Page 51 of All I Want for Christmas

Darcy pulled a face. ‘I might have been too fastidious,starting at the beginning of your records rather than the time frame we had previously agreed on. Time’s not on my side. I’m going to have to work around the clock from here on.’

Viggo got up and retrieved the kettle, taking it over to the small sink and filling it up. ‘Well, at least now we have a solution that will help with that.’

‘Yes, about that...’ she said, stretching out the words so that he looked over at her.

‘Is something wrong?’

‘No, not at all. And I’m so grateful for what you managed to do with such little notice.’

‘But?’

‘But there mustsurelybe a way to get permission for me to do the work at home?’ she pleaded.

‘It is out of my hands, Darcy,’ he shrugged.

‘But why should the material be any safer at Max Lorensen’s house than mine?’

‘Because it is up the road.’

‘Okay, apart from that. I mean, what if there was a fire? He has got alotof wine that would...act as an accelerant!...And he’s much more likely to be burgled than me! He’s got a Max Liebermann on the wall, and some Picasso sketches and God knows what else in there!’

Viggo made a little sound and gave a little shrug as if to say ‘of course’. ‘That is why he has a good security system.’

‘Not that good,’ she scoffed. ‘When I had to leave on Saturday, he wasn’t there, in spite of what he said about promising to keep his eyes on the material at all times.AndI didn’t even have to set an alarm code on my way out. The house was no more protected than my place.’

‘Hmm.’ Viggo frowned, looking perturbed by that information.

‘Please can’t you try to talk to the insurers again?’

‘Darcy, I cannot argue convenience over risk.’

‘But it’s not convenience. It’s productivity. If I want to work through the night, I can’t, obviously. If I went straight from here to Max’s house this evening, I couldn’t stay more than an hour or two. Think about it – working in his kitchen after nine would be just unacceptable, wouldn’t it? And every single day? I wouldn’t feel Icouldgo there every day or every weekend! I mean, he was really kind to help out this weekend but the man’s got a life to live.’

‘He certainly has that,’ Viggo said with a wry chuckle as he spooned coffee into their mugs and sloshed in milk from a small jug shaped as a sitting cow. Darcy wondered whether he too had seen the pictures of Max in the society pages.

‘...It’s an ongoing intrusion of his privacy and we’d be taking a liberty with his generosity.’

‘I see,’ Viggo nodded, pouring the boiled water from the kettle and looking thoroughly bemused.

‘So you’ll try again with the insurers? Because I think the chances are good. By letting the material off the premises, they’ve established a precedent for...letting the material off the premises. Thewhereit goes to is simply academic.’ She was aware she was talking faster than usual, her voice at a slightly higher pitch.

‘Precedent, eh? And I thought he was the lawyer.’ Viggo handed her the cup with a smile and a look that made her feel as if he could see right through her excuses. She had felt it with Otto, too. Max Lorensen had a reputation in this city. Did they suspect her reasons for trying to avoid him?

‘Please, Viggo.’

‘I’ll see what I can do, Darcy. Leave it with me.’

‘Do you need a box sent over tonight?’

Darcy stared at the message. She had read it on notifications so that it wouldn’t mark as read. She put her phone back down again and tried to pretend she hadn’t leapt at the sight of the number; she refused to enter Max’s name into the contacts. There was no need to. He was not a person in her life.

She went back to her file – August 1920: pencil sketches, studies and vignettes. Trier was in Puglia, exploring the deep Mediterranean landscape and light that was so different to northerly Denmark. She scrutinized every scribbled face or profile, checked the women’s dresses for a detail he might have carried through...

The phone buzzed again and although she tried to ignore it, she only lasted eight seconds before having to look.

‘I won’t be there.’

She bit her lip and texted back. Just to get rid of him.

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