glanced to the X-ray room at the back, the red light remaining dark, showing the machine was not in use.
David was at the computer, already going through the images from the infrared and ultraviolet tests before calling up the X-rays. The moment he caught sight of her, he ushered away a few more technicians from where they were staring at the damaged painting and beckoned her over.
The moment she caught sight of the painting she couldn’t help the gasp that fell from her lips. Her instant reaction was shock and horror—red streaks poured down the painting, the consistency of wine, but the alcohol had begun to mix with the paint beneath it. Slashes of what had once been raven-black hair now dribbled down the palest of cheeks and the long silver necklace worn by The Woman in Love now pooled downwards towards the painting’s frame in a way that most definitely wouldn’t have happened if it had been the original painting. The real one. The one that had been valued at over one hundred million pounds.
‘It’s fake,’ she exclaimed.
‘Yes.’
She collapsed into the chair in front of the painting. ‘This isn’t the painting I valued. David—it’s not. I wouldn’t have made that mistake. Have you checked the photographs from my file?’
David paused before leaning against the table, facing her with a grim expression.
‘I...they haven’t given me access to the file.’
‘But that’s...’ Sia trailed off. ‘How are you supposed to evaluate against the initial assessment?’
‘Sia, look, I think you should know that—’
But Sia wasn’t hearing David. She was looking at the small video capture in the bottom of David’s computer screen.
‘What’s that?’ she interrupted.
David cast her one last concerned look before turning back to his screen.
‘Security footage from the incident. It looks as if two guys got into a bit of a fight near the painting.’
Sia was unable to prevent her hand from pressing against her lips in shock at the sight of the fight that had broken out between the two men, causing a glass of wine to be thrown with unwavering accuracy against the painting.
‘Is that Savior Sabbatino?’
‘Yes, and his brother Santo.’
Sia bit back her shock. The Sabbatino brothers were more likely to be seen on the cover of a scandal rag rather than security footage. The implications of the damage to the painting, the seller and the gallery were beginning to spin beyond the realms of imaginable.
‘Can you go back?’ she asked David of the footage. Something was niggling at her and she couldn’t quite tell what it was. She watched the footage again and again—the wine hitting the painting, the shock rippling out not only from the Sabbatino brothers but the attendees of the private viewing as each person turned their head, watching with horrified fascination the damage to such an expensive piece of...piece of...
There it was again. It was precisely because he was the only person in the whole room who didn’t turn his head. Instead of being drawn to the moment like a driver passing a car accident, he had his back turned and was taking a sip of his drink with something that looked, to Sia, like the ghost of a smile.
It was a man she would have recognised anywhere. Just like any other red-blooded woman, whether or not they had a penchant for billionaires with bad reputations.
INTERVIEWER ONE: So you immediately suspected Sebastian Rohan de Luen?
MS KEATING: Sheikh Alham Abrani was very clear in his instructions. The painting would never be sold to Seba—Mr Rohan de Luen. He had made many offers to purchase the painting in the last ten years, all of which had been far above the asking price, and had been refused each and every time.
INTERVIEWER TWO: Mr Rohan de Luen is a duke, is he not?
MS KEATING: His father was the Duque de Gaeten in Spain before being stripped of his lands. However, because this happened after Seb—after he had been titled at the age of eighteen, he was entitled to the...well, to the title, I suppose.
INTERVIEWER ONE: But on the night you believe you discovered the painting was a fake, he had not been anywhere near it?
MS KEATING: He was present at the private viewing.
INTERVIEWER TWO: But the CCTV footage shows that throughout the entire evening he was nowhere near the painting. In fact he remained behind to give a witness statement to the police, who were called in case any charges were to be brought against the two gentlemen involved in an altercation that damaged the painting.
MS KEATING: