The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel (9) Read Online Free Page B

coming. “And some of the paintings were …”
    “Stolen. Not some, just one. But, as it happened, it was the most valuable painting
     in the whole house. Duncan had been thinking of transferring it to the Gallery, where
     it would be safer, but he hadn’t got round to it.”
    “What was it?”
    “A Poussin. One of the relatively few in private hands in this country. And a rather
     nice one. It was worth about three million, they thought. Possibly more.”
    Isabel asked what the subject was, and Martha explained. It was a painting known as
Time Reconsidered
and bore some relationship to the artist’s great
A Dance to the Music of Time
. Martha began to describe that painting, but Isabel told her that she had visited
     the Wallace Collection in London and knew the picture well.
    “It was insured, of course,” Martha said.
    Isabel said that she was relieved to hear that. An insurance payment was not always
     full compensation for loss, but it undoubtedly dulled the pain. “I assume that what
     he really wants is to get the painting back.”
    “Yes. He does. They picked the one thing he didn’t want to lose.”
    Eddie appeared at the table to collect their empty cups. He took Martha’s wordlessly,
     but at the same time gave Isabel a look of gentle reproach. Isabel mentally sent him
     a message:
Yes, I know what she’s like, but we can’t …
    “Anything else?” he asked Isabel.
    Isabel shook her head, and Eddie went back to the counter.
    “There’s something lost about that boy,” Martha said. “Odd.”
    Isabel did not engage. “Duncan Munrowe?”
    “Oh yes, Duncan. It’s the reward, you see.”
    Isabel looked puzzled. “The reward?”
    “I gather that many of these art thefts are really ransom attempts,” Martha explained.
     “They can’t sell these very well-known paintings—or at least not on the ordinary market—and
     so they use them to extort money from the insurance companies.”
    Isabel had read about this. “That must be difficult,” she said. “If you pay the Dane
     to go away, he always comes back. So perhaps you should make a point of never paying
     ransom.”
    Martha frowned at the mention of Danes.
    “Danegeld,” said Isabel. “It’s what people used to pay the Vikings to stop them destroying
     things. You paid your Danegeld and the Vikings went away. Until next time.”
    Martha shrugged. “I suppose there is a general issue about paying ransom. But that’s
     not the problem here—or at least it’s not the problem that’s worrying Duncan. His
     difficulty is the attitude of the insurers. They’ve suggested one thing and he’swanted to do the other. They’ve argued about figures too. The insurers say that the
     market is depressed at the moment and this means they need to pay less. They also
     don’t want to pay a ransom until it’s clear that the painting won’t be recovered.”
    “Insurers are like that,” remarked Isabel. “As a general rule, if they can avoid paying,
     that’s what they’ll do.”
    “And yet we can’t be late with our premiums,” said Martha sharply.
    Isabel agreed. People were always very keen to have their bills paid promptly but
     were not so willing to reciprocate.
    “So that’s where you come in,” Martha announced.
    Isabel frowned. “I don’t see …”
    “Duncan wondered whether you might help him deal with this. In particular, he wants
     help in dealing with any approach from the people who have the painting. They’ll be
     in touch, he thinks. They might even have already contacted him—I’m not sure about
     that.”
    Isabel’s surprise was immediately apparent. “But what possible assistance can I give?
     I know nothing about this sort of thing. Nothing at all.”
    Martha laid a hand on Isabel’s forearm. “But everybody knows how helpful you are.
     That’s why I recommended you when he asked me about you.”
    “You recommended me?”
    “Yes. Poor Duncan: he so wanted somebody to talk to about it—to advise