Page 122 of The Grave Artist

Sanchez offered, “He kills newlyweds, people at the beginning of their lives together.”

Mouse threw out, “And at a wedding reception. So a whole bunch of people know about the death.”

Sanchez said, “We’re getting to something. Keep going.”

“He went to the funeral,” Tandy said. “What killer goes to the funeral of the victim and risks getting caught? Which he almost was.”

Silence for a moment. Then it was broken abruptly by Sanchez. “And he was smiling.”

Jake turned to her. “Yes. Sylvie, the girl in the cemetery. She said he was smiling but it wasn’t like a formal greeting. He washappyto be where he was. At afuneral.”

“Jesus,” Tandy muttered. “Think about this: maybe it’s not the murder itself that gets him off. It’s what the death does to the survivors. The mourners are his true victims.”

Mouse said nothing but she was clearly shaken by the idea that someone would enjoy the sorrow of others.

“Declan,” he called.

“Yes, Jake?”

“What are the most famous paintings of mourning in the Uffizi, ‘mourning’ as in grieving, not sunrise?”

“I deduced that from the context, Jake. There are a number of paintings whose themes are death, sorrow and mourning in the Uffizi Gallery, as those are persistent themes in Italian Renaissance art. It is not possible, according to the information I have, to give you a specific number. But I can tell you the two most visited works falling into that category are Rogier van der Weyden’sLamentation of Christ, and Giovanni Bellini’sLamentation over the Dead Christ.”

“Where are they hung, in the Uffizi?”

“The van der Weyden is on loan to the Vatican. The Bellini is on exhibit in the Uffizi, in the Bellini and Giorgione room. The museumhas a 360-view feature of that room on its website. Would you like to see the room?”

“Yes,” Jake and Sanchez said simultaneously.

Instantly a 3D image appeared on the monitor. The gallery was smaller than Jake expected. On the tan-colored walls hung only a dozen or so paintings. After circling the room, Declan focused on the Bellini. It was a monochrome of several sorrowful men surrounding the body of Jesus.

“You see any?” Sanchez asked.

Jake knew exactly what she was talking about.

Security cameras.

“Two, I think. Let’s find out. Mouse, we need you to be an international woman of intrigue again.”

“Bond. Jane Bond.” She grabbed the phone and eventually got through to the security office, which was open, though the museum itself was closed. A gazillion euros’ worth of art would not go unguarded.

The person in charge, however, did not immediately cooperate. Mouse cited the IICI again, but her sternness did not sway him.

She turned to Sanchez and Jake. “He needs something official.”

US-issued warrants have no power in foreign jurisdictions. You need to apply to the local police and they in turn would get a magistrate’s warrant from their own court system.

Sanchez thought for a moment, then sat at her desk and pounded out a letter on HSI letterhead. The top said “Law Enforcement Demand for Warranted Information” and requested clips of the security videos from the Bellini room for the days in question.

She saved it as a PDF file and then Jake went online and ordered Stable Diffusion—an art generation program—to “create a stamp that resembles an outdated Italian apostille.”

The resulting image resembled the stamp that was affixed to US documents that had been authenticated by the Italian embassy for use overseas—with birth certificates, marriage documents and certain contracts.

He copied and pasted the image into Sanchez’s letter, and Mouse got the security man’s address at the Uffizi and sent it off to him via the encrypted server.

“What does it mean?” Mouse asked, eyes on the letter.

Jake had to chuckle. “It means your boss and I are dancing on the edge of propriety.”