A Range Rover swept past her, its tyres drumming noisily over the cobbled street, the sunlight winking in its heavily tinted windows. She checked the plates, confirming that it was the same car that had already driven past twice this morning. According to the list she had in front of her, it was registered in Razi’s name.
This time, rather than drive on, the Range Rover drew up outside the gallery. As the driver’s door opened, a girl ran out of the building. A man stepped from the vehicle and scurried inside, Jennifer just catching a glimpse of the back of his head before he vanished. The girl meanwhile clambered in, adjusted the driver’s seat and pulled sedately away, Jennifer guessing that she had gone to park it somewhere. She gave it a few minutes and then followed the man inside, the file clutched under one arm.
The gallery was a large, open-plan space, every inch of which had been painted an unforgivably clinical white. Despite its size, there couldn’t have been more than fifteen paintings on display, small islands of colour marooned amidst the walls’ featureless expanse, each illuminated by a single brushed-steel spotlight that protruded from the ceiling like a medical implant.
‘I’d like to speak to Mr Razi, please,’ Jennifer instructed the receptionist, holding out her ID.
‘He’s in a meeting right now,’ the receptionist trilled through a saccharine smile. ‘Can I take a message?’
‘You must be Agent Browne.’
Jennifer looked up to where the accented voice had come from. A man was beaming down at her over the mezzanine level’s railings like a ringmaster welcoming her to the circus.
‘Mr Razi?’
She stepped back to get a better view. He had a swarthy face and a pencil-thin moustache dyed an unlikely shade of black to match his carefully styled hair. According to the file he was in his early fifties, but he looked older, and the diamond stud in his left ear suggested someone clinging by his fingertips to the rock-face of youth. Amidst the sterile surroundings, his vibrant purple velvet suit seemed almost unreal, and made him look as if he had been superimposed against the gallery walls.
Without answering, he stepped away from the balustrade and made his way down to her, each heavy footstep making the spiral staircase vibrate with a dull clang. He held out his hand and, as she shook it, he bowed theatrically. A thatch of long dark hairs poked out from under the cuff of his starched white shirt and now she was closer she could see that his face was pitted with acne scars.
‘Hudson said you’d come.’ He pressed a hand over his mouth, affecting surprise, his English strangely stilted. ‘Was that very wrong of him?’
‘Not wrong. Just not ideal.’
‘You must forgive him,’ Razi pleaded, bringing his hands together as if in prayer, the large gold rings that adorned every finger glinting like brass knuckles. ‘He thought I should know. It is my painting, after all.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said with a shrug, not wanting to put Razi on the defensive. Not yet at least. ‘We’re all after the same thing.’
‘And what is that?’
‘To figure out what’s going on, as fast as we can.’
‘Exactly!’ He smiled in agreement, the faint glint of several gold teeth coming from the back of his mouth. ‘I hope you didn’t waste too much time this morning?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I drove past at eight o’clock and saw you outside. And again at quarter past. Were you hoping to see anything in particular?’
Jennifer paused. She was less worried at having been spotted than intrigued as to why Razi had felt it necessary to drive past his gallery twice before finally going inside.
‘Why don’t we sit down?’ she suggested.
‘By all means.’ He nodded towards a secluded area at the rear of the gallery where a white leather divan had been provocatively placed at a forty-five-degree angle across the floorspace. Jennifer instinctively wanted to straighten it. They sat down and he turned to face her with his palms resting on his knees.
‘We should start with a few questions, if that’s okay?’
‘You are very beautiful, Agent Browne.’ Razi smiled, his nostrils flaring slightly as he spoke. ‘But I expect many men tell you that.’
Jennifer gazed at Razi unblinkingly. She knew that in his business, the ability to read people was the key to convincing someone to pay a hundred thousand for something worth fifty. She therefore took the compliment as a sighting shot to calibrate how he should play her, rather than a line. Having said that, from what she’d seen so far, Razi was also a performer. One who clearly liked to keep his audience slightly off-balance. Either way, her best policy was not to react.
‘When did you buy the Gauguin?’
Razi sat back resignedly and began to slowly crack his knuckles in turn. ‘About ten years ago. At the time, people said I overpaid, but a Gauguin is a Gauguin, whatever the period.’
‘And you never doubted its authenticity?’
‘Never.’ Razi was adamant, his hand movements becoming more animated. ‘Its provenance was beyond suspicion. The documentation proved it. I can supply you with copies of everything.’
‘So the existence of a second work has taken you by surprise?’
‘Absolutely.’ Razi gave a vehement nod.
‘The seller is a major Japanese corporation.’
‘It’s always the Japanese these days.’ He shrugged. ‘The economy’s not what it used to be. Russia, on the other hand – now that’s a market.’
‘Have you ever come across a forgery yourself?’
‘Not that I can recall.’ He gave another shrug.
‘And yet you buy and sell a lot of paintings, don’t you?’
‘It depends on what you mean by “a lot”.’
‘Lord Hudson said that you were a good client of his.’ She opened her file and consulted one of the typewritten pages inside. ‘I counted fifteen purchases and twenty sales in the past three years from Sotheby’s alone.’
‘Is that file on me?’ Razi’s tone hardened.
‘Parts of it, yes.’ Jennifer flipped the cover shut. Although it wasn’t exactly standard procedure, she’d brought the file in with her precisely to see how Razi would react when he saw it. So far, he seemed more offended than concerned.
‘Am I a suspect, Agent Browne?’ He drew back and glared at her.
‘No more than I am, Mr Razi,’ Jennifer said in a conciliatory tone. ‘But if we’re going to get a result, we need to have a fuller picture of you and your business. After all, this could have been done by a client or a supplier. Someone who bore a personal grudge and wanted to damage your reputation.’
‘I have no enemies.’ Razi shook his head firmly. ‘I left them all behind in Iran. Here, in America, I am with friends. Many, many friends.’
‘What about Herbie Hammon?’
Again she saw a flash of impatience in his eyes.
‘Herbie and I are … are very close.’