Casebook 3: War with Russia - 3.8[index]

---

The day after the final painting was returned to its rightful place in the museum, Professor Marltot disappeared. Her lab coat, with ID card still attached to the pocket, was found ripped and discarded on the Pont de Lippincutlepin. They had struck.

As I watched the French police dredging the river, I thought of the smart, meticulous face of Professor Marltot smiling across at me. And it was at that point that the true nature of the forgery revealed itself. Professor Marltot had arranged it all.

I wondered if I had misjudged it. Had she gone mad? A respectable French academic! But this was too logical, too calculated. No, Professor Marltot was not insane. This was simple greed.

It was her who had enlisted Noet to forge the thirty paintings. But there had been only two thefts: the first by Noet (when he stole 'War with Russia', as the cameras proved). The second theft had been committed by Marltot herself:

Of the paintings discovered in Noet's apartment, only 'War with Russia' was the real thing – the rest were Noet's devastating forgeries, personally approved by Marltot. She knew the curator would be forced to ask for her help – the expert of Paris and the curator's personal friend. Do you see now why I have not named him?