He repeated the exercise along the crack between the middle and right-side slabs. The strip slid through the length without resistance. The forensic man had been right. The three slabs that made up the altar stone were not attached to each other.
This meant two things. First, the altar top had been designed as three separate pieces that were structurally independent of each other. And second, if they were structurally separate, they should be able to move independently of each other.
He crouched on the floor and shone his torch into one of the small cabinets–more cubbyholes than cabinets–built into the wooden supports that held up the ends of the altar top. It was empty. He did the same thing at the cubbyhole at the other end of the altar. Same result–it too was empty.
Athreya stood up and considered the possibilities. Had the cubbyholes contained something? Had Sebastian’s murderer taken away whatever they had contained? Or did the cubbyholes serve an entirely different purpose? If they did, they warranted a closer examination.
He lay down on the floor with his head at the opening of one of the cubbyholes. Resting one cheek on the floor, he peered into the dark recess. The torch that was pressed to his other cheek cast a beam into the space. At first glance, the black-painted interior seemed empty and featureless.
After a few moments, he noticed what seemed to be a small plastic box–also black–attached to the roof of the compartment at the very corner. It seemed to be a small connection box or some sort of device that came along with electronic gadgets. On closer examination, he saw the bulge of a tiny LED bulb peeping out of a hole in the box. It was the kind of LED that served as an indicator whether the box was receiving power or not.
Athreya rose and went to the large cupboard at one end of the dais and opened it. He had earlier seen a row of switches there. Several of them were already on. He flipped down the rest, one by one. A few more lights came to life, but two switches seemed to do nothing.
Leaving them on, he returned to the cubbyhole and peered into it. The tiny LED was now glowing red. Still lying down with his cheek pressed against the floor, he probed the box with his fingers. He found a small gap between it and the side wall of the compartment.
He moved his face so he could peer into this gap. At once, he saw four wires–two black and two red–running from the plastic box into the wood.
He raised himself on his elbows and sat cross-legged on the floor, his mind churning. He was beginning to see why the altar had attracted so much attention. He now viewed the gilded altar with fresh eyes, taking in the solid combination of wood, stone and metal. Two polished wood cabinets and five metal pillars supported the heavy altar stone, which itself comprised three sections. The two end sections of the stone rested on the wooden cabinets, while the middle section stood on the metal pillars.
Having studied the cabinets, he transferred his attention to the pillars. They were made of stainless steel, and were each about five inches thick. The bottom ends had been embedded into the stone floor and fastened with metal brackets. But the top ends had not.
Rather than being attached to the stone slab they supported, the top ends of the pillars ran into slightly larger stainless-steel tubes that were about three inches long. The fit was perfect. The three-inch-long metal tubes–which were attached to the stone slab with brackets–were just large enough for the five pillars to fit snugly into them.
Athreya slowly stood up and looked around. He was alone in the chapel. Sebastian’s body lay where he had fallen, waiting for the police and the forensic team to arrive. Athreya went to the large cupboard at the end of the dais and turned off the switches. The lights over the aisle continued to glow as he made his way to the door.
There, he stood for a moment looking down at the still form of Sebastian. He slowly shook his head and walked out. He now knew the secret of the chapel. He knew what had brought Phillip and Sebastian’s murderer there.
What he needed was confirmation and corroborative evidence.
Back in his room, Athreya found that he had received a message. His contact in Delhi had obtained new information from Europe, and had sent it to Athreya in the wee hours of the night. There were seventeen pieces of information related to significant happenings in the art world around Vienna in 1994 and 1995. Athreya read through them one by one and marked out three pieces:
MARCEL FESSLER KILLED
Marcel Fessler, a reclusive art collector aged 77, was accidentally killed when a burglar broke into his suburban home with the intent of stealing pieces of art from his collection. It is believed that the burglar was surprised by Mr Fessler. When the burglar employed force in a bid to escape, Mr Fessler fell and hit his head on the base of a marble statue and died. The burglar escaped without carrying out his intent to steal pieces of art. Having been seen by two witnesses while fleeing, the burglar was identified as one Jacob Lopez, and later apprehended. He was sentenced to twelve years’ imprisonment for manslaughter and attempted burglary.
Note: Jacob Lopez was released from prison in 2007.
KÜNZI BROTHERS KILLED IN CAR CRASH
The two Künzi Brothers, suspected to be dealers in stolen art, and possibly art thieves themselves, died in a car crash when the vehicle they were travelling in went off a mountainous road in the Danube valley, forty miles north-west of Vienna. The car is
