Текст книги "The Bosch Deception"

Автор книги: Alex Connor

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

Nineteen

Even though he had reported Sabine Monette’s murder, Philip Preston was treated with suspicion, questioned repeatedly about why he had come to Paris. He had regained his composure, his fluent French an asset as he reiterated his account.

‘I came to see Madame Monette about auctioning some of her belongings … She had been a client of mine for some years … No, I don’t know what she wished to sell – that was why I came to Paris to talk to her … Check with Reception, they will tell you when I arrived … My own hotel will confirm that I was there all morning … I had no reason to harm Madame. Indeed, I had not seen her for several months …’

Finally the French police released Philip after he had given a statement, his composure hardly that of a man who had just butchered a woman. And besides, the killing had been a particularly brutal one and Philip Preston didn’t have a mark on him. Whoever had killed Sabine Monette would have had her blood on them and would have been unlikely to report her murder. Reluctantly, after taking his details, the French police released the English auctioneer.

Philip headed back to his hotel room. He had only been in for a few moments before the phone rang.

‘Where were you?’

He frowned at the sound of his wife’s voice. ‘I was just about to call you, Gayle.’

‘I rang and rang. They said you were out.’

‘I was … seeing a client.’

‘A woman?’

‘Gayle,’ he said wearily, ‘it was business.’ He knew at once that he couldn’t tell her about the murder of Sabine Monette. It would only throw her further off balance. ‘I’ll call you back later, darling—’

‘But aren’t you coming home?’

‘Yes,’ he said hastily. ‘Of course I am. I’ll be back this afternoon. I’ll catch the Eurostar.’

‘I miss you when you’re away.’

‘I miss you too.’

‘I love you,’ she said achingly. ‘D’you love me?’

Preoccupied, Philip reached into his pocket and pulled out Sabine Monette’s mobile; staring at it. But he wasn’t thinking about the Frenchwoman or his wife – he was thinking about his mistress, Kim Fields. Mistress, hoping to be wife. In time. When he could work up enough courage to tell Gayle she’d been ousted.

‘Do you love me?’ she repeated.

‘Of course, darling,’ he replied. ‘As much as I’ve ever done.’

Putting down the phone, Philip continued to think of Kim. He needed more money. Much more. Because Gayle’s lawyer would screw him in a divorce. And Kim wasn’t the kind of woman to stay around if he were poor … Philip frowned. He didn’t like confrontation. His speciality was guile. He could slide in and out of situations, wheedle his way around. Sleight of mind and sleight of heart.

Flicking on Sabine Monette’s stolen mobile, Philip grimaced as he noticed a blood speck and rubbed it on the coverlet of the hotel bed. Running down the list of her contacts, he paused as he read Nicholas Laverne’s mobile number, followed by those of Gerrit der Keyser and Hiram Kaminski. So did the kindly Mr Kaminski know about the Bosch chain too? If so, he would definitely want it. An expert on the late Middle Ages, Kaminski was venerated for his knowledge and liked for his honesty. It wouldn’t be Kaminski’s way to play hardball. Not like Gerrit der Keyser.

Three of them already in the running. And how long before the infamous Conrad Voygel joined the race?

Philip continued to look through Sabine’s contacts. He felt sick about her death. Not because he had been particularly fond of her, but because her murder looked bad for him. If he had had any doubts about the motive, the initials H B slashed into her skin would have removed them. This was about the chain. And something else. What the chain had held. Wasn’t that what Nicholas Laverne had said? Before he’d been spooked and left …

Philip sat on the edge of his hotel bed, thinking back. Nicholas had been ready to confide until Carel Honthorst walked in. Obviously Nicholas hadn’t believed Philip’s pretence at ignorance. He had seen Honthorst at the auction house and it had thrown a scare into him. Quickly, Philip glanced over at the hotel door, checking it was locked. His recollection of the Dutchman had been brief, but he knew enough about him to be worried. Gerrit der Keyser might pretend that Honthorst had only threatened Sabine Monette, but now she was dead.

Slowly Philip ran through the messages on Sabine Monette’s phone. One was from her maid, another from her hairdresser, and a third from Nicholas Laverne.

Hello, Sabine.

