THE VINCI PAINTING

I and my friend Ham were sitting on a couch and was reading the newspaper. It was a bright morning. I went to the kitchen to make coffee for me and Ham. It’s really very difficult to get a good maid in France. Nobody wants to work as a maid or as a cook. So, we need to do everything by us. I make good coffee and it’s not a joke, my aunt and Ham both like the coffee made by me but my mom doesn’t like it because she doesn’t like pure coffee as it taste bitter, I thought that today also Ham would appreciate my coffee but it was not so. He finished the coffee without any compliments.I asked him,”What’s the matter bro, Is everything all right?”. He was quite for a moment and then he asked,”John, have you read the newspaper today?”. I replied,”Yes, of course”. He asked,” Did you notice anything in today’s newspaper headlines”.I replied,”No, bro. Did you find anything?” He asked,”Have you heard of the WesGol family?”. I said,”yes, obviously. Everyone knows them. They are the most richest family in France”. I added,” They have the most expensive collection of paintings in the whole world”. Ham said,”Yes, and the most expensive among them is Salvator Mundi which is painted by Leonardo da Vinci and it is stolen” I was shocked because it was very unique painting and it’s value is in billions. Ham was about to tell me something else on thing matter but we were interrupted because someone had come to meet us and was continuously ranging out bell. I went to open the door. I thought that my mom had come home but I was wrong. A man wearing a huge hat,  a Rolex watch on his hand, gold spectacles and shoes of Gucci shoes but he didn’t look happy, he has a big moustache. He asked that whether this is the house Mr.Ham. I realised that this man is here for succour. Ham had successfully solved cases which police were unable to solve and so, many people come to Ham for help. You can tell him that he is a private detective but he doesn’t care. He tells that he doesn’t need any kind designation for his work. The man went straight inside the house without any further talk. Ham was not at all surprised and said,” Good morning, Mr. Dave WesGol” The man was a bit surprised but ham elaborated. He said,” you are wearing very expensive thing which only rich can afford and the only possible person who could come to me right know is you because the most expensive painting of your family had lost and police couldn’t do anything still now. The man was looking very stressed but then also he said,” As you know very well, our family has the most expensive collection of paintings and among the most unique and expensive painting is the Salvator Mundi. My great grandfather bought it from an auction and he had to spend a huge sum of money for that. All our paintings are in hung on the wall except this painting. This painting is kept in my father’s room inside a vault. The thief who has taken the painting had the painting along with the vault and the most mysterious thing is that no one had seen him talking the big vault. At fast, my dad and I thought  that someone from our house had taken it but after checking everybody’s room we didn’t get anything”. Mr. Dave stopped. Ham asked,” Can you tell me how many people stay in your house and who are they.?”. Mr. Dave replied,” Around 30 people stay in our house, My father, I, my mother, my two little sisters, our secretary, a manager who handles our accounts and others are servants. Ham asked,” Do you trust your servants?”. Mr. Dave said,” yes, our servants are very trustworthy, all the servants are working our house for about last 20 years”. Mr.Dave said,” Mr. Ham, my father wants you to investigate the crime and if you can return our painting  then he would obviously make you happy by giving whatever you want.”. Ham replied,” Ok, Mr. Dave I am taking the case and tomorrow morning I will go to your house and will start my investigation.”. Mr.Dave told that he would send his car to pick Ham and me. Mr.Dave then left our house. By the time, Mr. Dave left, it was noon. After he left, I asked Ham,” What do you think about Mr. Dave.” Ham answered,” He didn’t tell me the whole thing, he is a very diplomatic person”.” Why do you think so?”, I asked. Ham told me that he was hesitating and was very nervous as if he was thinking what should be told and what not. I asked him,” Do you suspect him?. He replied,” why not, everyone should be suspected and it’s the main objective of my work.”. I didn’t extend the discussion anymore because he won’t tell me anything else. Next day, a white Rolls Royce phantom came to take us to WesGol palace. The seats of the car was soft like cheese. The car was made of pure leather although I was very sure that Ham is not even paying attention to the car. At around 9 am we reached WesGol palace. I had seen the palace in the magazines and newspaper but this is the first time I am watching in reality. Mr. Dave came to welcome us in his palace. I was just fascinated by seeing the house. Mr. Dave took me and Ham to Mr. Dave’s father lord Austin. Lord Austin looked like a quiet lion. He was siting on a couch, he had a French cut moustache. He had a great personality. Lord Austin said,”I hope my son Dave had elaborated you everything about the painting.” Ham replied,” Yes sir, I know everything and I promise you that I will return you the painting”.Lord Austin’s face glowed up and was delighted after getting an assurance from Ham. We were about to leave Lord Austin’s room but it was put to halt because of the advent of a person who was stunning and hunky. Mr. Dave introduced the gent as his bosom friend and his name is Mark Dowan. We too greeted the person. Mr.Mark was very amiable and voluble. Ham asked Mark,” Where do you come from?”. Mark said,” I am from Atlanta and I work as an engineer in AT&T company.”. Mr. Dave said,” He may look like a normal person but his father was a well-known entrepreneur of Atlanta. I and Mark studied in Stanford University and he was my classmate.We both graduated in the same year.” I was noticing that Ham was continuously observing Mark’s knees finally after a while he asked Mark about the slit on his knees. Mark replied that day before yesterday, while returning from the club it happened. Although Mark cleared the air but still I have doubt whether Ham was convinced. After the conversation with Mark, Mr. Dave took us to the Lord Austin’s room where the painting was present. It’s appearing that police had already checked everything. Ham asked Mr.Dave,” Did police find any clue or evidence about the painting?”