Yeah. She knew that one first-hand from the lovely, sweet, gentle man she thought she’d got engaged to—the man who’d turned out to be a control freak with a nasty temper behind the charm. The man who’d almost broken her. ‘It’s worth a look,’ she said. ‘Just think, Nigel. A whole collection. Art that hasn’t been seen for decades.’ Even the idea made her heart rate go up a few notches.
‘So, on the basis of a few photographs, you’re planning to go to Florence tomorrow with a stranger.’
‘A lawyer in a very respectable firm that has very posh offices in the city, and he checks out as genuine,’ she corrected.
‘But the man’s still a stranger.’
‘We’re working on the third series of the show now. How many lost paintings have we found so far?’ she asked.
‘Fourteen, and two where we couldn’t prove the provenance or get them accepted by the experts, but the detective side of the story made really good viewing,’ Nigel said. ‘Along with all the hundreds of people who’ve contacted us about fakes and copies.’
‘I think it’s worth following up,’ she said. ‘I haven’t had a holiday in a year and a half. Worst-case scenario, if it is too good to be true, then I’ll get a few days’ break in Florence. Best-case, if this is an eccentric collector and the paintings are genuine, they’ll fit in with my PhD and make a potential episode of Hidden Treasure—and I think it’ll be our best episode to date.’
‘You really want to do this, don’t you?’
She nodded. ‘I’ve got a funny feeling about it.’
‘More like you really want it to be true,’ Nigel said. ‘Like if someone told me they had what they thought was a lost Turner painting and we looked into it for Hidden Treasure and managed to find the provenance. I’d be thrilled.’
‘Exactly.’
Nigel sighed. ‘I’d be happier if someone went with you.’
Mariana knew what he was worrying about. ‘Eric isn’t going to come after me,’ she said. ‘There’s a restraining order in place.’
‘Which he broke last year.’
‘And he has a suspended sentence. He’s not going to risk spending at least two years in prison,’ Mariana said. ‘So I’m going to Florence. I’ll keep you posted.’
She was lucky, Mariana thought as she walked from the tube station to her flat. So very lucky.
Lucky that she had a family and friends who’d refused to give up on her when Eric had started to isolate her from everyone. Lucky that they’d seen through his charm when she hadn’t been able to—and then that they’d seen her failing self-esteem and bolstered her. Lucky that they’d got her into a refuge when things turned nasty and then helped her get a restraining order so he couldn’t come anywhere near her again.
Eric had lied in court. He’d said that she was making it all up. That she was a drama queen begging for attention and she might as well have been on one of those ‘court case’ reality TV shows rather than in a proper court of law.
But the court had seen the truth. That he’d systematically undermined her over the two years of their relationship, made her feel useless and worthless, and isolated her from her family and friends. And her lawyer had found one of his exes; Eric had treated Adele in exactly the same way, and she’d been willing to speak up in court.
The court had made the injunction with no reservations.
And how Eric must hate it that she’d gone on to be happy. That she’d finished her MA in History of Art and then landed the job presenting Hidden Treasure. That she was well on the way to becoming Dr Mariana Thackeray and people respected her for her knowledge.
He’d tried to bring her down when Hidden Treasure first started airing. He’d posted anonymous comments on social media, hinting that she was unstable and untrustworthy. In the end, to squash the rumours and to make sure the truth was told properly, she’d told her story to the national press and made sure that the fee went to the women’s refuge that had helped her. She really, really hoped that she’d helped other people in that situation and given them the courage to find an escape.