The Wives of Beverly Row 6: Lust Has a New Address by Abby Weeks Page A

this. She pulled out the deeds to the Amsterdam building and slid them across the table to Landfeld.
    “What’s this?”
    “This proves that Gabe came across the canvas honestly.”
    “How so?” Landfeld said.
    “It is the deed to a building in Amsterdam that Gabe purchased,” Ariel said, showing Landfeld the document.
    Landfeld examined the deed carefully.
    “And this is the record of a fire that occurred in the building a decade ago,” Ariel said, passing him another document.
    Landfeld spent several minutes examining each document. Jake was making eyes at her across the table. He was relaxed. He was expecting to make a lot of money from the deal, as long as Landfeld gave him the green light. He wasn’t being nearly as cautious as he should have been. Having made his money dealing in the world of the internet, he wasn’t used to the guile and deception that was commonplace in art deals.
    Ariel passed more documents to Landfeld. These documents were about the previous owners of the building, their mafia connections and their black market dealings. Again, Landfeld read every word of every document very carefully.
    “And this,” Ariel said, “is the insurance report. The key detail on that report is the safe.”
    “It couldn’t be opened?” Landfeld said.
    “I don’t think anyone tried to open it at the time. The record lists no contents for it, no attempt to open it.”
    “I see,” Landfeld said.
    “In fact, the safe was substantially melted, sealing it shut for all those years.”
    “Incredible,” Landfeld said.
    “It is incredible,” Ariel said, “because now I would like to show you what Gabe found when his guys cut open the safe.”
    All three of them stood up and Ariel led them to the canvas. They couldn’t see the front until they got right up around it.
    Ariel looked at both of their faces for their reactions. Landfeld looked dumbfounded.
    “I don’t believe it,” he said.
    Ariel smiled. “I assume you’ve brought a testing kit.”
    Landfeld nodded to the large case he’d brought with him and which was sitting solidly by the table. “I’ve got everything I need.”
    “Indeed,” Ariel said. “Well then let us leave you to it,” she said.
    Landfeld didn’t waste any time getting started. Ariel knew that everything he found would only confirm the age of the painting.
    “Come on, Jake,” she said. “We have some details to discuss.”

X
    T HE NEXT FEW DAYS WERE a very tense period for Ariel. She had a number of lengthy conversations and phone calls with both Jake and Gabe. There were times when neither of them seemed willing to go through with the deal at all. There were others when they each questioned her motives for being involved in the deal. At some point she even asked herself that question but in the end she knew she had to keep pushing it through if she was going to see Zola free of Jake.
    When Gabe called her and said that Jake had just made a transfer of three and a quarter million dollars to his account, Ariel almost fell off her chair.
    “What?” she said.
    “He did it.”
    “Holy shit,” she said.
    “I can’t believe it!”
    “I didn’t know you were negotiating on the price,” Ariel said.
    “Yes, sir,” Gabe said. “I didn’t want to let it go for two and a half.”
    “Is that what he offered?” Ariel said.
    “Yes.”
    “Funny,” Ariel went on, “because I told him to offer three.”
    “He’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Gabe said, “but I’ve got better.”
    “So he went up to three and a quarter?”
    “He’s greedy,” Gabe said. “He thinks the five million is a sure thing.”
    “He might get it,” Ariel said. It would be just like Jake to get sucked into something like this and still come out ahead, but she had plans for every dollar he ever made out of this deal.
    “He’ll be lucky if he does,” Gabe said. “It will be no easy task fooling the museum. Getting it past Douglas Landfeld was one thing. Getting the museum to