I’m pleased you’re at the George V. Keep yourself safe. Don’t talk to anyone and I’ll be with you soon. Meanwhile, here are some photographs to look at. These are photos of the 28 papers I found. And their explanation. They are authentic. I’ve had three specialists working on then. When you receive these, buy a new mobile phone and download them on to that. Then delete them off this mobile and dump it. This is important. We are on to something which will discredit the Catholic Church and the art world. But you must be careful, Sabine, and discreet. Do not let down your guard.

With affection,

Nicholas

Papers, photographs, explanations. Something that would discredit the Catholic Church and the art world. What a messy can of worms … Philip’s hands were shaking as he opened the attachments, images of pieces of paper covered in Gothic handwriting. Scribbled, scrawled in faint script, some letters and words missing, the paper foxed, spotted with damp. But legible. Not to him – but they would be decipherable to the specialists Nicholas Laverne had employed.

He scrolled down the entries, pausing when he came to the translations reproduced underneath the originals.

Paper 1

Hieronymus Bosch, of ’s-hertogen, endured much suffering, like Our Lord.

Philip stared at the words. Were these words really about Hieronymus Bosch? Why the suffering? What suffering?

Paper 2

The Brotherhood of Our Lady. Bought and bribed.

Paper 3

Hidden away. Worked from dawn until t … (letters missing) light fades. His father puts the swan to death.

His father puts the swan to death … What did that mean? Philip wondered. He realised that the translations were contemporary to the time, the late Middle Ages, and would be accurate to the originals, but they were hard to decipher.

He read on.

Paper 4

Paid for Hell … (missing word) living there. Demons and chimeras for sole company.

Paper 5

The Brotherhood h … (missing letters) commissioned an Altarpiece. They ask to terrorise the congregation.

Paper 6

Hieronymus sickens with fever. From Holland comes the … (missing word) of plague. Father has taken to locking the door.

Philip paused, shocked by what he was reading. The plague had swept across Europe and killed many, but what did the words mean – Father has taken to locking the door? Did they refer to plague victims? Or one victim in particular, Bosch himself?

Paper 7

Jan van Aken, died this day October 11th 14—Prayers said for his soul, that He might enter Heaven. What justice …? (missing words)

Paper 8

Hieronymus told me of his dreams; of frightful ogres, men w … (missing letters) fishes heads and naked lovers burning.

So Bosch dreamed his monsters, Philip thought. They came to him at night … He could imagine how the art world would salivate over the news – a precious insight into the macabre world of Hieronymus Bosch.

Paper 9

From his window he regards St John’s. A spire …… (missing word) to prick the Devil.

Paper 10

His brother, Goossen, sits outside his door at night. No one comes, or calls Hieronymus.

Paper 11

The Zoete Lieve Vrouw, in St John’s church. The Virgin who works miracles. Pray for our Child, our lost boy.

Our lost boy … Was Hieronymus a victim of plague? Had he faced death? Philip paused. The artist was in his sixties when he died, so he must have recovered. Well done, The Zoete Lieve Vrouw, Philip thought wryly, thinking of how the statue was supposed to work miracles.

Paper 12

God’s men are liars. The clergy barters worse than do the cloth merchants.

Paper 13

Antonius seeks more favour from the Brotherhood. Money fattens him … (missing words) … silence.

Philip paused. He felt a tremor go through him – a mixing of excitement and fear.

Paper 14

They work him like there is so little time. When he sleeps, ’tis fitful, dreaming of the dead.

Paper 15

Both of them deserve … (two missing words?) … favour meant for another.

Again Philip paused, glancing up at the hotel door. Footsteps passed, then silence. He turned back to the image on the phone.

Paper 16

Days pass, crouched like a spider, locked … summer and winter bring no release.

Paper 17

The widower, Antonius, takes a whore … (missing word) with money and promise of land.

Paper 18

Commissions flow like communion wine into … (missing word) the coffers of Bosch, the dupe of Brotherhood.

Paper 19

Inside himself, working the Devil out. The Church asks Satan to deliver them in paint.

Confused, Philip re-read the last piece. The Church asks Satan to deliver them in paint. But if that were supposed to imply that Bosch was hired to save the congregation’s souls, why was he placed in the guise of Satan? Philip looked at his watch, careful of the time, not wanting to miss his flight but reluctant to stop reading. What he was looking at was incendiary.

Paper 20

Forgeries passed without question, entries to … (missing word) record of the Brotherhood tell the fate of a ghost.

