The Rembrandt Affair

wooden dowel from the trolley to demonstrate. “Liddell had begun removing the dirty varnish from the painting. He would have wound the cotton around the end of this and twirled it gently over the surface. When it became soiled, he would have dropped it on the floor and made a new one. He must have been working when the thief entered the house.”
    “How can you be sure?”
    “Because a good restorer always cleans up his studio at the end of a session. And Christopher Liddell was a good restorer.”
    Gabriel looked at the camera. It was attached by a cable to a large-screen iMac computer, which stood at one end of an antique library table with leather inlay. Next to the computer was a stack of monographs dealing with Rembrandt’s life and work, including Gustaaf van Berkel’s indispensable Rembrandt: The Complete Paintings .
    “I’d like to see the photographs he made of the canvas.”
    Harkness appeared to search his mind for a reason to object, but could find none. With Chiara peering over his shoulder, Gabriel powered on the computer and clicked on a folder labeled REMBRANDT, PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN . Inside were eighteen photos, including several that had been taken after Liddell had begun the process of removing the varnish. Three of the shots seemed to focus on a pair of thin lines—one perfectly vertical, the other perfectly horizontal—that converged a few centimeters from Hendrickje’s left shoulder. Gabriel had encountered many types of surface creasing during his long career, but these were unusual in both their faintness and regularity. It was obvious the lines had intrigued Liddell as well.
    There was one more thing Gabriel needed from the computer. It was the duty of every restorer to keep a record of the procedures carried out on a painting, especially one as important as a newly discovered Rembrandt. Though Liddell was still early in the restoration process at the time of his death, it was possible he had recorded some of his initial observations. Without asking for permission, Gabriel started the word-processing program and opened the most recent document. It was two pages in length and written in Liddell’s precise, scholarly prose. Gabriel read it quickly, his face an inscrutable mask. Resisting the impulse to click PRINT , he closed the document, along with the photo folder.
    “Anything unusual?” the detective asked.
    “No,” said Gabriel, “nothing at all.”
    “Is there anything else you would like to see?”
    Gabriel switched off the computer and said, “Just one more thing.”

10
    GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND
    T hey stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the landing and stared silently down at the dried blood. “I have photographs,” said the detective, “but I’m afraid they’re not for the squeamish.”
    Gabriel wordlessly held out his hand and accepted a stack of eight-by-ten prints—Christopher Liddell, eyes frozen wide in death, a gaping exit wound at the base of his throat, a small entry wound in the center of his forehead. Again, Harkness watched Gabriel intently, plainly intrigued by his failure to register even a hint of revulsion at the sight of a brutally murdered corpse. Gabriel handed the photos to Chiara, who examined them with a similar dispassion before returning them to the detective.
    “As you can see,” he said, “Liddell was shot twice. Both rounds exited the victim and were recovered. One from the wall, the other from the floor.”
    Gabriel examined the wall first. The bullet hole was located approximately three feet above the floor, opposite the flight of stairs descending from the studio.
    “I assume this is the neck shot?”
    “That’s correct.”
    “Nine millimeter?”
    “You obviously know your weaponry, Mr. Rossi.”
    Gabriel looked up toward the third-floor studio. “So the killer fired from the top of the stairs?”
    “We don’t have a final report yet, but the angle of the wound, combined with the angle that the round entered the wall, would suggest that. The medical examiner says the shot struck the victim in the back of the neck, shattering the fourth cervical vertebra and severing the spinal cord.”
    Gabriel looked at the crime-scene photographs again. “Judging from the powder burns on Liddell’s forehead, the second shot was fired at close range.”
    “A few inches,” Harkness agreed. Then he looked at Gabriel and added provocatively, “I suppose a professional assassin might refer to that one as the control