted Ladies

“I see,” he said. “You’re attempting to be funny.”

“ ‘Attempting’?” I said.

“No matter,” Prince said. “But I need to know you are capable of taking my issues seriously.”

“I’d be in a better position to assess that,” I said, “if you told me what your issues were.”

He nodded slowly to himself.

“I was warned that you were given to self-amusement,” he said. “I guess there’s no help for it. I am a professor of art history at Walford University. And I am a forensic art consultant in matters of theft and forgery.”

And pleased about it.

“Is there such a matter before us?” I said.

He took in some air and let it out audibly.

“There is,” he said.

“And it requires discretion,” I said.

“Very much.”

“You’ll get all I can give you,” I said.

“All you can give me?”

“Anything,” I said, “that your best interest, and my self-regard, will allow.”

“Your ‘self-regard’?”

“I try not to do things that make me think ill of myself.”

“My God,” Prince said. “I mean, that’s a laudable goal, I suppose. But you are a private detective.”

“All the more reason for vigilance,” I said.

He took another deep breath. He nodded slowly.

“There is a painting,” he said, “by a seventeenth-century Dutch artist named Frans Hermenszoon.”

“Lady with a Finch,” I said.

“How on earth did you know that?” Prince said.

“Only Hermenszoon painting I’ve ever heard of.”

“He painted very few,” Prince said. “Hermenszoon died at age twenty-six.”

“Young,” I said.

“Rather,” Prince said. “But Lady with a Finch was a masterpiece. Is a masterpiece. It belongs to the Hammond Museum. And last week it was stolen.”

“Heard from the thieves?” I said.

“Yes.”

“Ransom?” I said.

“Yes.”

“And if you bring any cops in, they’ll destroy the painting,” I said.

“Yes.”

“So what do you want from me?” I said.

“The Hammond wants the whole matter handled entirely, ah, sotto voce. They have asked me to handle the exchange.”

“The money for the painting,” I said.

“Yes, and I am, frankly, uneasy. I want protection.”

“Me,” I said.

“The chief of the Walford campus police asked a friend at the Boston Police Department on my behalf, and you were recommended.”

“I’m very popular there,” I said.

“Will you do it?”

“Okay,” I said.

“Like that?” Prince said.

“Sure,” I said.

“What do you charge?”

I told him. He raised his eyebrows.

“Well,” he said. “I’m sure they will cover it.”