Paper 21

1479 – the whore is taken as the spectre’s bride. They sleep in winding sheets.

Paper 22

Antonius died this year 1480. His placing in … (missing word) Brotherhood passed down to son. Secret buried under the Catholic stone.

Philip frowned, unable to make sense of what he was reading. He realised that the Church was being criticised, but didn’t understand why. The pieces were little more than riddles.

A knock on the door interrupted him. He opened it half an inch and looked out to see a bellboy standing in the corridor outside.

‘Excuse me, sir, I’m just reminding you that you have to leave the room in the next half an hour.’ He tried to peer round the door but Philip blocked his view. ‘And a message came for you.’

‘The phone didn’t ring.’

‘It was a hand-delivered message to Reception, Mr Preston,’ the bellboy replied, passing a note through the gap in the door.

Snatching it, Philip opened the folded paper. It was blank.

‘Is this some kind of joke?’

‘What?’

‘It’s blank. There’s nothing on it.’

‘What?’ the bellboy said again, confused.

‘There’s nothing on the note!’ Philip snapped, passing it back to the bellboy and closing the door.

Irritated, he picked up the mobile phone again. But seconds later there was another knock on the door. Philip opened it and glowered at the bellboy.

‘Now what?’

‘The manager told me to tell you that he was sorry about the mix-up, but there had been a message left for you. I know you said the paper was blank, but the manager said there was a verbal message, sir.’

Philip sighed. ‘Which was?’

‘Just one word. Bosch.’ The bellboy looked embarrassed. ‘I think that’s how it was pronounced—’

‘Who gave you the message?’

‘The gentleman spoke to the manager over the phone.’

‘Did they leave a name?’

‘No, sir, and no contact number,’ the bellboy replied. ‘The manager told me to tell you that they said they would be in touch.’

Philip nodded abruptly and closed the door again. Now he knew he was being watched. He thought of Carel Honthorst and began to sweat, then turned back to the phone, his hands shaking.

Paper 23

Hieronymus Bosch is famous to the world … (missing word) such fortune do his paintings bring to Church and family alike.

Paper 24

The Brotherhood will brook no argument. Bosch is the tool to buckle sinners. His works show Hell and Heaven as must be seen. They say God would forgive.

God would forgive … what? Philip wondered. What had Bosch done to need forgiveness? And secrecy.

Paper 25

Goossen, the brother, grows older, rearing against … (missing word) the name not his. Threatened by clergy, he mourns the man who was. The one he seeks to emulate.

Paper 26

Family and riches, church and choir, The lie that corrupts the Catholic spire.

Paper 27

Hieronymus the recluse, keeps … (missing word) his rooms. Unseen amongst gargoyles and the dead men. Rich in his winding sheet, under the maggot church.

And then the last piece of writing.

Paper 28

In this place or abroad, none know Hieronymus Bosch is but a dead man. Died in the year of our Lord and his mother, Our Lady. 1473

Philip gripped the phone.

Then he re-read the entry.

1473. Hieronymus Bosch died in 1473!

It wasn’t possible. What little anyone knew of the artist for certain was his death date – 1516. But now he was reading evidence that Bosch had died in 1473 and that his family and the Catholic Church had kept his death a secret.

Philip took in a long, slow breath. No wonder everyone was so keen to get hold of the chain, so eager to be the possessor of such devastating information. There had been a conspiracy, a cover-up, dating back to the Middle Ages. The Bosch family and the Church had banded together, pretending that Hieronymus was still alive. The reason was obvious – money.

‘Christ,’ Philip said out loud. He could imagine how the art world would take the news, how the prices of Bosch’s works might plummet if it was discovered others had faked him, passing off their works as those of the dead Master. It would be a catastrophe. Philip paused, his thoughts leap frogging. How much would someone pay for such news? How much would they pay for the chain? The papers? Jesus, if he got his hands on them he was made.

He had to admire the plot. Of course the Bosch family could have pulled it off. All of them were painters: the grandfather, the father and the brothers. When Antonius died, the writings stated clearly that his son took over. One? Or all of them? How easy to perpetuate the fraud with the collusion of the Catholic Church. The Church, which was rich and powerful. The Church, which wanted to keep its congregation under control.

