The garage wasn’t filled with dusty storage boxes, car tools, or spare tires. Instead, bright fluorescent lights illuminated a sterile, high-tech art restoration lab, complete with climate-controlled display cases and professional magnification tools.
Framed along the far back wall were dozens of world-renowned oil paintings—masterpieces that had been reported stolen from private galleries across Europe over the last decade.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I stepped closer, my newly restored vision capturing every vivid detail of the priceless artwork. Beside a half-finished canvas sat a stack of forged provenance papers bearing official international seals.
Brian hadn’t been working late at his mundane logistics firm for eleven years; he was executing high-profile art heists and harboring a black-market laundering operation right beneath our roof.
As I turned to run back toward the house, the automatic garage door slowly began to rumble upward. Who was pulling into the driveway early? Continue reading Part 3 below to discover who arrived.
