The Da Vinci Deception (3 page)

“There is more.” Now there was a photograph of a modest white frame house on the screen. “You will recognize your home. The one where you were living at the time of your arrest. I understand a small army of treasury agents tore up the house searching for a set of printing
plates they suspected you made to counterfeit the fifty- and hundred-dollar notes we saw on the previous slides.”

“They found nothing.”

“Quite true. Your wife remarried and the property was finally sold a little more than a year ago. I bought it.”

“You bought my house? Why?”

“Let's say it was speculation. The real-estate market had been quite bullish and I decided to remodel the home and put it back on the market. But I had another reason. I had a hunch I might find something the agents had overlooked.”

Again the picture changed. On the screen was a photograph showing two sets of engraving plates. “Setting them beneath the metal insulation strip in the front door was brilliant. A metal detector would be confused by the strip and it was otherwise a much too obvious hiding place for those precious plates. The agents were anxious to search inside the house and, not finding them, literally tore the gardens and garage apart.”

With another touch of the controls the screen disappeared.

“My little show is over and you have learned what I know of you. I have come to know that your skill with the pen is at the genius level and so I want you to work under my direct supervision.

“Doing what? U.S. Savings Bonds?”

“No need for a sharp tongue. I have a very challenging assignment for you.” The huge body struggled free of the chair and walked toward a table directly under the wide-spreading chandelier. “Come with me, Curtis.”

From leather folders Jonas extracted a dozen sheets. Ceremoniously he placed each on the table.

“These lithographs are from the collection of Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. There is great beauty here and I believe these drawings prove the Master's incredible genius. Consider that he had little formal education, yet his curiosity was so intense that he would spend hours with a putrid corpse, dissecting it by the light of a lantern, then create these minutely detailed drawings.” Jonas peered intently through his thick glasses at Stiehl. “Leonardo knew that to paint the human form he had to know what lay beneath the skin. Study these drawings carefully, Curtis. Note his technique, his mastery of shading and shape.”

Stiehl picked up one then another of the drawings. He had a vague familiarity with Leonardo's anatomical works but could not grasp the
point Jonas was making. He was at an even greater loss to understand what bearing it had on him.

Jonas continued. “Leonardo was left-handed. His stroke was from right to left.”

“And he wrote in reverse,” Stiehl added. “I've seen examples.”

“It is most convenient that you are left-handed, Curtis.”

“You knew that?”

Jonas nodded. He then took one of the drawings and placed it in front of Stiehl. The sheet contained two human skulls, one drawn above the other. “Can you duplicate what you see on this page?”

“Why would I want to?”

“The question is not why. Can you? And exactly as you see them?” Stiehl studied the skulls. “Yes, I could do that. It would take time before I'd be sure of myself. It's pen and ink, and all line. But the handwriting. That's far more difficult.”

“I had no illusions it would be simple.” Squinting eyes stared out from behind thick glasses. “It is critically important that you tell me you can, after sufficient practice, create an exact duplicate of what you see on that sheet of paper.”

“That would be impossible. Only a camera could make an exact duplication.”

“But suppose Leonardo had never put these skulls on paper. Could you draw them so they would appear as if they had been drawn by Leonardo?”

“I can't be sure that I could. Perhaps.”

“You are unsure. Yes or no,” Jonas shot back, his good humor fading.

“Damn it, I
can't
be sure. Not until I try. Copying is one thing, creating is another. And it's not my strong suit.”

“You underrate your own talents. You'll have hundreds of his sketches and drawings to guide you. And there are a thousand more skulls in the medical books.”

“Suppose I could draw the skulls. The handwriting would be difficult. It requires an entirely different technique.”

“You will have expert assistance. There are countless studies and references dealing with his handwriting. Just as you will have writing instruments and inks that are authentic to the period. The paper will be hundreds of years old, also dated to the time of Leonardo. You will not make a copy of this lithograph. You will have the genuine Leonardo drawing to guide you.”

“You have a card to the Royal Library?” Stiehl smiled.

“They're not in the habit of lending their Leonardos,” Jonas replied. “But come, let me explain why I must know if you can produce a duplicate of the skull drawing.” He returned to his desk.

“The most valuable collection of Leonardo's manuscripts is at Windsor. Nearly two-thirds of Leonardo's surviving drawings are in the Royal Library. Note I said drawings. There are many volumes and notebooks in other libraries and museums; however, those contain Leonardo's theories and observations on a wide variety of subjects. Scattered through those manuscripts are the remaining drawings.

“It is known that when he died, Leonardo left other notebooks and drawings. Perhaps a thousand pages have never been discovered. No one knows how many fine drawings are on those lost sheets. Some have probably been destroyed. But what of all the others? What drawings have been lost? And more importantly, if they were found, what would they be worth?”

“Can you guess how many drawings there might be?” Stiehl asked.

“Several hundred, perhaps more. Leonardo's Leicester Codex was recently auctioned for nearly six million dollars. It consisted of thirtyeight pages and contained but a few unimportant sketches. One sheet holding an early study of the
Mona Lisa
could bring ten million alone. When a Van Gogh goes for more than eighty million a da Vinci will bring an untold amount.

“No one knows what the missing manuscripts contain, the experts can only speculate. Any that are found will be subjected to intense scrutiny and a battery of highly sophisticated tests. The first criterion is that they must be perceived as authentic.

“And that, my new friend, is where you enter the picture. I plan for you to create a generous supply of the missing Leonardo manuscripts.”

Stiehl's reaction was immediate. “That's insane! No one can do that. It's craziness!”