Bosch’s visions of Heaven and Hell had done just that. Goodness rewarded in The Garden of Earthly Delights, evil punished by the obscenities of Hell. When the papers were written the world was still in the grip of the Middle Ages; it was to be a while before civilisation saw the light of reason. The rich and oppressive Catholic Church wielded absolute power, the means to control the people secured by the imagination of Brabant’s visionary, Hieronymus Bosch. It had been his images of Hell and damnation, his painted tortures and distortions, which had frightened the congregation into pious submission. In a time when superstition was rife, when the world was still believed to be flat, when dragons and chimeras haunted the minds of men, there was a terrible power in paint.

For the wicked, Bosch promised a torment of legless creatures swallowing the damned whole, of tortoises with Death’s heads and winged demons with tiger’s claws. He painted ships on fire, the naked and the doomed screaming as devils dragged them into the darkness and the lost chasms of Hell. He created men seduced by pigs; bodies impaled, halved and devoured by alligators; men with arrows in their anuses; women ridden by demons. Bodies distorted, abused, bleeding, violated – and the message was there for everyone to see. Even if the congregation could not read or write the paintings told them – this is the result of sin. This is the reward for the wicked.

For the virtuous, Bosch painted a Heaven of plenty and beauty. But only for the good.

It was a message the Catholic Church had preached for centuries, and it found its perfect expression in Hieronymus Bosch. Paint and panel managed to do what popes and soldiers could not – they forced obedience by the use of fear.

Philip paused, thinking of what he had just learnt. In reality, Hieronymus Bosch had only lived for twenty-three years. Long enough to become famous, his visions and images immediately recognisable – and easy to reproduce. Hieronymus Bosch had created a template for his family to follow. God only knows how many paintings he had done while he was alive or how many sketches and drawings had been created by him – all ready for his avaricious family to draw upon. With the collusion of the Church, all they had had to do was to secure, and fulfil, the endless commissions.

Work for a dead man.

Paid for by a deceitful clergy.

Hieronymus Bosch was to have no headstone, no mourning. His death was never to be acknowledged; his marriage a sham. And then Philip realised something else: the only documents known to the world concerning Hieronymus Bosch were the entries in the account books of The Brotherhood of Mary. Entries that were obviously false, recording a life made up, created to keep a corpse alive. And with those entries came the counterfeit commissions. The man had died long ago, but the name had been made to work on.

Getting to his feet, Philip hid Sabine Monette’s mobile at the bottom of his suitcase and grabbed his coat. He understood why the world would want a chain that had belonged to Hieronymus Bosch, but how much more would the Catholic Church want the secret suppressed?

He would have to be very careful to profit from this, Philip thought. He was in trouble, and he knew it. No wonder Sabine Monette had been killed. There were a few collectors and dealers ruthless enough to employ any means to secure something priceless – and scandalous. The chain wasn’t just an object of beauty, it was a revelation. And it might well prove to be his way to a cushy life … Philip paused, his fear giving way to greed. This could be a way to dump Gayle and marry his mistress. A way to flaunt his success to his peers and relish the fortune that was sure to be his.

Or it might mean his destruction. Only this time it would be his body in a hotel room, the notorious initials H B carved into his dying flesh.

Bloody hell, Philip thought despairingly. Why, in God’s name, had he taken Sabine Monette’s phone?

Twenty

Church of St Stephen, Fulham, London

‘I thought I’d find you here.’

Nicholas turned, surprised to find Eloise Devereux standing in the doorway of the vestry. She was bundled up against the cold in a tailored coat, her blonde hair tucked under a black hat. Elegant, groomed as always, although her eyes were swollen from crying. ‘I have to talk to you about Claude.’

Closing the vestry door so that Father Michael wouldn’t overhear them, Nicholas showed Eloise into the church, and settled into one of the back pews. She hesitated, then sat down next to him, pulling off her gloves, revealing her right hand bandaged to the wrist. Quickly she pulled down her sleeve to cover it.

‘Claude was killed—’

‘What?’ He wanted to reach out to her but resisted. They had been friends, but only because of Claude. And at times Nicholas had noticed envy on Eloise’s part: a jealousy for a history that had not included her.

‘He was murdered two days ago.’

‘I didn’t know …’ He stared at her. ‘You said he was killed. Why?’

‘You know why,’ Eloise said quietly, her skin bloodless in the cold church. A shiver ran through her and her lips parted for an instant, then closed again.

