“Yes, it’s called the Storm on the sea of Galilee. It was painted in 1633. It depicts Jesus calming the storm with the disciples all around him.”
Janet’s face contorted as she was at first confused and then she started to realise what might be happening.
“You’ll need to wait here for Nicolay.” Alva said and with that, she smiled and pushed the door back into place and it sealed with a click.
“What have you done?” She looked around frantically for some kind of release for the false wall but there was nothing on this side that she could see. There had to be some way of getting out though she told herself. She scanned the room. Nothing jumped out at her. There were no books on the inside of the wall.
Then a few moments later she heard a conversation taking place on the other side of the door. It was muffled so she couldn’t quite make out anything of meaning. Then the door clicked as the latch unlocked. It moved outwards once again and there stood Alva with Nicolay.
Nicolay smiled at Janet and beckoned her to follow him. She stood for a second without moving and he turned back and once more beckoned her. He nodded his head as if to say ‘it’s ok’. But it wasn’t ok. She knew that it was about as far from ok as it was possible to get. She walked out of the study with a heavy heart. In the inside living area, Nicolay asked her take a seat on the low slung sofa.
“Alva knew it as soon as she saw you last night.” Nicolay said to Janet.
“It was a bit of a giveaway when you were wearing all my clothes AND my shoes.”
Janet felt her face go hot and red. “So you work for Nicolay or you fuck him or both?” Janet asked looking at Alva.
“I work for Nicolay.”
“And you didn’t have a friend who went off with a guy last night did you?”
Alva shook her head and sniggered slightly.
“I want to thank you Janet.” Nicolay said prompting what must have been a very surprised look on Janet’s face. “No, really. This has been very useful to me in terms of security. I now know for example that my contact Matthew Weiss has a very big mouth and cannot be trusted. And that I will have to deal with him in due course. You see, I cannot have people know about this painting. It’s too precious to me. I mean, do you know how difficult it is to get hold of a Rembrandt? It’s almost impossible. Not one like this anyway. I was offered some sketches but who wants sketches. Would you want sketches? I wanted a real Rembrandt. A Rembrandt painting of Jesus no less.”
Janet figured that MPW, the writer of the letter must be Matthew Weiss. Her mind was whirring.
“I mentioned this in passing once to Matthew and wasn’t sure if he would take the bait, but he obviously did. What I’m not sure about is how you came by this information from him?”
“What does it matter?” Janet asked indignantly.
“I suppose it doesn’t really. Matthew will be dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately my dear, this does not bode well for you.” he said with a regretful tone.
“Really? Why’s that?”
“Well, I just can’t have people around who know about this. It would be hurtful to my… profile. The media hate me as it is. It’s tough to be this successful. It’s frowned upon by the media. I may as well be a murderer as be a rich and successful business man for all the papers care. But if this information that I was in possession of this ‘lost’ Rembrandt came out, then I fear they would turn on me completely. It would be ugly and I don’t like ugliness.” He shook his head. “I like beauty.”
“I don’t want the painting Nicolay and I don’t want to tell anyone about it. Who would believe me? Who would I tell?”
“Then what was all this about?” Alva asked, “Please, enlighten us.”
Janet focussed her attention on Nicolay. As dire as her situation was, she felt a terrible, coldness toward Alva right now. She didn’t like being taken for a fool. “It was about putting a theory to the test. Seeing if I could solve a puzzle.” Nicolay motioned for her to expand on this. “I found a letter from Weiss to someone I knew once. It had a coded message about the painting. I solved it. That’s all. That’s all I wanted to see. If I could solve the puzzle. Nothing more.”
“Then why were you seeing if you could lift it off the wall darling?” Alva asked indignantly.
Before she could answer, Nicolay cut back in. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I made the mistake of thinking it was secure. It wasn’t. It isn’t. I will sort that out with my team. But whether you were trying to steal it or not. I can’t have you walk off this ship with this knowledge. Unfortunately for you darling, I do not know how to wipe your mind. So…” he paused, “the only thing I can do is not allow you back on dry land. Ever.” he said with finality. He didn’t look saddened by this news. “I have had to call my colleague. Dimitri will come and deal with you. I cannot promise you that things will be pain free. Or quick, but who knows. Be nice to him.”
He walked to the door to the corridor, pulled it shut and locked it. The key went in his trouser pocket.
“We are going to go and await Dimitri and then we’ll leave you with him.” Nicolay said. Janet couldn’t think of anything to say to this news. The pair of them left the living room toward the back deck. Nicolay took the key from the inside lock, pulled the door closed behind them and then locked it from the outside leaving the key in the door. He didn’t make eye contact with her. They went around the side of the yacht and she could hear their footsteps going downwards toward the back of the yacht.
“Fuck.” she put her hands over her eyes as if to hide from this news. “Brilliant you idiot. Bitch!”
