Rendell stared at it in awe

Rendell stared at it in awe. "Brilliant!"

"It was Miss Whitney's idea," the hunchback admitted. "She asked whether it would be possible to cover up the original artist's signature with a fake signature and then cover that with the original name."

"He figured out how it could be done," Tracy smiled.

Porretta said modestly, "It was ridiculously simple. Took fewer than two minutes. The trick was in the paints I used. First, I covered Goya's signature with a layer of super-refined white French polish, to protect it. Then, over that I painted Lucas's name with a quick-drying acrylic-based paint. On top of that I painted in Goya's name with an oil-based paint with a light picture varnish. When the top signature was removed, Lucas's name appeared. If they had gone further, they would have discovered that Goya's original signature was hidden underneath. But of course, they didn't."

Tracy handed each man a fat envelope and said, "I want to thank you both."

"Anytime you need an art expert," Henri Rendell winked.

Porretta asked, "How do you plan to carry the painting out of the country?"

"I'm having a messenger collect it here. Wait for him." She shook the hands of both men and walked out.

On her way back to the Ritz, Tracy was filled with a sense of exhilaration. Everything is a matter of psychology, she thought. From the beginning she had seen that it would be impossible to steal the painting from the Prado, so she had had to trick them, to put them in a frame of mind where they wanted to get rid of it. Tracy visualized Jeff Stevens's face when he learned how he had been outwitted, and she laughed aloud.




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