‘I don’t know, Eloise–’

‘Hieronymus Bosch … Don’t deny it, Nicholas. I don’t blame you for anything. I didn’t know anything about the chain until yesterday when I went through Claude’s papers. His will …’ Her English accent was perfect, polished. ‘He was too young to make a will. You’re supposed to do that when you’re old. But he made one, in great detail. He took care with it, almost as though he knew that it would be needed.’ She stopped, stared at her hands, at her wedding band. ‘That Bosch painting originally belonged to Claude’s father, Raoul.’

The news surprised him. ‘Raoul Devereux owned the painting?’

‘Until it was stolen from his gallery. The following year he died, and the Bosch was never seen again. But apparently it re-emerged in England, and was bought by an elderly man. The same man who gave it to Gerrit der Keyser to sell for him …’

The name went like a bolt into his spine, but Nicholas said nothing.

‘… The person who bought it was Sabine Monette. Of course you know that. But although the painting was valuable there was more to it. A secret, hidden in the chain by which it was hung. Apparently every connector between the links had a piece of paper in it. A note. Twenty-eight in all, which made up a testimony. Did Sabine know that? Did she read it?’ Her eyes turned on Nicholas. ‘She was murdered. Like Claude. But then you know that too – you and Sabine were close. So now tell me, Nicholas, why have my husband and your friend – who both knew about the Bosch secret – been killed?’

‘I didn’t know that Claude was privy to any of this. We never discussed it—’

She was composed, but brusque. ‘Where’s the chain?’

‘I don’t know—’

‘Liar,’ she said softly. ‘You can’t protect me, I don’t want you to. You aren’t my husband or a member of my family. I’m not your responsibility, Nicholas – I am my own person. I mean to find out who killed my husband, and why. Claude said the notes told of a conspiracy, but he didn’t say what it was.’

‘I’m sorry he told you any of it—’

‘You have no right to judge my husband!’

‘He was also my friend, and as such I can judge him,’ Nicholas replied, glancing up at the altar. ‘Have you still got the letter he wrote?’

‘Of course.’

‘Then destroy it. And forget what you read—’

‘How very presumptuous of you,’ Eloise responded. ‘You can’t tell me what to do. I want to know more, not less. What did the papers say?’

‘I don’t know.’

A soft sound escaped her lips as Eloise rose to her feet and looked around her. ‘Strange that you should come back here. I thought you weren’t allowed to enter a church again.’

‘Excommunication doesn’t mean I’m banned from the Church. It’s a penalty, dished out in the hope I’ll repent.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘So it’s reversible? Not much of a punishment.’

‘It is to a priest. I can’t receive the Eucharist and I won’t get a Catholic burial. Unless I repent, of course.’ He held her gaze, feeling the animosity. ‘Which I won’t. I despise the Catholic Church. I’m not here for forgiveness, but for another reason entirely.’

‘What reason?’ she asked, without turning to look at him. ‘I believe there was a murder here recently—’

‘How did you hear that?’

‘I come from a wealthy family. The only child of an over-indulgent mother and a rich – if absent – father. I married Claude for love – money didn’t matter to me then. But now I recognise its value. You see, now I can find out anything I want, because I can buy information. Money is a wonderful lubricant. It oils people’s memories.’

He was surprised by her. The Eloise he remembered had been a reserved woman, discreet, without particular opinions. The wife of his best friend, the woman who had made Claude happy. Nothing more. But the person Nicholas was now listening to was altogether different. He didn’t know this woman.

‘The man who was murdered here was a vagrant,’ Nicholas explained. ‘His death isn’t related to what we’re talking about.’

She turned, walked back to him and looked down into his face.

‘What are we talking about, Nicholas? Two murders, an ancient mystery, something so dangerous that you’re here babysitting an old priest.’ She nodded. ‘I told you, I can find out a lot of things when I want to. And I will find out who killed my husband and Sabine Monette.’

Nicholas stared at her, trying to work out what she was offering.

‘Where’s the chain?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’

She walked to the door and paused. ‘I’ll come back and we can talk again. In the meantime, think about what I’ve said. I can help you – so we might as well work together.’

‘I’m not putting you in danger.’

‘It’s too late for that,’ she said shortly. ‘It’s spreading, Nicholas. The secret’s leaked out and it’s claimed two lives already. Trust me or there’ll be more. And next time it might be someone you love.’