“That would be unethical.”
“Red or white?”
“Perhaps we should start with white,” suggested the general.
“How about a lovely chardonnay from Alto Adige?”
“If you insist.”
Veronica gave their order to the sommelier, who went in search of the bottle. General Ferrari admired the view of Rome for a moment before turning once more to Gabriel.
“Perhaps you should start from the beginning.”
“An apprentice restorer at the Vatican Museums discovers a lost portrait by Leonardo da Vinci hidden beneath a worthless Madonna and Child. The head of the Vatican conservation lab asks the world’s leading Leonardist to have a look at the painting. The world’s leading Leonardist assures him that it is not a Leonardo, though he suspects the opposite is true.”
“Why would he do a thing like that?” asked General Ferrari.
“The most logical explanation is that he wanted the painting for himself. Or a piece of it, at least.”
“Are you suggesting he entered into a conspiracy?”
Gabriel gave a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders. “Let’s call it a partnership.”
“With whom?”
“An organization with the wherewithal to steal the painting from the storage rooms of the Vatican Picture Gallery.”
“The Camorra?”
“So it would appear.”
“But why did they kill him?”
“It’s possible that he had outlived his usefulness.”
“At what point?”
“The minute he told his partners that the painting was an autograph work by Leonardo da Vinci.”
General Ferrari considered this for a moment. “Forgive me, but I have a hard time picturing Giorgio Montefiore hammering out a deal to steal a lost Leonardo with some Camorra chieftain in Secondigliano or Scampia.”
“So do I,” replied Gabriel. “There has to be more to the story.”
“Such as?”
“A Vatican connection.”
“Beyond the museum guard?”
Gabriel nodded.
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” General Ferrari opened his attaché case and removed Gabriel’s composite sketch of Father Spada, the priest who was not a priest. “How on earth did he get past the Swiss Guards?”
“Someone arranged for him to have a private audience with His Holiness.”
“Surely you’re joking.”
“I wish I was. It was an unforgivable lapse in papal security.”