She got up and looked at the lock and wondered briefly if she could break the glass in the door, but it looked extremely sturdy. She looked around the front room. It was minimalist. She wasn’t sure if this was how it always was or if it was like this for the party. There were a few tables with drawers, she looked through them but there was nothing that could help her situation. Perhaps, she could learn to play herself a lament on the piano. She continued to pace the room like a beautiful caged leopard. Running through escape plans and scenarios in her head. It was no good. She was too upset at being taken for a ride by Alva to think straight. She sat back into the sofa and rubbed her head all over like this might somehow help. She stared into space. She wasn’t sure for how long.
A deep burbling grew from the side of the boat and a black speed boat pulled up at the low rear deck. Janet guessed this was Dimitri. He was tall, dark, unshaven. He made eye contact with her momentarily through the glass doors. She shivered. There was nothing behind his eyes. No emotion. No feeling. They could have been the dead eyes of a corpse hanging on the end of a rope. He strained to lift what looked like some type of anchor out of the speedboat and placed it onto the rear deck. The anchor was the size of a coffee table. Attached to the anchor was a chain and on the end of the chain was a pair of hand cuffs. He climbed on board and moved the anchor slightly to examine the decking. He wiped a spot away as if he had scratched the varnish.
He walked across the deck and sat down at the table on the rear decking area and checked his watch. After a few moments, Nicolay and treacherous Alva appeared and they all spoke for a minute. The double glazed pane of the doors meant she heard nothing of the conversation. All that came across was the grimness of their faces. Then the pair walked to the rear of the yacht, got onto the speed boat together and sped off back in the direction of Nice. Nicolay drove. Alva looked back briefly and smiled but it was a smile filled with pity. In a way, Alva’s smile was much more worrying than Dimitri and his anchor. Clearly, Janet thought, they didn’t want to be on board when Dimitri did whatever he was going to do.
Dimitri unlocked her cage and slid the double doors apart slightly.
“Janet. Hello. We are to have a little chat.” he said and walked in to the living area pulling the doors closed behind him. He didn’t lock them back up. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”
Janet did as requested with a fair am
ount of trepidation.
“I’m Dimitri. An acquaintance of your host. I’m on your host’s inner circle.” he said with just the slightest hint of Russian inflection at the back of his throat. “You, Janet are not on his inner circle. But, you have some information which only those on the inner circle should know about. This information concerns a painting in the private study.” he smiled with some crooked teeth. “Does this make sense so far Janet?”
She nodded. Trying to listen to what he was saying, but at the same time, trying to keep her senses about her and figure out a possible way out of this.
“Janet, you have a letter which has details about this private study. Yes?”
She nodded but he paused awaiting a verbal answer.
“Oh, yes, I do.”
“Janet, where is the letter?”
It was annoying that he began every sentence with Janet…
“It’s in Barcelona.”
“Janet, why would it be in Barcelona?”
“That’s where my house is. It’s where I live.”
He shut his eyes for a second as if computing this information. He walked to a table at the side of the room, opened a drawer and took a pen and an envelope out. He gave them to her. “Janet, do you see that anchor out on the deck back there?” he motioned toward the door. She nodded. “The anchor is very heavy. Shortly, I am going to handcuff you to the anchor Janet and it is going to pull you to the bottom of the Mediterranean.” He paused as if awaiting a reaction.
She resolutely refused to give him one, apart from the fact her face was going hot.
“I’m not really sure what will happen to you after that.” he added. “Janet, you need to write your address down on this envelope. I will check you live where you say you do. If you write the correct address down for me. I will make this easier on you. I will do this by knocking you unconscious before I put you in the water. Do you understand? It will be much preferable to go into the water conscious.”
She nodded in agreement. Although she didn’t really want either.
Well there was no point to lie she thought to herself. She weighed up her options and there seemed to be very few. She wrote the address down on the envelope. He took the envelope and went out onto the rear deck locking the door behind him, caging her once more. He sat and made several phone calls over the course of fifteen minutes, then simply sat with the phone on the table and waited. He lit a cigarette and smoked it staring into the distance.
She weighed up her chances of escape. She thought about just trying to hit him or kick him in his balls and then getting into the study to call for help. Slim chance, but a chance all the same. Also, he probably knew how to get into the study. But if she could just make a call to the police. Or she could try to push him in the water. Again. Slim. She had to try. She decided when he came for her, she would act scared and defeated. Deflated. But then she could try to kick him in his balls. It was the one last defence women had against stronger men. If she could make contact, she knew he would go down. He would struggle to fight her for at least a few seconds. What else did she have? Nothing really.
His phone went. Terrible ring tone she thought to herself. Focus Janet! He walked in and she looked down at her feet. He stood over her.
“So I think you gave me the correct address. There is indeed a Janet who lives at this address. So thank you for that. I can now make this easier for you. But I’m afraid now is the ti…” She extended her right foot upwards towards his crotch and unbelievably made contact. She felt the soft flesh of his balls compact. She didn’t just make partial contact, she made full ball crushing contact. He dropped to his knees. His eyes shut tightly for a second. Then opened wide in disbelief, but she was up scooping herself to the side toward the open door. She pulled the door shut behind her and went to lock it, but the key was not in the door. She ran around the side of the yacht toward the rear to find another way into that central corridor. She ran as fast as she could, looking through the side window into the living space. She saw he was getting up off the floor. He was struggling and having to help himself up with the sofa. She ran through the door at the other end of the yacht and down into the study, pulled on the book and the book shelf opened. She slid in and pulled it closed behind her. She couldn’t believe her eyes, there was no phone on the desk. She was sure there had been a phone on there. Why would you have an office or study without a phone?