“It is none of that,” Jonas shouted, and slammed his fist to the desk.

“You were serious about taking a Leonardo from Windsor,” Stiehl responded, his voice raised to match Jonas's. “I thought that was a pretty bad joke. I was in prison for four years and I have no intention of going back.”

“And I won't let that happen. You will have privacy and total security. You'll have every protection.”

“Sort of the honor system,” Stiehl said with more than a little irony. “We protect each other.”

“You can become wealthy, Curtis. Beginning immediately you will have a substantial income and a studio with every amenity. Consider also that it is I who must present the manuscripts to the community of art historians. Should they discredit them, then I would merely say I had discovered worthless copies. There is no crime in being misinformed.”

“Why must I duplicate the skulls so precisely if you plan to create Leonardos that have never been seen before?”

“If you can duplicate a known Leonardo drawing with flawless accuracy, it is very likely that you can create a new work that will go unchallenged.”

“Who else is involved in your little game?”

“There will be three of you involved directly in the development of the Leonardo drawings. I will direct the project, and be aided by my assistant.”

“Who would I work with? When would I meet them?”

“You will proceed alone for at least six months, and then you will work in close association with a former professor of Renaissance studies at the University of Milan. Giorgio Burri is an acknowledged Leonardo scholar.”

“Six months is a long time.”

Jonas smiled indulgently. “Exercise the patience you so painfully learned, Curtis. It has taken more than three years to put this plan together. In the beginning you will receive written instructions from Giorgio and will communicate with him through me or my assistant. When the two of you meet, it will be as if you have known each other a long time. No one is more essential to our success than the one who puts pen to paper. Before you attempt to make a precise copy of the Windsor drawing, you will need all of six months to master Leonardo's style and technique, and ultimately you must write as he did. No small accomplishment.”

“What if I fail?”

“You won't. I have complete confidence that you'll carry it off.”

“Who is the third member of the team? What part does he play?”

“
She
is a highly qualified chemist with advanced degrees from the University of Chicago and MIT. Her name is Eleanor Shepard; when I met her, she was most unhappy in her assignment with the FDA in Washington. I persuaded her to undertake a special research project in Italy.”

“What kind of research?”

“First she will locate the paper, then find or make the inks and pens you will use. Secondly, she will develop techniques for aging documents. And finally, Eleanor will study the modern methods for detecting the age and authenticity of art and manuscripts. All the more reason we must have the genuine Leonardo from the Windsor Library.”

“Then she knows what you are up to?”

“Not at all.” Jonas blew a thick cloud of smoke. “I have commissioned Eleanor to gather the information and the samples, then prepare a complete documentation of her findings, which I have told her will then be published.

“Will I meet her?”

“You would like that, she is a very attractive woman. But she must never know how the Leonardo manuscripts come into being.”

“At some point the whole world will know you discovered them.”

“And she, too, must believe that I have rescued them from some obscure hiding place. She must not suspect you and Giorgio have created them.”

Stiehl now realized how brilliantly Jonas had put his plan together. One of his conspirators would supply the raw materials for the missing Leonardo manuscripts, and then be the same person to test their genuineness.

“Where is she doing all this research?”

“In Florence. She must be where Leonardo lived most of his years. And where she will find paper of the kind available five hundred years ago.”

“I can't believe paper that old can be found. And if any is located, could it be handled and worked on?”

Jonas swiveled around to the credenza and took from it a leatherbound book. “This is a rare Elzevir manuscript, printed in 1611. The end leaves have never been touched; the paper has merely yellowed a bit. The paper was made in Holland, possibly Belgium. Feel how supple it is after nearly four hundred years.”

Stiehl was no stranger to paper. He rubbed the sheet between his thumb and forefinger. “You expect the Shepard woman will find five-hundred-year-old paper?”

“She will. You can depend on it.”

“You have an assistant. Another woman?”

Jonas smiled broadly. “My assistant's name is Anthony Waters, or Tony as we prefer to call him. Tony fills a special niche and will have a
variety of assignments. The first, which will occupy him between now and September, is to borrow Leonardo's drawing of the skulls from the Royal Library.”

“You said it isn't a lending library.”

“Tony is particularly adept at what I like to call ‘role-playing.'” Jonas added confidently, “Come September we will have folio number 19057 in hand.”

Jonas unwrapped a package of cashews and poured the contents into a bowl. “Any more questions, Curtis?”

“Not a question, just a statement. I haven't said that I'm coming in with you.”

Jonas calmly popped a few of the nuts into his mouth. “You have an abundance of talent, Curtis, but a very undisciplined memory. Perhaps we should review those photographs.”

“Goddamn it! I'm the one that's just out of jail and I'm not talking about Monopoly, where all you do is wait for the next roll of the dice. Forty-seven months . . . thirty days shy of four years shot to hell. If this scheme blows, I'm back for five, maybe ten years. You haven't been there, and be damned well assured I'm not going back.”

“You won't, Curtis. You have my word.”

“Your word? I never laid eyes on you until an hour ago. What goddamn good is your word when the jury says guilty? It seems I'm pretty important to your plans and that convinces me that I hold some high cards.”

“Not high enough. I would desperately hate to lose you, but having brought you into my confidence, I can ill afford to take any risks. The statutes haven't expired on your counterfeiting escapade and a conviction would return you to that repugnant hell.”

Jonas leaned forward and continued in a low, husky voice. “It would seem that your choice is very simple: risk a return to prison or join us in creating Leonardo manuscripts that will bring make you financially independent.”

“You were talking about honor, about trust. And now you talk about blackmail.”