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.Chapter 29WZNT MEClaire pressed the bottom of her beer glass on the wooden table, leaving behind a ring of condensation.She added another one to it, then a faint third, but there wasn’t enough condensation to allow her to form the five rings of the Olympic symbol.Before they were due at Mercury, she and Dante were time by splitting a pitcher of India Pale Ale at the Hillsdale Pub.Like all the other pubs owned by Portland’s McMennamin brothers, the Hillsdale Pub featured beer brewed on site, signs from other countries and/or times, and funky paintings that looked like the artist had eaten a lot of acid before picking up his paint brush.They were filled with smiling suns, dancing hammers, leaping rabbits and lots of psychedelic colors.“Allen Lisac’s collection is truly fabulous.It’s going to be the Oregon Art Museum’s crown jewel, that’s for sure.The Met would be happy to have it,” Dante was saying.“Nineteen paintings and seven drawings.The paintings aren’t that distinguished, but the drawings are exceptional.They told me he paid nearly seven million for the lot, and I’m thinking he got a bargain.There is a black chalk study of an infant’s head that’s just enchanting.And a beautiful pen and ink study of a seated female figure.And a sketch that I think may have been for an altar piece that’s now in Frankfurt.I wish I’d had more time to really look at them.What the director and Allen Lisac really wanted to talk about wasn’t the art itself, but how to market it.”Claire flinched inwardly at every mention of Allen’s Lisac’s name.“Market it? Isn’t this supposed to be about the art?”“I think they’re moved beyond that.They kept asking me about how I would display them, what the initial marketing plan would be, what interactive events we could stage, etc., etc.When this wing opens, they want it to feel like the one must-see-event of the year, not just for people in Oregon, but for art lovers all over America.The idea is to have something so crowded that only a limited number of tickets can be sold every hour.Something people will actually camp in line for.So that simply getting in to the new wing will be an event in itself, you know, with the TV cameras panning over the long lines, so that even people who normally never go to art museums will know they have to see this.”Doubt nibbled at Claire.“But is that the kind of thing you want, Dante?”“I don’t know if it matters what I want.That’s what everyone wants now, a marketing plan, not a discussion of the scholarship.Museums are hurting for money like everyone else.Without money, they say they can’t afford scholarship.Big museums today aren’t necessarily about study.It’s just as much about entertainment and politics.Spectacle has overwhelmed serious scholarship.Take the Jackie O.exhibit we had.It was ostensibly about her style, but it was more about the woman.And how much of it was about art at all? A blockbuster exhibition can underwrite a lot of scholarship, just like a blockbuster potboiler can underwrite the same publisher’s putting out more scholarly works.”“In some ways, don’t you have to give people what they want? Or in the case of the Jackie O.exhibit you just know someone is going to do it, so it might as well be you.I mean, there’s a place for both things, isn’t there?”“I think most museums are afraid they are in danger of being forgotten.So they court attention any way they can.Do you think anyone was really sorry when Guiliani denounced the Virgin Mary painted in elephant dung at that Brooklyn show a few years back? Far from it.He started talking about obscenity and an outrage and threatening bans and a whole lot more people were suddenly willing to line up for three hours to see it.A scandal can be the icing on the cake.”That was the third time Dante had mentioned Allen Lisac’s name in the last five minutes.Claire looked at her watch.In less than half an hour, she would be face-to-face again with the Lisacs – and she didn’t know whether they would recognize her or not.Should she just keep quiet, and hope that she went unrecognized? Or should she confess now, before she got in even worse trouble? Dante had asked her not to go with Charlie, and she had gone.Claire knew that he would consider her betrayal compounded if he learned about it from the Lisacs over dinner.She interrupted him in mid-sentence.“There’s something I need to tell you about before we go to Mercury.”Dante looked at her for a long moment, then sat back in his chair and folded his arms.Deciding this was a bad sign, Claire poured herself a fresh glass of beer before she began.“It’s about the Lisacs,” she said, after taking a long sip.He pressed his lips together, then opened them only wide enough to say, “You didn’t.”It wasn’t really a question, so Claire didn’t answer it.Instead, she took another swallow of beer and tried to make a fourth ring on the table even as the others faded away.Dante leaned forward.“You went to their house? Claire, this is the man whose collection I’m hoping to oversee.Are you trying to throw a wrench in the works? This is going to be very awkward.”“But I never gave my name.And I wore a disguise.”“A disguise! You sound like a child who thinks if she closes her eyes that no one else can see her.”“They didn’t even talk to me, just Charlie.” Claire tried to sound innocent.“Are you saying you didn’t want me to return Allen Lisac’s ex-fiancé’s ring, one that had been in the family for generations?”“I’m not saying that, and you know it.” Dante’s tone was exasperated.“But Charlie could have gone over by herself.You should have just stayed out of it.”“Charlie asked me to go along.It was very important to her.She wanted me to be with her to see how they reacted when they saw the ring.” Claire leaned forward.“Dante, there was a lot of blood on Elizabeth’s head.Even though she fell after they cut her down, dead people don’t bleed.That means whatever happened to Elizabeth must have happened before she died, not after.Maybe she didn’t kill herself at all.Maybe someone strung up Elizabeth’s body after she was already dead.”Dante’s arms were still crossed.“Claire, are you sure it’s really possible for Charlie to remember a little detail about something that happened decades ago? And I’m sure the whole event was very confusing and upsetting for her.I can’t even remember what happened last week.”“Charlie’s memory is probably better than both yours and mine together.And she remembers things that happened decades ago as if they were yesterday [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]