Scotch on the Rocks

Chapter 1: Edinburgh Calling

Notes: At the end of this chapter is background information for those new to the Caffrey Conversation series.

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Winston-Winslow. Friday, May 18, 2007.

Neal placed the framed diploma on the hook and stepped back to check the alignment.

"Soon you'll need more space for that bragging wall," Peter commented, stepping into his office.

"And they're all legit! Hard to believe, isn't it?"

His latest addition was the diploma for the Master in Philosophy degree he'd obtained from Columbia University the preceding day. The degree was conferred on doctoral candidates who'd finished all their work for their doctorate except the dissertation. Earlier in the month, he'd passed his orals. The diploma was now displayed next to the diplomas in visual arts and art history he'd received last year.

"Not for me," Peter denied stoutly. "I've witnessed all the effort you've put into the program. Got a question for you, though. At the reception yesterday, El and I chatted with some of the other candidates. We got the impression this was the first master's diploma they'd received."

"That's because all the other PhD candidates entered the program right after receiving their undergraduate degrees. I'd initially enrolled for a standalone master's. My advisor recommended me for the doctorate after I'd already started. There's also the small matter that I don't have a bachelor's degree. That first master's took care of the issue."

"You also earned bonus points by going for a dual master's," Peter pointed out. "In two years, we'll have to get used to calling you Doctor Caffrey."

"Or maybe just Doctor Neal?" He paused to laugh. "On second thought, let's just leave it at Neal. I don't want to be confused with Doctor Phil." Their banter made that moment seem close at hand, but preparing the dissertation would be a monumental task most likely taking two years. Sherkov had signed off on the topic. Neal was writing up a new approach to teaching art history based on his master workshops. He'd dubbed it "Through the Artist's Eye."

"Have you made any celebration plans?" Peter asked.

"How does an all-expenses-paid trip to Scotland sound? John Hobhouse called this morning. The Scottish National Gallery discovered a pinprick forgery. This time the targeted artist is Renoir. The painting is called A Woman Nursing a Child."

This made the ninth known pinprick forgery. The other forgeries had been located in museums in Paris, Madrid, and Vienna. A master forger with the alias of Leonardo had copied masterworks for decades. He worked with several thieves including Klaus Mansfeld to replace them with his forgeries. The copies were marked with tiny designs in pinpricks that were linked to the client who commissioned the theft. The operation was apparently run as an investment club where the clients—mainly mobsters—could at the time of their choosing extort money from museums by notifying them of the theft and then securing a ransom to return the painting. The ransom demand could be higher than the price of the painting on the dark market but still less than what the insurer would have to pay.

The case was the top priority of the Interpol art crimes task force. Neal was working with John and Marcel Jauffret, the French member of the task force to track down the individual running the club, a man known as the Phoenix.

"What's the design of the pinprick?" Peter asked.

"It doesn't look like the others. John said it resembles a kite." He looked at Peter hopefully. "Does any constellation come to mind?"

"Several, actually," Peter admitted ruefully.

"John's sending me a photo of the design. That could help narrow the field." The other patterns had all been traced to constellations with bird names, a possible link to the person running the investment club. All that was known about him was that he was a man and his code name was Phoenix.