The Gilded Seal Read Online Free PDF Page A

weights, soya
    milk, pilates and expensive moisturiser.
    “But whatever you do, don’t call him Tony,” he continued.
    Hudson looked as jaded and shopworn as Cole was bright
    and fit, the dated cut and frayed corners of his pin-striped
    suit suggesting that it was some sort of family heirloom or
    hand-me-down. His eyes had almost disappeared under his
    eyebrows’ craggy overhang, while his cheeks were lined
    and drooping like a balloon that has had the air let out of it,
    and his lips were cracked and frozen into a permanent scowl.
    She placed him at about fi fty-five; not quite retirement age,
    but definitely counting the days. She had the sudden impres-
    sion that he was weighing her up, as if he was gazing at her
    through the crosshairs of a rifle on some distant Scottish moor
    and estimating the distance and wind speed before pulling the
    trigger.
    “I recognize you both, of course.” She nodded, reaching
    out to shake their hands.
    Hudson was a Brit, a blue- blood distantly related to the
    Queen who’d been shipped in to schmooze Sotheby’s mainly
    North American clientele with canapés and a touch of old-
    fashioned class. Cole on the other hand was a Brooklyn- born
    hustler who, despite barely being able to spell his name when
    he first joined the Christie’s mail room, had risen to the top
    on the back of a silken tongue and an unfailing eye for a good
    deal. The two of them neatly represented the social spectrum
    of both the auction world and the clients they served.
    “Then you’ll also know why I asked you to meet us here.”
    Green waved semi-apologetically at their surroundings. Hud-
    son shifted uncomfortably in mute agreement, his eyes fi xed
    reproachfully on the thin coat of dust, straw and feed that
    had already settled on his gleaming handmade shoes.
    “I can guess,” Jennifer confirmed with a nod.
    A few years ago both Christie’s and Sotheby’s had faced
    antitrust cases over allegations that they were fi xing commis-
    sion levels through a series of illicit meetings in the back of
    2 4 j a m e s
    t w i n i n g
    limousines and in airport departure lounges. Huge corporate
    fi nes and even jail sentences had resulted, although Sir Nor-
    man Watkins, Hudson’s predeces sor, had managed to avoid
    incarceration so far by refusing to return to the United States.
    The stables, therefore, offered a suitably discreet venue for
    Hudson and Cole to get together, given that in the current
    climate they daren’t risk being seen in the same room, let
    alone meeting in private as they were now.
    “Anthony,” Green turned to Hudson, “why don’t you ex-
    plain what this is all about.”
    “Very well.” Hudson loosened the inside button on his
    double-breasted suit jacket, the lining flashing emerald green.
    He bent down stiffly and picked up a gilt-framed painting
    that Jennifer had not noticed leaning against the stall.
    “ Vase de Fleurs, Lilas, by Paul Gauguin, 1885,” he pro-
    nounced grandly, as he held it up for her to see. It was quite a
    small painting, featuring a delicately rendered vase of bright
    fl owers against a dark, almost stormy background. “Not one
    of his most famous works perhaps, since he had not yet
    adopted the more primitive, expressive style that character-
    ized his work after moving to Tahiti. Nevertheless it already
    betrays his more conceptual method of repre sentation, as
    well as reflecting clear influences by Pissarro and Cézanne.”
    “Don’t worry, I don’t know what he’s talking about either,”
    Cole laughed.
    Hudson twitched but said nothing and Jennifer suspected
    he quite liked Cole and his irreverent manner; probably even
    slightly envied it.
    “You’re auctioning it?” she guessed.
    “Next week. It belongs to Reuben Razi, an Iranian dealer.
    A good client of ours. So far, we’ve had a very positive re-
    sponse from the market.”
    “Is it genuine?”
    “Why do you ask that?” Hudson snapped, pulling the can-
    vas away from her protectively,