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There was an uncomfortable silence.
Nate stood up. ‘I’d better go.’
‘Please don’t leave on my account.’
Nate shrugged and sat down.
Lili took a seat on the sofa opposite Nate, avoiding eye contact. She wanted to ask him about Otto. He’d known her grandfather and had spent time with him. It sounded as though they’d had a lovely relationship, from the little Nate had told her. She wanted him to tell her more but doubted he would be very receptive; not after the way they had parted the last time they’d seen each other, with Nate storming out of the cabin when Elspeth had told them all what Lili stood to inherit.
She could feel Nate staring at her. ‘So, where are the other paintings?’ he asked.
The police had advised Lili not to return the paintings to the cabin. With all the media attention, the chances that it would be broken into, and the pictures stolen, was an insurance company’s nightmare. The police station didn’t have the room or the conditions for them to remain there.
‘A museum in London is temporarily storing them in their vault while I figure out what to do with them.’
Nate nodded. ‘That makes sense.’
Does it?thought Lili. What she wanted to do with them was hand them over to Miriam, but she hadn’t turned up.
‘I heard what you tried to do on your last visit here.’
Lili looked at him sharply. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said defensively.
‘You attempted to persuade Joseph to challenge the will.’
‘Oh, that,’ Lili said offhand. ‘It was stupid of me to think he would do it.’ Lili was still staring around the room. ‘Then I realised I didn’t need his permission or his solicitors.’ Lili glanced at Nate. ‘I can make the changes myself.’
Nate leaned forward in his seat. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘All this,’ Lili held up her hand, gesturing at the artwork adorning the walls of the summerhouse. ‘This is ridiculous.’
Nate frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The paintings that were here, but are now sitting in a vault, shouldn’t be in a private collection. Those masterpieces have been under lock and key for far too long. I want them to be seen and enjoyed by all, not just one person.’
Nate stared at Lili. ‘Just what are you proposing to do?’
Lili wasn’t proposing anything; she had already made up her mind. ‘I want to donate them to the museum, with one proviso: that they hang them in a gallery dedicated to my great-grandfather.’ She knew it would be controversial, telling the story of a Nazi art officer, but she didn’t want him or his legacy to be hidden any longer. ‘I want to encourage others to search out the human story that is so often concealed behind emblems and labels and …’
‘… swastikas,’ Nate added.
Lili turned to him. She didn’t need his permission or to seek his approval, but as a friend, she would have liked his opinion. She imagined he thought she was crazy to give up this immense wealth, but Lili still thought they weren’t hers to keep, even if her grandmother wasn’t alive.
Nate stared at her. He shook his head. ‘You are crazy – do you know that?’ His face broke out in a wide grin. ‘But you are also amazing.’
‘I am?’
‘Yes. I imagine very few people would give them up for posterity rather than sell the paintings and make a fortune.’
‘I know it’s the right thing to do, Nate.’ She just wasn’t sure if Miriam would agree. Lili was aware it wasn’t her decision to make, not yet, not unless Miriam was …
Lili didn’t want to think about that – the fact that she’d been waiting all day and her grandmother hadn’t come. Why hadn’t she turned up? Had something happened? Lili tried to dismiss where that train of thought led; to the possibility that perhaps she would never get to meet her.
She said to Nate, ‘I know Otto kept these for Alena. They belonged to her family. But I think he would have approved.’
‘I think Joseph would have approved too.’ Nate’s expression turned serious. He leaned forward in his seat and placed some keys on the coffee table in front of Lili. ‘These belong to you now. There’s no point waiting for the reading of the will. We all know what it says.’
Lili stared at the keys to the house. ‘I’m not taking those.’
