A Conspiracy, Revealed
FlashNano 2019, Day 8
“He’s stable, but we don’t know for how long.”
“Can he speak?”
“No, but he listens and understands.”
“Thank you.”
***
“Hello, old friend.
“No, don’t try it. You can’t.
“Look at us. It seems I finally win, eh? But for how long? Don’t you go thinking I’m much better than you: age catches up with everyone. It just has caught you first. Who would have said it, eh?
“I wish we could share a pipe. Like in the Orient Express, eh? Yes, I knew you’d remember. But now you can’t smoke. Ah. I’ll have one to your health later, if you excuse my bad taste in humour.
“Anyway. You must be wondering what I’m doing here. Or not. You may have guessed that it’s something I needed to do.
“Come on, don’t look surprised, eh? You’ve been chasing me for how long? Let’s not count years: for my entire adult life. You’re the closest I have to a friend. Damn, you are my closest friend. We even set up our P.O. boxes in Paris on purpose, so we could send us Christmas and Birthday cards. I’ve stored them all, by the way.
“So yes, I’ve come to say goodbye to a friend. That’s what one does.
“But I bring you a gift too. A parting gift, if you wish.
“Vincenzo Peruggia. Ah, yes, you recognize the name. Why do I bring up the name of the Mona Lisa thief, eh? Why do you think? What’s your brain coming up with?
“Peruggia. He stole the picture in 1911. He was caught in Florence two years later when he tried to sell it. He claimed he stole it out of patriotism, and he wanted the picture to be back in Italy. The Mona Lisa was back in the Louvre in 1913.
“In 1932 a newspaper article claimed the heist had been orchestrated by an Argentinian con-man, who would have sold six copies of the picture to collectors after the original was stolen. It was never proved.
“But you know all that, eh? God, I need that smoke.
“Okay, okay. Why am I telling you what you already know? Because there are pieces of the truth in both stories, but the full truth is neither.
“Hmmm. Yes, yes, all right. We don’t have a lot of time. Okay, I was the con-man. It was me all along. I commissioned a copy. It was so perfect. I even got a table that had been used in Leonardo’s studio so my forger could paint on it.
“When Peruggia was caught, what he had was the copy. So beautiful, so close to the original that no expert could see it wasn’t painted by Leonardo. The copy is now at the Louvre. It’s what millions of people have seen all these years.
“The original, you want to know, eh? I’ll get to it in a second, don’t worry. I had a buyer, of course. I won’t tell you who: it would make no difference now. But when I had the real picture in my hands… I don’t know what happened. I decided I couldn’t do it. Peruggia didn’t know anything about the buyer: I was the one who sold him the idea of being an Italian noble who wanted to return the picture to its homeland. I sent him off with the copy, making him believe it was the original.
“I told the buyer Peruggia had run away without meeting me. And I kept the original.
“Yes, my friend, I have the Mona Lisa. I’ve had it all this time, and you didn’t even suspect I had had something to do with it. Or did you, eh?
“It doesn’t matter now. It’s too late. For you, obviously, but for me as well. I could have sold it then, but later? No way.
“Ah, you’re getting angry. No, sorry, I didn’t come to mock you. No, I said I brought a gift, didn’t I, eh? No, I don’t have it here with me, that would be folly.
“I… have made arrangements. The original will be at the Louvre… by Monday next week. The Director will find it with an anonymous note, giving enough details that will allow them to check which one is the original and which is the copy. If they’re clever, they’ll make the change overnight and carry on as if nothing had ever happened. I guess they’ll be clever.
“Why? Well, I could have still had it in my power until I go as well, but… It’s the Mona Lisa. Do you know how many times I’ve really laid my eyes on her? Three. Only three. That’s a waste. So, I know what I did, now you do as well, and the Louvre’s director will too.
“And that’s enough, eh?
“Goodbye, my friend. Fare well.”
This is my flash for Day 8 of FlashNano 2019, (idea by Nancy Stohlman). The prompt for today was “Write a story that includes an addiction.” As I’m tryong to do more often than not, I tried to give it a twist.
