Free The Gilded Seal by James Twining

a meeting right now,” the receptionist trilled
    through a saccharine smile. “Can I take a message?”
    “You must be Agent Browne.”
    Jennifer looked up to where the accented voice had come
    from. A man was beaming down at her over the mezzanine
    level’s railings like a ringmaster welcoming her to the circus.
    “Mr. Razi?”
    She stepped back to get a better view. He had a swarthy
    face and a pencil-thin mustache dyed an unlikely shade of
    black to match his carefully styled hair. According to the
    file he was in his early fifties, but he looked older, and the dia-
    mond stud in his left ear suggested someone clinging by his
    fingertips to the rock-face of youth. Amidst the sterile sur-
    roundings, his vibrant purple velvet suit seemed almost un-
    real, and made him look as if he had been superimposed
    against the gallery walls.
    Without answering, he stepped away from the balustrade
    and made his way down to her, each heavy footstep making
    the spiral staircase vibrate with a dull clang. He held out his
    hand and, as she shook it, he bowed theatrically. A thatch of
    long dark hairs poked out from under the cuff of his starched
    white shirt and now that she was closer she could see that his
    face was pitted with acne scars.
    “Hudson said you’d come.” He pressed a hand over his
    mouth, affecting surprise, his English strangely stilted. “Was
    that very wrong of him?”
    “Not wrong. Just not ideal.”
    “You must forgive him,” Razi pleaded, bringing his hands
    together as if in prayer, the large gold rings that adorned ev-
    ery finger glinting like brass knuckles. “He thought I should
    know. It is my painting, after all.”
    “It doesn’t matter,” she said with a shrug, not wanting to
    put Razi on the defensive. Not yet at least. “We’re all after
    the same thing.”
    “And what is that?”
    “To figure out what’s going on, as fast as we can.”
    5 8 j a m e s
    t w i n i n g
    “Exactly!” He smiled in agreement, the faint glint of sev-
    eral gold teeth coming from the back of his mouth. “I hope
    you didn’t waste too much time this morning?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I drove past at eight o’clock and saw you outside. And
    again at quarter past. Were you hoping to see anything in
    par tic u lar?”
    Jennifer paused. She was less worried at having been spot-
    ted than intrigued as to why Razi had felt it necessary to
    drive past his gallery twice before finally going inside.
    “Why don’t we sit down?” she suggested.
    “By all means.” He nodded toward a secluded area at the
    rear of the gallery where a white leather divan had been pro-
    vocatively placed at a forty-five- degree angle across the fl oor-
    space. Jennifer instinctively wanted to straighten it. They sat
    down and he turned to face her with his palms resting on his
    knees.
    “We should start with a few questions, if that’s okay?”
    “You are very beautiful, Agent Browne.” Razi smiled, his
    nostrils flaring slightly as he spoke. “But I expect many men
    tell you that.”
    Jennifer gazed at Razi unblinkingly. She knew that in his
    business, the ability to read people was the key to convincing
    someone to pay a hundred thousand for something worth
    fifty. She therefore took the compliment as a sighting shot to
    calibrate how he should play her, rather than a line. Having
    said that, from what she’d seen so far, Razi was also a per-
    former. One who clearly liked to keep his audience slightly
    off-balance. Either way, her best policy was not to react.
    “When did you buy the Gauguin?”
    Razi sat back resignedly and began to slowly crack his
    knuckles in turn. “About ten years ago. At the time, people
    said I overpaid, but a Gauguin is a Gauguin, whatever the
    period.”
    “And you never doubted its authenticity?”
    “Never.” Razi was adamant, his hand movements becom-
    ing more animated. “Its provenance was beyond suspicion.
    The documentation proved it. I can supply you with copies