Tomorrow's Vengeance by Marcia Talley

Author:Marcia Talley [Marcia Talley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2014-05-13T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

‘Jews, Free Masons and those opponents of National Socialism who are affiliated with them … are the authors of the present war against the Reich. The systematic spiritual battle against these forces is a task made necessary by the war effort.

I have therefore directed Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg to carry out this task … His staff for the occupied territories is authorized to search libraries, archives, lodges and other … cultural establishments for relevant material and to have this material requisitioned for the ‘Weltanschauung’ tasks of the NSDAP, and for future scientific research by higher educational institutions. The same regulation applies to cultural treasures which are the property or in the possession of Jews, which are ownerless, or the origin of which cannot be clearly established.’

Adolf Hitler, Decree of the Führer, 1 March, 1942.

Well before nine the following morning Izzy and I waited in my brother-in-law’s Annapolis conference room while he arranged for his receptionist to bring us coffee. I’d rushed out of the house wearing slim jeans, a tank top and open-toed sandals, without applying makeup or blow-drying my hair, but compared to Izzy I looked like a cover model. She’d dressed in tennis shoes and a lime-green jogging outfit. She’d drawn her hair into an untidy ponytail at the nape of her neck and her eyes were nearly swollen shut from crying.

I knew Izzy’s painting wouldn’t be going anywhere soon; the exhibit would be running through January, according to the brochure, so there was no particular need to rush. Izzy had been so agitated, however, that I felt we had to get the ball rolling. When I called him at home the previous evening, Hutch’s calendar, by some miracle, was free, so I’d made the appointment for Izzy and me to come in.

‘The painting is by Clotilde Padovano,’ Izzy explained when Hutch returned to the room and sat down at the conference table opposite us. ‘It’s one of a pair, and the other is hanging in my town home.’

I watched as Hutch scrawled ‘Padovano’ on the yellow legal pad in front of him. ‘You said your father was an art dealer?’

‘Yes. He owned the Galleria Rossi in Rome. When the Nazis came he was forced to sell. The paintings went for a fraction of their actual value but my father had absolutely no choice. If he hadn’t sold they would have been stolen outright.’

‘Who bought the paintings from your father, Mrs Milanesi?’

‘I don’t know. There were several buyers, maybe a half dozen or so. Because we lived over the gallery I saw these people come and go but I never knew their names. I was very young at the time,’ she added.

‘Is the picture owned by the Baltimore Art Gallery, or is it on loan from another museum?’ Hutch asked.

‘It’s owned by the gallery; at least, there was no label on it to indicate otherwise.’ She sat back in her chair and sighed. ‘I wonder where it’s been all these years and how it got from our home in Rome into a gallery in Baltimore.

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