“Besides my gal at the Met, I went out of my way to get it verified. You know my little art world birdies that are always singing, Simon. I spread a little seed, and they sing louder and I heard three songs, all with the same words. One hundred percent? Nope, but it’s a start. Cost me a cool thousand bucks to get them to sing to me.”

“Okay, you done good, LouLou.” Simon handed him an envelope that contained five thousand dollars. LouLou didn’t count it, just slipped the fat envelope inside his cashmere jacket pocket. “Hey, you know what the name of Ian Jorgenson’s yacht is?”

Simon shook his head.

“Night Watch.”

Simon said slowly, “That’s the name of a painting by Rembrandt. That particular painting is hanging in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. I saw it there a couple of years ago.”

LouLou cocked his head to one side, his hairpiece not moving a bit because it was expensive and well made, and gave Simon a cynical smile. “Who knows? Just maybe Night Watch is hanging in Ian’s stateroom, right over his bed. I’ve often wondered how many real paintings there are left in the museums and not beautifully executed fakes.”

“Actually, LouLou, I don’t want to know the answer to that question.”

“Since Sarah Elliott just died some seven years ago, all her materials-the paints, the brushes-still exist. You take a superb talent with an inherent bent toward her sort of technique and visualization, and what you get is so close to the real thing, most people wouldn’t even care if you told them.”

“I hate that.”

“I do, too,” LouLou said. “I need another beer.”

Simon ordered them another round, ate a couple of peanuts out of the bowl on their table, and said, “Remember that forger Eric Hebborn, who wrote that book telling would-be forgers exactly how to do it-what inks, papers, pens, colors, signatures, all of it? Then he up and dies in ninety-six. The cops said it was under mysterious circumstances. I heard it was a private collector who killed Hebborn because a dealer friend had sold him an original Rubens that turned out to be a fake that Hebborn himself had done. Supposedly the dealer died shortly thereafter in a car accident.”

LouLou said, “Yeah, I met old Eric back in the early eighties. Smart as a whip, that guy, and so talented it made you cry. You wondering if it was Olaf Jorgenson who popped him? Hey, Simon, there’s a whole bunch of collectors who’d cut off hands to have a certain medal or stamp or train or painting. They’ve got to have it or life loses its meaning for them. Look, Simon, when you get down to it, they’re the people who keep us in business.”

“I wonder if Olaf ordered all eight paintings. I wonder what he’s paying for them.”

“Huge bucks, my man, huge, count on it. All eight Sarah Elliotts? Don’t know. I haven’t heard any other names floated around. Simon, I heard those eight paintings are owned privately by a member of the Elliott family?”

“Yes, Lily Savich owns them. And therein lies a very long, convoluted tale.” Simon rose, putting a fifty-dollar bill on the table. “LouLou, thank you. You know where to find me. I think I’ll be heading out to California soon to track down one of the major players-Abraham Turkle. He’s English, right?”

“Half Greek. Weird guy. Very eccentric, said to eat only snails that he raises himself.” LouLou shuddered. “You take care around him, Simon. Abe killed a guy who tried to rip him off with his bare hands, just a couple of years ago. So have a care. Hey, this Lily Savich hire you?”

Simon paused, cocked his head to the side. “Not exactly, but that’s about it. I want to get those four paintings back.”

“I hope the others are safe.”

“Much safer than the snails in Abe’s garden. Take care, LouLou.”

“Why are you going after Abe?”

Simon said, “I want to see if I can shake something loose. It’s not just the art scam. There are other folk involved in this deal who have done very bad things, and I want to nail them. Just maybe Abe can help me do that.”

“He won’t help you do squat.”

“We’ll see. His forging days in Hemlock Bay are over. I want to catch him before he takes off to parts unknown. Who knows what I can get out of him.”

“Good luck shaking the wasp nest. You know, I’ve always liked the name Lily,” LouLou said and gave Simon a small salute. Then, when Simon left, LouLou turned his attention to that very pretty lady at the bar who’d kept looking over at them.

15

Quantico

Dr. Hicks said quietly, “Marilyn, tell me, how did Tammy look when she came back to the motel?”

“She had on a coat and she just ripped it apart and showed me her nurse’s uniform. It was soaked with blood.”

“Did she seem pleased?”

“Oh yes. She was crazy happy that she got away. She just kept laughing and rubbing her bloody hands against herself. She loves the feel of fresh blood on her hands.”

“How d-id she get back to the motel? You said her hands were all bloody. Wouldn’t somebody have noticed?”

“I don’t know.” Marilyn looked worried, shaking her head just a bit.

“No, no, that’s okay. It’s not important. Now, you said she was wearing a coat. Do you know where she got the coat?”

“I don’t know. When she came to get me, she was wearing it. It was too big for her, but it covered her arm where she didn’t have one, you know?”

“Yes, I know. Mr. Savich would like to ask you some questions now. Is that all right, Marilyn?”

“Yes. He was nice to me. He’s sexy. I’m kinda sorry that Tammy’s gonna kill him.”

Dr. Hicks raised a thick brow at Savich, no look of shock on his face since he’d heard it all. He just shook his head as Savich eased his chair nearer to Marilyn’s.

“She’s well under, Savich. You know what to do.”

Savich nodded, said, “Marilyn, how are you feeling about Tammy right now?”

She was silent, her forehead creased in a frown, then she shook her head and said slowly, “I think I love her; I’m supposed to since she’s my cousin, but she scares me. I never know what she’s going to do. I think she’d kill me, laugh while she rubbed my blood all over her hands, if she was in the mood, you know?”

“Yes, I know.”

“She’s going to kill you.”

“Yes, she might try, you told me. How do you think she contacts the Ghouls?” Savich ignored Dr. Hicks, who didn’t have a clue who or what the Ghouls were. He just shook his head and repeated the question. “Marilyn?”

“I’ve thought about that, Mr. Savich. I know they were there when she killed that little boy. Maybe, from what she said, she just thinks about them and they come. Or maybe they follow her around and she just says that to prove how powerful she is. Do you know what the Ghouls are?”

“No, I don’t have any idea, Marilyn. You don’t either, do you?”

She shook her head. She was sitting in a comfortable chair, her head leaning back against the cushion, her eyes closed. She’d been staying in a room at the Jefferson dormitory at the FBI complex, watched over by female agents. She’d washed her hair, and they’d given her a clean skirt and sweater. Even hypnotized, she looked pale and frightened, her fingers continually twitching and jerking. He wondered what would happen to her. She had no other family, no education to speak of, and there was Tammy, in the Caribbean, who’d scared her all of her life. He hoped the FBI would find her soon and Marilyn wouldn’t have to be scared of her anymore.

He said, “Has Tammy been to the Caribbean before?”

“Yeah. She and Tommy visited the Bahamas a couple years ago. In the spring, I think.”

“Did they take the Ghouls with them?”

Marilyn frowned and shook her head.

“You don’t know if they killed anyone while they were there?”

“I asked Tommy, and he just laughed and laughed. That was right before he got me pregnant.”