EPILOGUE ONE
Venice 3 days later
It was late afternoon and though the sun was out, the temperature hovered in the mid-sixties with stiff winds making it seem colder. Delta, wearing a gray cotton body stocking and a black dustercoat, parked the hydroplane to a quay and lashed it. Kevin got out, hand wrapped and arm in a sling, and the two of them took the short walk to Harry's Bar. Kevin wore black Levi's and a white jersy top. His Australian duster was draped over his shoulders.
Harry's Bar was almost empty, with only a few patrons seated at the long oak bar and a few more at tables in the restaurant area. Delta and Kevin had no trouble spotting Karen sitting at a table in the corner. A long plastic tube leaned against the window near her. She stood and hugged both of them, being especially careful of Kevin's torso. The three of them sat down and ordered drinks.
"What's that?" Delta asked, pointing to the tube.
"That's for you and Kevin," Karen said, passing it to Delta. "A little thank you from the Vatican City for your part in uncovering a scam system that's been going on for 20 years. It's an original by the artist who'd been doing the forgeries. Man had one hell of a conscience. For each forgery he produced, he would do an original. He must have done at least 12 paintings which he kept locked away from everyone. He's quite good. Conscience finally got the better of him and he committed suicide a couple of years ago."
Delta opened the tube, slid the painting out, and unrolled it. It was done in oil, of Venice in moonlight, meticulously rendered. It was signed Bishop Bridein. "It's beautiful," Delta said before returning the painting to the tube. "So let me guess--He produced the forgeries which Cardinal Fallini and his bishops Varian and Sylvanus would auction off as the real thing and split the procedes. That is, after the real paintings had been stolen and the insurance money collected, which makes the president of the insurance company part of the scam."
"What happened to the real paintings and how do the Japanese fit in?" Kevin asked.
Karen took a sip of her Manhattan Iced Tea. "Cardinal Fallini, unknown to everyone else, had Bridein produce a third Birth of Venus, which he switched with the real one. That's probably what pushed Bridein to commit suicide.
"So Mattisse steals the third forgery, thinking it's the real McCoy. Somehow, the Japanese got wind of the theft and see it as an opportunity to get their hands on Rennaissance artwork. Imagine their surprise when the painting they received in private from the cardinal after he'd collected the insurance money, turned out to be the fake. So, come auction time, the Japanese think that the one being sold is not a fake after all, but the real McCoy. First they try to outbuy everyone. Failing that, they try to steal it."
"So why did they torch it?" Delta asked.
"They discovered that the one at the auction was also a fake and got pissed off. They must have killed the cardinal and the bishops in an effort to find the real one. Then they went looking for it at Mattisse's, thinking he had been the double crosser."
"The cardinal probably bumped off Mattisse because he got greedy," Delta said.
"Anyway, mix in one U.N. agent investigating the insurance claim, two international detectives, incriminating evidence sent by a dead man, a pissed off mob queen, and a group of pissed off Japanese, and you have a big mess. They'll be months untangling this one. Funny thing though. They found one of the checks from the insurance claim--4.2 million. The one for 6.5 is missing..."
