Chapter 2
Outside counsel arrived at 11:40 p.m.
Her name was Priya Malhotra.
She represented neither the Castellano family office nor the museum.
Roman had met her twice through business litigation.
She was precise, unimpressed by surnames, and irritated by evidence being handled without documentation.
Roman liked her immediately.
The suitcase was photographed before anything else moved.
Eleanor signed a statement identifying it as the case she had stored in her apartment for eleven years.
Nina signed a short statement about the service corridor.
Celeste’s lawyer arrived before Priya asked her any questions.
The engagement ring stayed on Celeste’s finger.
Roman noticed.
He said nothing.
Priya started with the easiest problem.
“Nina.”
Nina sat in the library with a butterfly bandage above her eyebrow.
“Yes.”
“Did Ms. Marini cause the cut?”
Nina thought.
“She grabbed my wrist. I pulled back. My head hit the console.”
“Did she push you?”
“No.”
“Hit you?”
“No.”
“Did she know you hit the console?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Nina looked at Celeste.
Then:
“She told me to say I walked into the elevator door.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
Priya asked:
“Did she threaten your job?”
“No.”
“Offer money?”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
“She said, ‘Please don’t make tonight worse.’”
That sentence was more believable than a threat.
More revealing too.
Priya thanked Nina and released her.
Roman asked the estate manager to arrange medical evaluation in the morning under workplace coverage.
No favor.
No hush money.
Then Eleanor.
Priya asked:
“Why did you keep these records?”
Eleanor touched the suitcase.
“Because Vittorio told staff to destroy duplicate paper once the company digitized.”
“Normal practice?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why did you not comply?”
“Because some digitized records had changed.”
There.
She was senior conservator, not records manager.
Her job included condition reports and object photography.
She noticed ownership fields changing.
At first she assumed legal updates.
Then Novak.
She knew the family’s representative had objected.
She had seen letters.
She began photocopying.
Did that violate company rules?
“Yes.”
Was she authorized to remove copies?
“No.”
Good.
No perfect witness.
Then:
“Why not report outside the company?”
Eleanor’s mouth tightened.
“I did.”
To whom?
Roman’s uncle Vittorio.
He said legal was handling.
Then Roman’s father, Alessandro Castellano.
Roman went still.
“My father?”
Eleanor nodded.
Alessandro was the family’s hotel and real-estate man, not art business.
He had less involvement.
Eleanor approached him at a charity dinner.
Told him there were title problems in Vittorio’s storage company.
Alessandro said:
“Put it in writing.”
She did.
Did he respond?
Three months later.
He asked Vittorio.
Vittorio said disgruntled clients were trying to reopen settled storage debts.
Alessandro accepted that.
Then Eleanor received a formal warning for bypassing management.
She stopped.
Roman stared at the floor.
Same family weakness.
Trust brother.
Move on.
Then Celeste’s role.
Priya turned to her only after counsel confirmed.
Celeste began:
“I was a junior provenance assistant.”
“What did that involve?”
Catalog entries.
ownership history.
loan paperwork.
photographs.
condition reports.
shipping packets.
“Were you qualified to determine legal title?”
“No.”
“Did you decide to reclassify Novak works?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Vittorio.”
“Did he instruct you directly?”
“Yes.”
“In writing?”
“Sometimes.”
The suitcase contained sticky notes and routing slips.
One said:
C — update owner field. Novak matter closed. V.
Roman stared.
Vittorio’s handwriting.
That mattered.
Celeste did not invent the change.
Then another note:
Remove hold language before insurance renewal.
V.
Worse.
Then:
“Did you believe matter was closed?”
“At first.”
“When did you stop believing?”
Celeste looked at Eleanor.
“After she showed me the attorney letter.”
“How long after first change?”
“Maybe two months.”
“What did you do?”
“Asked Vittorio.”
“What did he say?”
“That the Novak attorney was posturing and a storage settlement had transferred the works.”
“Did you see the settlement?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
He told her she was an assistant and not a lawyer.
She dropped it.
Then later, Eleanor gave her a photocopy of counsel’s objection.
Celeste kept it.
Why?
Because she was frightened.
Then:
“Did you ever reverse the card?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Roman’s father?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Vittorio told me Alessandro would close the whole department and blame junior staff.”
Manipulation again.
Plausible.
Then:
“Why leave?”
She became uncomfortable after another consignor dispute.
Quit.
Moved to event production.
No more art logistics.
Then Roman.
Priya asked:
“When did you realize Roman Castellano was Alessandro’s son?”
“Before our first date.”
Not great.
“Before first conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Did you approach him because of the Novak matter?”
“No.”
“Can anyone corroborate?”
No.
That remained relational question.
Then the present.
Museum loan triggered provenance questionnaire.
Who completed?
Family collection manager, Daniel Park.
Celeste helped by providing family background.
Did she alter documents?
“No.”
