Skullduggery: Obsession

By Carolyn Moynihan

Skullduggery

Sweet fragrance of forbidden fruit tempts with a promise of deceit awakening forces of a dark nature.

The plane was bound for Rome and the plan was to return to Italy to search for works of art. It was a plan to locate certain missing paintings and smuggle them to the US. To this day, there are many works of art that are unaccounted for, buried in old villas of Rome and in summer houses.
History recorded their existence for a brief moment and then they vanished.
Gordon Jeffries knew as much as anyone about the history of missing paintings. He was consumed with theories of their whereabouts. His plan to find specific works of art was to be an adventure - a puzzle to be solved that promised intrigue and a battle of wits. The game to be played was an obsession to
possess that laid claim to his furtive quest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469173450

Carolyn Moynihan

I was born and raised in the Midwestern town of South Bend, Indiana. I went west for my education, graduating from the University of Arizona, where I majored in art, history, and English. I lived in Tucson for a number of years and came east with my former husband. I have two beautiful daughters and one beautiful grandchild. We live separately in Greenwich, Connecticut. I love to read, play the piano and golf, and I take long walks in my neighborhood. I have written two children's books: The Journey to the Great Pond and The Edge of the Woods. I have also written the novel "Skullduggery." I'm in the process of gathering thoughts for my next novel.

Book preview

Chapter 1

THE PLAN

Sweet fragrance of forbidden fruit tempts with a promise of deceit, awakening forces of a dark nature.

The plane was bound for Rome, and the plan was to return to Italy to search for works of art. It was a plan to locate certain missing paintings and smuggle them to the US. There are many works of art that are unaccounted for, buried in old villas of Rome and in summer houses. History recorded their existence for a brief moment and then they vanished.

Gordon Jeffries knew as much as anyone about the history of missing paintings. He was consumed with theories of their whereabouts. His plan to find specific works of art was to be an adventure—a puzzle to be solved that promised intrigue and a battle of wits. It must be noted that the plan to illegally acquire the works was not about the monetary value of the art. It was much more. It was a game to be played, and an obsession to possess that laid claim to his furtive quest.

At first glance and even second, Gordon seemed unassuming. He was youthful, in his mid thirties, was of medium height, had sandy hair, soft brown eyes and possessed a winning smile. There was, however, a hint of superiority in his manner that surfaced from time to time. He was gifted with a talent for languages and spoke French, Italian and German fluently. He was also gifted with a steel trap memory and a first rate mind. It was his sense of whimsy that was troublesome.

To those who knew him, it would be unimaginable that he could break the law or engage in an underhanded scheme. He appeared to be as reliable as the path of a straight arrow. He was well read, well groomed, dressed impeccably and was a fair conversationalist. There was a charm about him—a quiet, solitary nature—a nature that was probably the result of being an only child.

Gordon was a very wealthy, well-educated man on whom much was lavished and little was spared. He was the product of New England money, of Princeton, with graduate studies abroad. His fascination with art history began at an early age. It was a fascination that pleased his mother but mystified his father, who was a giant in the financial world.

Despite his many advantages, Gordon suffered from insecurity and struggled with indecision. Those traits were blatant contradictions to the confidence, stealth and cool nerves necessary for the task of smuggling that Gordon set for himself. Yet, he seemed oblivious to the contradictions. He was fixated, a captive of his vivid imagination and bold fantasies that fueled his obsession and that flew in the face of reason.

Gordon worked very hard to put his plan in place. He used all of his cunning and connections to become a member of the prestigious Society Internationale, for the Preservation of Art. The Society researched authenticated and catalogued paintings, drawings, sculptures and tapestries owned by private estates. This service gave the country an idea of the full extent of its art treasures and gave the owners of the estates an appraisal and stamp of authenticity to their art collections.

Gordon carefully and deliberately arranged to research the estate that he believed might harbor the missing paintings that he so wished to own. Politically wise, he maneuvered, polished and massaged certain egos and then lay in wait for the right opportunities to present themselves. He was rewarded after three years of scheming. His plan was in place. He was not only assigned to the estate of his choosing but was to be the director of the assignment.

The Society sent teams of no fewer than four members to an estate. Among the four were art historians, conservationists and at least one restoration technician. Ideally, there was at least one foreign member of the team whose responsibility it was to monitor the assessments and to keep them honest. That person was Gordon. It was believed that an outsider would prohibit the influence of the owners and prevent an exaggeration of value placed on works of art. It was also thought to prevent false authentication—or so went the theory.

It was surprising that the period of art that interested this quiet, determined personality was a violent time in Italian history—a time stamped with the darkness of the Inquisition and the Counter Reformation. It was a time when the Church dictated the ideas and subject matter of works of art.