. Mr.Dave said,” No, Mr.Ham police didn’t find any trace of the painting nor any kind of clue.” Ham asked Mr.Dave,” Can you allow me to sojourn today, so that I can investigate properly.” Although Mr.Dave said that he don’t have any regarding it but I am very sure that he is not at all happy by our proposal. Mr.Dave showed us our room and told us to take some rest. By the time, we entered the room the morning has told us goodbye and we are about to welcome the noon. I asked Ham,”Did you find any clue to proceed the case.”. Ham said,” Yes, I have and I even think that I know the thief”. I was surprised after this statement. I asked him,” Whom do you suspect to be the criminal”. He said,” In the right time, you will get to know him. I didn’t proceed further with the conversation because I knew that it’s of no use, he will not answer any of my question anymore. In the afternoon, Lord Austin called us for lunch. I was delighted to see the menu. I was thinking from where to start. The menu consisted of 11 different items. It had soup, pizza, sushi, pork steaks, roasted beef, mashed potatoes, ice-cream, etc. At first, I hesitated to eat all the given but Lord Austin requested us to have all of it because it’s their tradition that guest’s should me leave any food because it shows a disrespect towards the family but Ham didn’t hesitate, he ate all his food and also took a part of roasted beef from my plate. He said that as he is mentally working out the case so, beef is the best food to boost up the mental power. Although I didn’t understand the logic but then also I didn’t say him anything. After having so much foodie were full and so, I and Ham went back to our rooms to take a nap. While sleeping, I asked Ham,” Do you like Mr.Dave, I find him very suspicious. Although he smiles in front of us but in reality I don’t like him”. Ham said,” Yeah, he is very introvert and doesn’t like to converse with anyone but we can’t suspect him as the victim because we don’t have any evidence against him.”. I thought to ask him some more question but I was sure that he won’t answers I slept. In the evening, when I woke up. I was surprised to see that Ham was not in the room. At around 8 pm, Ham came back to the room. I asked him,”Where did you go without taking me”. He told me,” At first,I went to a cyber cafe then to a telephone to make an international call.”. I was about to ask few more questions but he obstructed me to do so. He told,” Tomorrow, you will get to know everything”. I asked him,”It means you have found out the victim and the painting”. He just said yes and starting reading a book. At around 9pm, Mark called us for dinner. While eating, ham told Lord Austin that he had found the victim and will elaborate and disclose everything tomorrow. Lord Austin cheered up after this. I observed others whether the change their facial expression but I didn’t see any change in anyone’s face. After eating, I and Ham went to the garden of WesGol. It’s a huge garden with a golf setup. Although the weather was so cool and fresh but still I was feeling hot because Ham asked me wear a bulletproof jacket. I didn’t understand the reason of wearing it tonight. I was thinking who can kill us in this house. I like everyone in the house. Lord Austin is so humble, Mark is amiable and Dave is also not so bad. We were walking in the garden alone and due to power-cut there were no light in the garden, we could only get the light of the moon. Suddenly, I felt something hit me in my backbone,I was about to tell this to Ham but I saw Ham ran towards a the guava tree with full speed, I noticed that someone was near the guava tree. Before the person could try to escape, Ham jumped on the person and gave an upper cut and the person immediately fell down. Ham told me to tie his hand with the rope which was kept in his pocket. I took the rope and tied the person’s hand with the rope. Ham said,” So, how are you feeling Mr. Mark Dowan”. I was shocked to the see the person’s face. He is Mark Dowan, the man who was behaving friendly with us in the morning but now his face had turned into a devil. Ham shouted and told Lord Austin to turn on the main electric supply. We took Mr.Mark to the living room. Mr.Dave,Lord Austin and inspector David was already present there. Ham pointed Mr.Mark and told by seeing Lord Austin,”See he is your culprit sir”. All were shocked except Ham. Ham told Mark to sit on the chai. I also took a seat but Ham was standing and started  elaborating the investigation. He said,” Lord Austin, today when I meet Mark, I noticed a slit on his knees at first I didn’t give any attention to it but later on, I came to know that it’s not a normal cut, he came across that cut while taking away the painting from the house”.Today in the evening, I went to the cyber cafe and the police station to collect information about Mark and the information which I got forced me to doubt Mark as the victim. Inspector David confirmed that Mark never worked for the AT&T company. He was unemployed and took money from many people and didn’t return their money and as a result his prestige and fame with he had inherited from his father totally went down. He was under great debt and so escaped for Atlanta and came to stay with his friend. While, studying in Stanford, Mr.Dave had discussed about Salvator Mundi and Mark knew very well that this one painting will change his life.The night when he decided to steal the painting, he mixed sleeping pills in everybody’s food and he went to the club at that night so, that nobody asks him for dinner but actually he had hid in the your garden and after the dinner he entered your house. That’s the reason no one was aware of the purloin of the painting because everyone was sleeping that time everyone was doped by sleeping pills. Mark quietly entered your room and took the painting along with the vault and kept it in his bank’s vault so that it’s safe and no one will doubt him.” It is the total elaboration of the investigation. Lord Austin said,” Mr.Ham please hand over my painting”.I noticed that Inspector David was holding a box, now Ham asked him to open the box. I was delighted to see the painting Salvator Mundi. It’s fantastic, remarkable, marvellous and overwhelming. Ham took the painting and gave it to Lord Austin. Inspector took Mark to jail. Lord Austin was so happy that he gifted a Diamond ring to Ham. Mr.Dave was happy but also sad because he couldn’t believe that that his best friend would do something like this. It’s now morning 6am and a start of the new day.

      

Author's Note

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