The Girl You Left Behind

silently.
    ‘Perhaps …’ Sean Flaherty
     says. ‘Perhaps, as Henry says, we could at least outline some of the possible
     solutions.’
    ‘Oh, you can outline them,’ says
     Liv.
    ‘There are a number of precedents in
     such cases. One is that Mrs Halston is free to extinguish the claim. Thismeans, Mrs Halston, that you would pay the Lefèvre family the
     value of the painting and retain it.’
    Janey Dickinson doesn’t look up from
     her pad. ‘As I have already stated, the family is not interested in money. They
     want the painting.’
    ‘Oh, right,’ says Liv.
     ‘You think I’ve never negotiated anything before? That I don’t know an
     opening salvo?’
    ‘Liv,’ Henry says again,
     ‘if we could …’
    ‘I know what’s going on here.
     “Oh, no, we don’t want money.” Until we reach a figure that equals a
     lottery win. Then, somehow, everyone manages to get over their hurt feelings.’
    ‘Liv …’ Henry says,
     quietly.
    She lets out a breath. Under the table her
     hands are shaking.
    ‘There are occasions on which an
     agreement has been reached to share the painting. In the case of what we call
     indivisible assets, such as this, it is, admittedly, complicated. But there have been
     cases where parties have agreed to, if you like, timeshare a work of art, or have agreed
     that they will own it jointly but allow it to be shown in a major gallery. This would,
     of course, be accompanied by notices informing visitors both of its looted past and the
     generosity of its previous owners.’
    Liv shakes her head mutely.
    ‘There is the possibility of sale and
     division, where we –’
    ‘No,’ say Liv and Lefèvre
     in unison.
    ‘Ms Halston.’
    ‘Mrs Halston,’ she says.
    ‘Mrs Halston.’ Paul’s tone
     has hardened. ‘I am obliged to inform you that our case is very strong. We have a
     good dealof evidence supporting restitution, and a body of precedent
     that lends weight to our cause. In your own interests, I suggest you think quite
     carefully about the issue of settlement.’
    The room falls silent. ‘Is that meant
     to frighten me?’ Liv asks.
    ‘No,’ he says slowly. ‘But
     it is, I would remind you, in everyone’s best interests for this to be settled
     amicably. It’s not going to go away. I – we are not going to go away.’
    She sees him suddenly, his arm slung across
     her naked waist, his mop of brown hair resting against her left breast. She sees his
     eyes, smiling, in the half-light.
    She lifts her chin a little.
     ‘She’s not yours to take,’ she says. ‘I’ll see you in
     court.’
    They are in Henry’s office. She has
     drunk a large whisky. She has never in her life drunk whisky in daytime, but Henry has
     poured her one, as if it is totally expected. He waits a few minutes as she takes a
     couple of sips.
    ‘I should warn you, it will be an
     expensive case,’ he says, leaning back in his chair.
    ‘How expensive?’
    ‘Well, in many cases the artwork has
     had to be sold after the case simply to pay the legal fees. There was a claimant in
     Connecticut recently who recovered stolen works worth twenty-two million dollars. But
     they owed more than ten million in legal fees to one lawyer alone. We will need to pay
     experts, especially French legal experts, given the painting’s history. And these
     cases can drag on, Liv.’
    ‘But they have to pay our costs if we
     win, yes?’
    ‘Not necessarily.’
    She digests this. ‘Well, what are we
     talking – five figures?’
    ‘I would bank on six. It depends on
     their firepower. But they do have precedent on their side.’ Henry shrugs.
     ‘We can prove that you have good title. But there do seem to be gaps in this
     painting’s history, as it stands, and if they have evidence that it was removed in
     wartime, then …’
    ‘Six figures?’ she says,
     standing and pacing around the room. ‘I can’t believe this. I can’t
     believe someone can just walk into my life and demand to take something that belongs to
     me. Something I’ve owned for ever.’
    ‘Their case is far from watertight.
     But I have to point out that the political climate is in favour of claimants at the
     moment. Sotheby’s sold thirty-eight such works last year. It sold none a decade
     earlier.’
    She feels electrified, her nerve endings
     still jangling from the encounter. ‘He’s – they’re not having
     her,’ she says.
    ‘But the money. You implied you were
     stretched