She could hear him in the outer study now. Muffled but she could hear the angriness in his voice. He obviously didn’t know which was the actual book. He was trying them all. She could hear him muttering loudly to himself about how he was going to enjoy drowning her. She searched frantically through drawers but there were no phones, tablets. There was nothing she could use to communicate with the outside world. She felt the small walls of the study closing in on her as he no doubt homed in on the book that would let him in. The book that would seal her fate. She turned to look at Rembrandt. He stared back at her once more, there was nothing that he could do for her, but his look said he felt her pain.
And then she heard the click. The wall swept outwards. She saw his face, hot and angry. His lips stuck in a snarl. He grabbed at the back of her neck. His grip was like a vice. It was almost paralysing her, her legs went half limp. She would never escape this now.
“There will be no more nice Dimitri Janet” he told her squeezing even harder “there will now only be pain for you. From here until you are at the bottom of the ocean. Gasping for air but only drinking salty sea water.”
He manoeuvred her toward the rear of the yacht. Her feet barely touched the decking. She simply saw it passing under her.
He pushed her to the floor on the low rear decking. Her world of pain had begun. He transferred his grip to her left hand and it was handcuffed within seconds. Then her right. She stared down at her fate. A shining, brushed steel anchor. She took some deep breaths. It would do no good.
Then she saw a movement toward her. A man in denim shorts. Running at the pair of them. Dimitri turned at the last minute and the man hit him at full force knocking him into the sea, but Dimitri grabbed his arm and pulled him with him and the pair were in the water. The man in denim shorts surfaced quickly and was on top of Dimitri. She felt she recognised him somehow. She couldn’t quite place him, but she immediately got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Was it Charlie from Edinburgh? That would not make any sense at all. She craned her neck to see. He was holding Dimitri under the water. It was Charlie. She wracked her mind to figure out how he could be here, but her mind was a mess right now.
An arm reached out from the water and hit Charlie around the side of the head. Then Dimtri’s head bobbed back up from the water. He sucked in air and went to head butt Charlie and contacted on his nose. His nose erupted with blood and Dimitri started swimming back toward the deck and Janet. He leaned up over the edge and grabbed at the chain attached to the anchor and Janet and started to pull it toward the edge. She knew if it went in, there would be little she could do to stop it pulling her down. She pulled back against him, but he was just stronger than she was. The anchor scraped across the deck shredding the varnish off the wood with its machined edges. He had his feet against the side of the yacht for purchase and leaned back. She grabbed onto a handle at the side. He managed to get the anchor onto the edge of the deck. Half of it dropped into the sea and the other half clung onto the edge. Charlie grabbed Dimitri around the neck with his left arm and pulled tight but this only helped Dimitri to get the anchor into the sea and it dropped with a huge splash yanking her attached arm toward the sea. The handcuff tore at her wrist hacking the skin off against her wrist bone. Blood poured down her hand and dripped into the sea. Waves splashed up at the wound with a salty sting. She clung on, but its weight was hard to work against and she could feel her grip loosening on the rail. Dimitri reached up toward the edge of the yacht and pushed upward against it shoving himself and Charlie down under the water. They disappeared out of view under th
e yacht. She felt faint as if all the strength had been drained from her and hung on to the handle as much as she could but her grip was sliding further down under the strain. She hooked her elbow around the rail in a final attempt to hold back. She tried to see where the two of them had gone but there was now no movement. They must have been under water for a minute. Then, something rising to the surface. It was the dark mop of Charlie’s hair. He shook his hair off like a labrador just out of a stream and pulled himself up onto the deck. He leaned back into the water and grabbed the chain attaching Janet and the anchor. He heaved it onto the side.
“Is he gone?” she asked.
Charlie was breathing deeply and covered in blood down either side of his face. “No, he’s right there.” He laid down flat on his back and pointed. Dimitri was floating face down a few metres out.
“Shit!” She jumped.
“I wish to fuck he wasn’t though.” Charlie added matter-of-factly.
“Turns out I can hold my breath for longer than him; I’m a good swimmer. That’s what it all came down to. Who was that?”
“Dimitri.”
“Who the fuck is Dimitri?”
“He’s someone who works for Nicolay Zestakova?” Janet came back. “Anyway, what the fuck are you doing here and why am I even speaking to you? Do you remember drugging me in Edinburgh by any chance?”
He turned to look at her. Regret in his eye. “Well you did steal two and a half million from the people I was working with.”
“Was?”
“Yeah, was.” he emphasised. “I’m no longer working for them. And don’t worry, I don’t want the money back. I did. That’s why I’m here in Nice, that’s what brought me to Nice. That’s not what put me on this boat though. That was worry about you. A gut feeling that you were in trouble on here. Which turned out to be bang on.”
“So confused. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“It’s a long story, but let me get you out of those hand cuffs first. Do you know where there might be a paperclip?”
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