David’s enterprise- to catch a forger.
“Well, not exactly. You know, Ace, there’s a big difference between a fake and a forgery.”
“There’s nothing wrong with an artist creating a work in the style of another artist…”
“So long as he signs his own name to it.”
“Yes,” David said, as he nodded. “The problem occurs when a work is created for the express purpose of attributing it to another. That is against the law.”
“To put it mildly,” Marc noted. “The drawings had come to Cambiare unattributed. In addition to being from the right period they were also so unique, that Cambiare’s experts finally decided only Michelangelo himself could have conceived of them, much less executed them.
“On top of their artistic opinion, they ran every test. Chemical analysis, x-ray, carbon dating; everything checked out. But the larger the collection became, the more valuable it was. Cambiare had to be certain.”
“And, unfortunately,” David interjected, “even though the art work had come from various sources, odd circumstances began to arise that unsettled them.”
“They hired investigators to check into the provenances of the drawings, and to make a long story short, all were traced back to one gallery here in the States, in the Village.”
“Which, even more coincidentally,” David finished, somewhat chagrined, “four of my students had had dealings with.”
“Four?” Amanda ticked them off. “Mr. Wilde, Professor Angeli, Nathan and… Christine?”
“Bingo. It was decided that David or one of those four must have something to do with what began to look more and more like forgery on a grand scale.”
Amanda stopped them. “But why would the fact that some of your students had used the same gallery implicate you?”
“Well, as a matter of fact,” David began to rub his temples, “it didn’t really. The investigators were clutching at straws, but it was such an extraordinary coincidence they felt there must be some connection somewhere.” He closed his eyes and lay back on the pillows.
The nurse entered with medication and suggested they end their visit.
Marc gave Amanda a sharp look. “Of course David had nothing to do with the drawings. That would have been insane on his part and they realized it soon enough. But it was possible that one of his students might. They decided to enlist his help in catching the perpetrator.”
“If indeed there is a perpetrator,” David added with a wry smile. “There is, of course, the remote possibility the drawings are genuine.”
The thought of such a phenomenal prospect suddenly brought the group to silence.
After a moment’s pause, Amanda continued. “So I became a suspect simply by being in David’s class, not necessarily because I had shown any particular inclination for faking.”
“In a way, yes,” Mark said. “Nobody could figure exactly what was going on, they just wanted David to keep his eyes open. That’s when they called me in to see if I might have any ideas.”
David downed the pills presented by the nurse. She indicated it was time for Amanda and Marc to leave.
“I’m sorry,” David said, his eyes beginning to droop. “My head is starting to pound. How are we doing, Miss Emerson?” He turned to her with a brave smile. “Amanda,” he amended, responding to a look from Marc. “Is our little charade making any more sense?”
Amanda gave the exhausted man a kiss on the cheek, an action that startled him, and after a moment, to which he responded with a wan smile.
“That’s why you two came up with the idea of turning Marc into a Michelangelo model? Thinking the forger might be so excited he might let the cat out of the bag?”
“Yes, exactly. It does seem somewhat far-fetched, but I remembered the class hounding me to find a really superb model, ‘like the great masters might have used.’ Christine was always pushing for better looking men to draw,” he added, slightly embarrassed. “I think I had better beg off any more explanation before I implicate someone unfairly.”
“Thank you, David.” Amanda turned back at the door. “I don’t mean to be so meddlesome but now that I know what’s going on, maybe I can help by keeping my eyes and ears open, too.”
“That would be splendid,” the exhausted man said drowsily, his eyes closing. “Perhaps I’ll see you later this aft…” He was asleep.
Marc and Amanda moved quietly into the hospital hallway.
“Has anybody checked out the Village gallery?” Her mind was racing. “That seems to be the finger in the dike. Suspect art students go in, fake Michelangelos come out.”
“Not yet. Once you alert the gallery they’ve been implicated, the door slams shut, so we were hoping we might hit the nail on the head with this model stuff. Who knows what they might destroy in panic.”
He looked at her sharply. “Amanda. What’s going on in that sneaky little head of yours? Don’t do anything foolish.”
She was annoyed at his tone. “What does that mean? I’m incapable of being clever like the big boys?”
He looked hurt. “You know I didn’t mean that.” He also looked worried. “I’ve got a lot to do today. I don’t need to know you’re off getting into trouble.”
She kissed him on the cheek.
She had just gotten a brilliant idea of how to slip through that gallery door before it had a chance to slam shut. Marc wasn’t the only one who could be someone he was not.
“CISSY, I need your help.”
“I am
“Yes, yes, I know. I’m sorry, blah, blah, blah. C’mon Cissy, you’ve got really great clothes and really great taste. I need you to turn me into a stunning, fashionable, wealthy, art dealer.” That wasn’t exactly accurate, but maybe it would tweak her interest.
It did. She was silent. Amanda could almost hear the wheels grinding at the other end of the phone line and see both their wardrobes being scattered about the apartment for appraisal.
“Jimmy said you were taking the day off. Which I can
“You’ve been talking to Jimmy? My stalwart, young assistant at the office in whom I entrusted my professional corporate career this day?”
Cissy purred. “He called me. He asked me to lunch. I think he wanted to show off a bit. He is a nice man, but…”
“Cissy, he’s a great guy and you know it. You’ve just been fighting it ever since I got you two together when he first came to work for me, that’s all. God knows you’ve given the rest of New York bachelorhood a shot since then. Give Jimmy a chance. You know he’s always thought you were fantastic.” Another pause.
Cissy ruminated. It didn’t take a lot to side-track her.
Amanda hurried on. Cissy could think about her failed relationships later. “I need to convince someone I’ve got more money than sense and I need to do it right away. Challenge? You’ve been wanting to get your hands on me.” That did it.
Two hours later the two young women studied their handiwork.
“You look
Amanda had to admit, she looked pretty spiffy. “I’d think I had a bundle if I had to deal with me.” The skirt of the pale mauve raw silk suit was a bit short for her tastes, but it made her thighs look great. She didn’t think she had ever had a pair of Ferragamos on her feet and they were startlingly high, but they did do amazing things to her ankles and calves.
Cissy had sculpted her hair into a no-nonsense French twist and dusted her face with a make-up so subtle that it could barely be discerned behind the huge dark glasses, though, to Amanda’s eyes, it changed her features so radically it rendered her practically incognito.
