The City of Death by David Lawrence

Author:David Lawrence [Lawrence, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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and with a fierce expression on his face, charged forward and slammed his shoulder into

the wall. He repeated this action several times until the brick wall collapsed and he fell

through the resultant hole. For once the Doctor appreciated Duggan’s brute strength. He

picked up the lamp and stepped through the hole, followed by Romana.

The room was thick with dust and covered in cobwebs. The only feature was a row of

cupboard doors along the opposite wall.

‘What do you suppose is in them?’ Romana ventured.

The Doctor shrugged. ‘They’ve obviously been here quite a long time…shall we have a

look?’

He moved forward and brushed a layer of dust away from the top cupboard on the left

hand side. He opened the door and looked inside. His face paled, and he looked closer.

Eventually he turned back to Romana and Duggan. His expression was a mixture of hor-

ror, surprise and fascination.

‘It’s a Mona Lisa,’ he murmured at last.

Duggan didn’t think he’d heard correctly. ‘What?’

The Doctor opened the cupboard door fully so that his two companions could see. And

what they saw amazed them. A painting of a woman sitting, a woman with dark hair and

no eyebrows.

‘It must be a fake,’ said Duggan, when he finally managed to find his voice.

The Doctor knelt down and examined the painting in greater detail, then looked back at

Duggan and shook his head. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘no, I don’t know what’s hanging in the Lou-

vre, but this is the real thing. This is the genuine Mona Lisa!’

Duggan frowned. ‘But how can you tell?’

‘The brushwork. It’s as authentic as the signature. This is Leonardo’s work, no doubt

about it.’

Romana was more curious than puzzled. ‘What’s in the other cupboards?’

The Doctor obligingly moved to the bottom left cupboard door and again opened it just

slightly, grinning as though he knew nothing could shock him more than the contents of

the first cupboard. He peered inside and did a double-take.

With a glance back to the others, he opened the door fully. Inside it was another Mona

Lisa. A look of concern had washed over the Doctor’s face and he opened the third cup-

board, then the fourth, the fifth and the sixth. The three of them stood back to look at what

the cupboards contained. No one said a word.

Inside each cupboard was a Mona Lisa. In total there were six Mona Lisas - all painted

by Leonardo da Vinci, all the original article, all the genuine painting…

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