During the late 16th Century and early 17th Century, there was an Italian painter, who despite the controlling power of the Church, established a new concept, a new expression that influenced and changed the path of art history that is still acknowledged today. The artist’s paintings were the focus of Gordon Jeffries’ obsession, an obsession that dominated his every waking hour.

The artist that was the focus of Gordon’s obsession was called Merisio. The painter was born in Milan and worked in Rome. Merisio, was by most standards, difficult and mean spirited. His life reflected the instability of the period in which he lived. He was considered to be wild and unpredictable, a rogue whose temper could turn violent in a moment.

It was difficult to understand why Gordon Jeffries, who was so tidy, fastidious and pampered, was drawn to and completely fascinated with the chaotic life and dramatic paintings of this artist. The painter’s life was fraught with hardship, cruelty and self-destruction. This ruffian of the streets, engaged in sword fights and brawls. The seemingly endless street fights led to charges of murder and a price on Merisio’ s head. The artist was exonerated from his first charge of murder, but the scars of his reputation, that he so boldly wore, eventually became the target for more accusations and more difficulties.

Unlike Jeffries, Merisio was a man without wealth, without comforts and without education. He was powerful, however, in that he possessed the ability and drive to communicate a new vision that survived long beyond his brief life.

That the painter and the scholar were both driven men seemed to be the only obvious parallel that could be drawn between the two. The motivations behind their compulsions could not have been more distinct. The painter was driven by a necessity to create despite a destructive bent. Although his nature was violent, he produced an intense realism that reflected soul and passion. He translated into art what he saw with a bold honesty and shared it with the world around him.

In contrast, Jeffries was quiet and his actions were secretive. He used his background, connections, education and wealth to manipulate, maneuver, plot and to plan. His objectives were self-centered. His passion was to find and then possess, at any price, the powerful paintings of a pauper. His motives stood in stark contrast to the urgent demands for survival that dictated Merisio’s life. Gordon’s plan was to take what rightfully belonged to others—a larcenous plan.

Gordon was methodically reviewing a laundry list of missing paintings as the plane landed at Leonardo De Vinci International Airport. He felt a twinge of excitement in the pit of his stomach at touchdown. Soon he would be in Rome, in the city of empires and art. Soon he would put his plan into effect.

It was a beautiful spring day that greeted passengers as they disembarked. The sunshine was bright and the air was cool and fresh from the previous day’s rain. A car was waiting to take Gordon to his home, but first he had to endure the dull, nearly nineteen mile-ride from the airport. The change was dramatic when the car passed through the Great Aurelian Wall. Immediately, the ruins and monuments of the great city of Rome greeted him. Gordon was excited by the energy of The City of Hills. It is where present architecture and ancient architecture mingle in a city where there are a few sections that still have traces of a village.

The Parioli district is one such section. It is where Gordon lives when he was in Rome. The district is surrounded by the greenery and gardens of the Villa Borghese to the south and the Villa Ada and the Villa Glori to the north. The location of his home was on the Via Pietro Tacchini, a hard to—find, little out-of-the-way street that suited Gordon’s sense of the aesthetic and a need for quiet.

There was smugness, an air of self-satisfaction about him when the car pulled up to his house. Gordon walked through the courtyard and noticed the flowers and the fountain. The housekeeper had fresh flowers in the foyer for Gordon’s return and there was mail waiting for him. He felt at home. A letter from the Society Internationale for the Preservation of Art was the first letter that he opened. It was a confirmation of his assignment to the Villa of the Vincenzo Monteccini family, a very old, wealthy family who owned the estate for centuries. Being assigned to that particular villa was Gordon’s top priority.

Attached to the letter was a list of the team members that Gordon would be working with. He ran down the list several times and knew all but one of the members.

At the top of the list was Fazio Baldamonte, an art historian and conservationist of impeccable credentials and reputation. He refurbished large works at the Vatican and was highly regarded in that little world of restoration and conservation. He was a gentleman through and through, in his early forties and was an authority on 16th and 17th Century tapestries and drawings. Gordon was impressed with his knowledge, quick wit and fine manners.

On the list was Reno Conti, whom Gordon met only briefly. Reno was tall, handsome, and lighthearted. He was a very fine restoration technician, who was mostly known for the large number of women admirers who were in constant competition for his affections. Reno was a great story-teller who enjoyed life, and whose gusto was in sharp contrast to the quiet scholarly types he usually worked with.

Donatella Rafaelli was assigned to the estate as well. She was a well educated art historian with impressive publications and credentials. Extremely capable and easy on the eyes, she was pursued by many a gentleman and enjoyed a pleasant social life. Donatella certainly was not the image that one conjured when thinking of a scholar.

Then there was Charlotte Wall Bradford who was also a member of the team. Miss Bradford