paint, came back to her, wiped with a rag, painted another line. 'But with me things will be different, because I'm a very bad painter, sweetheart. That will compensate for you being such a good painting.'
The assistant interrupted Gerardo and spoke to him in English. They talked briefly about the exact tone of the shading on the sides of Clara's body, and consulted the Maestro's written instructions. Then Gerardo bent towards her lips, and stood observing them closely for a while. He did not seem satisfied. He disappeared from her field of vision, then almost immediately reappeared, his brush dripping red.
Clara was lying on her back on a small bed in one of the rehearsal rooms in the basement of the Old Atelier. She had been brought there early that morning to be finished and placed in the Tunnel.
'We have to be careful,' said Gerardo; 'thousands of people are going to see you today.'
He brushed gently twice against her upper lip. It was like the touch of a butterfly's wings.
'I don't want to hurt you,' he went on. 'I would never hurt you. But I thought that… keeping my feelings to myself would not help me do things any better. I'm more serious than you give me credit for, sweetheart. No, don't talk.' He lifted the brush off as Clara opened her lips. 'You are the work. I'm the only one who can talk. You are in the painting.'
He dipped the brush, and caressed her again with a lighter shade of red.
'I've also heard that a painter often falls in love with his work. I think that's true. But in my case there's something strange: I think I have painted myself as well to some extent. I mean to say that I've been pretending. Sometimes I even think I'm not who I think I am. Every day I get up, look at myself in the mirror, and thank my lucky stars. But things aren't that simple. Look at this moustache and beard.' He plucked them as he spoke. 'Are they a painter's, or are they paint? I've believed it for a long while now, without wanting to look any further, without wanting to see. What is there beyond all this? someone might ask. Well beyond it, there are people. I don't look on you as a painting. I can't see you as a painting.'
He dabbed at her lips to remove a blot. They looked at each other for a moment. As she stared into his huge, twinkling eyes, a strange thought that had already occurred to her several times flashed through her mind once more: maybe Gerardo was not such a poor painter after all; maybe he simply did not want to paint Susanna. The figure did not appeal to him. What he wanted to capture in her face was not the sorrowful gleam or the horrified sense of shame, not that 'canvas of horror and pity' described by Van Tysch. Gerardo wanted to capture her for what she was. Clara Reyes. To regain her, cleanse her, give her light. He was the first ardst she had met for whom she was more important than his own work.
Uhl came in. He said they were being too slow, and that they should start painting her back. The three of them helped her to stand, and she lay down on her front. The process went on, but this time in silence.
20.30.
'Edenburg, miss,' the driver said.
The scenery in the background to the River Geul, in southern
Limbourg in Holland, was out of this world. Woods and valleys glittered in the splendid summer sun, interspersed with rectangular wooden farmhouses. Edenburg appeared almost out of the blue as they came round a bend, at the end of the highway: a mound of steep-roofed houses dominated by the majestic presence of the castle where once upon a time Maurits van Tysch had worked as an art restorer. Miss Wood knew Edenburg. The interviews the painter had conceded her had been brief and tense. Van Tysch had never been concerned about the security of his works: his only duty was to create them.
Miss Wood knew it was raining in Amsterdam, but here in Edenburg there was nothing but sun, warmth, and groups of tourists bearing cameras and road maps. The car advanced slowly along the narrow cobbled streets, which retained all their old-world charm. A few curious passers-by stared at the luxury vehicle. The driver spoke again to Miss Wood.
'Are you going straight to the castle? If that's the case, we'll have to leave the centre of town and take the Kasteelstraat.'
'No, I'm not going to the castle.' She handed him an address. The chauffeur (a polite, attentive southerner who was anxious to keep the 'lady' happy, and who wore a fixed smile despite having to wait almost half an hour for her plane in Maastricht) decided to stop and ask a local the way.
The idea had occurred to her the night before. She had suddenly remembered the name of the man Oslo thought of as 'Bruno van Tysch's best childhood friend': Victor Zericky. She thought it would be a good idea to begin her visit to Edenburg by calling on him. She had called Oslo that same night, and he had been quick to supply her with the historian's address and telephone number. Zericky was not at home when she called to set up an appointment. Perhaps he was away. But she was confident she would see him.
The driver was having an animated conversation with an assistant from a tourist shop. Then he turned to Miss Wood. 'It crosses Kasteelstraat.'
11.30.
Gustavo Onfretti made his way into the Tunnel surrounded by security guards and personnel from Art. He was wearing a padded suit and the usual yellow labels. His body had been painted in ochre and flesh tints. Thin layers of cerublastyne lent his face a certain similarity to the Maestro, but also to Rembrandt's Jesus Christ. I'm both of them, he thought. He was one of the last paintings to arrive, and he knew it was going to be hard to get into position.
He was to be crucified six hours a day.
Wrapped in a winding sheet that smelt of oil, Onfretd walked along the ramp in the darkness to reach the part of the Tunnel where the cross had been set up. It was an artistic cross rather than a real one: it had several devices designed to make his pose less painful. Even so, Onfretd was sure that no device could spare him all the suffering, and this intimidated him a little.
But he had accepted his chalice. He was a masterpiece, and as such was prepared to suffer. Van Tysch had worked on him for a long while in Edenburg so there would be no mistakes. Of any kind. Everything had to be perfect. As he was signing him the previous day, the Maestro had looked him straight in the eye. 'Don't forget, you are one of my most intimate and personal creations.'
This sincere declaration gave Onfretti the strength to bear all he knew awaited him.
13.05.
Jacob Stein had finished his lunch and sat facing the neat lines of the coffee cup. The Table was solid, one of his own designs. It was made up of a glass top held up by harnesses on the shoulders of four kneeling adolescents bathed in silver. A frieze encircled the entire table, creating swirls between the different figures. The adolescents were almost exactly the same height, but the one on the far left corner was a little taller, which meant the surface of the dark, steaming coffee in the cup was slightly askew. Of course, like all the other decorations in the room, the Table was an illegal piece of furniture worth billions. Stein was absent-mindedly leaning his foot on a silver thigh.
He knew that, unlike his room, Van Tysch's 'zone' in the New Atelier was empty. Stein liked to live surrounded by luxury, and had decorated his dining room according to his own tastes with paintings, ornaments and utensils by Loek, Van der Gaar, Marooder and himself. More than twenty adolescents, some of them motionless, others following choreographed steps, were breathing in the room, and yet the silence was immense. Only Stein appeared alive.
He was going over all he had to do in his mind. By now, all the paintings should be in position inside the Tunnel, waiting for the Maestro. Tine opening was scheduled for six, but Stein would not be there: Benoit would take his place and look after all the dignitaries. His own presence was needed elsewhere, where he also had to look after an extremely important person.
Fuschus, power was another kind of art, he thought. Or perhaps a handicraft, showing the ability to control everything. He had been a real master at it. Now he had to surpass himself. It was a very delicate moment, perhaps the most delicate in the Foundation's entire history, and he had to be up to it.
All at once his secretary Neve appeared at the far end of the room.
Even though he was well aware that the expected moment might happen at any time, the announcement that it had truly arrived made his faun's features relax into a happy grin. He stood up leaning on the Table, producing nothing more than a slight quiver from the four silvery girls – and a blink from the one on whose thigh he had been resting his foot – and made for the door.
His visitor stood fascinated for a moment in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at all the warm bodies decorating the room. This was soon followed by a beaming smile and a shake of Stein's hand.