Did she omit that she had worked at Castellano Fine Storage?
“Yes.”
Did she know Eleanor had original records?
“Yes.”
When did she contact Eleanor?
Six weeks ago.
Not today.
Roman looked sharply.
Celeste had told him she only knew Eleanor was coming because of a call that morning.
Another lie.
Priya asked:
“What did you ask Ms. Weiss?”
“To meet.”
“Why?”
“To see the files.”
“Did she agree?”
“Not at first.”
“How many contacts?”
“Four calls. Two emails.”
Eleanor nodded.
Then:
“Did you offer money?”
Celeste looked away.
Roman’s stomach dropped.
“How much?”
“Ten thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
“Archival consulting.”
Eleanor laughed.
Priya held a hand.
“What did you understand the payment was for?”
Eleanor answered:
“For giving her the Novak file and signing a statement that Vittorio had told staff the matter was settled.”
“Was that statement true?”
“Partly.”
Vittorio had said it.
That did not establish title.
Celeste said:
“I wanted her to state only what she knew.”
Priya looked.
“And transfer original documents to you.”
“Yes.”
“Why you?”
No answer.
Then:
“Why not counsel?”
Celeste whispered:
“Because I was afraid.”
Roman stood and walked to the window.
He hated that word.
Not because fear was unreal.
Because everyone used it after deciding someone else did not deserve the facts.
Then Priya turned to the paintings.
She made a list.
Woman at the Blue Window — currently Castellano family collection.
Winter Orchard — sold eleven years ago to collector Thomas Redding.
Red Bridge at Dawn — donated nine years ago to Northlake University Museum.
Two lesser works:
Seated Girl with Pomegranate.
Gray Harbor.
Both later returned to consignors according to records.
So central dispute involved three.
Then original Novak ownership.
Mara Novak was not a person. The Novak Estate referred to the estate of Joseph and Helena Novak, collectors who emigrated from Croatia to Chicago in the 1960s.
Their daughter Ana Novak died seventeen years ago.
Her sons, Peter and Daniel Novak, inherited collection while litigating estate debts.
The paintings were placed at Castellano Fine Storage during probate.
Storage fees accumulated.
Vittorio claimed the family abandoned some works.
Did contract allow sale for unpaid storage?
Possibly after strict notice.
Was notice given?
That was the legal question.
Eleanor’s suitcase contained returned certified letters.
Wrong addresses.
Roman felt ill.
The family had lived in Milwaukee by then.
The contract file had the Milwaukee address on a later page.
Yet sale notice went to old Chicago address.
Not automatically fraud.
But serious.
Then a memo from Vittorio:
If no response by Friday, move Blue Window to house account against debt.
No independent sale.
No auction.
Transfer to family account.
Self-dealing.
Priya stopped.
“That is a problem.”
Roman looked.
“How big?”
“Too early.”
Good.
No instant conclusion.
Then the two other paintings.
Winter Orchard was sold for $2.2 million.
Proceeds?
Part credited to storage debt.
Rest transferred to Castellano Fine Storage operating account under “consignor settlement reserve.”
Did Novak family receive?
No record yet.
Red Bridge donated by Vittorio.
Tax deduction to Castellano foundation? No, avoid foundation. Donation from Vittorio personally after internal transfer.
Potentially invalid.
Roman sat.
His uncle had turned disputed custody into family property.
Celeste had updated records.
His father had accepted Vittorio’s explanation.
And Roman had inherited the painting.
Then Priya said:
“We notify the museum tomorrow that the loan is paused.”
Roman nodded.
Celeste closed eyes.
The exhibition had been built around Blue Window.
Elaine, the museum director, had already left but expected call.
Then:
“We also contact the Novak heirs through counsel.”
Roman nodded again.
Celeste said:
“Roman.”
He looked.
“What?”
“If they claim all three—”
He raised hand.
“We don’t decide their claim tonight.”
She stopped.
Then Roman asked Priya:
“What do we do with the painting?”
“Leave it where it is until security and insurer coordinate.”
No dramatic seizure.
Then Celeste removed the engagement ring.
She placed it on the table.
Roman looked at it.
“You don’t have to do that tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you shouldn’t have to wonder what I think we are.”
That was perhaps the first clean sentence she had given him.
He did not push it back.
The engagement ended without a speech.
Then Priya asked one final question.
“Ms. Marini, are there any other Castellano works whose records you personally changed?”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Roman looked up.
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Whose?”
“One belonged to a gallery that later confirmed sale.”
“And the other?”
Celeste swallowed.
“A portrait called Boy with Red Gloves.”
Roman knew it.
It hung in his sister Bianca’s apartment.
The room went silent.
“Was that also Novak?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Celeste looked at Priya.
Then Roman.
“The Alvarez collection.”
Roman almost laughed from exhaustion.
Another family.
Another file.
May you like
Priya wrote the title down.
Tomorrow had just become longer.
