Chapter 3 - My Father Had Started Distrusting Marco Before He Died
Marco had entered our lives through my father.
He began as an assistant in Victor’s antiques business and eventually became the person who understood the collection better than almost anyone.
He handled transportation.
Insurance documentation.
Restoration schedules.
Private sales.
Auction consignments.
By the time I took over the family investment business, Marco effectively managed the antiques side on his own.
I trusted him because my father appeared to trust him.
But after Victor died, I found strange gaps.
Nothing dramatic.
A missing appraisal here.
A transport record that listed the wrong date.
An old photograph of a sculpture with different wear marks from the sculpture currently in storage.
Whenever I asked Marco, he had answers.
Restoration changes surface patterns.
Old inventory systems were unreliable.
My father had become disorganized near the end.
All plausible.
So I moved on.
Now I remembered one conversation from six months before Victor died.
He asked me:
“If something is valuable because everyone agrees what it is, what happens when the paperwork lies?”
I thought he was philosophizing.
I answered:
“The paperwork gets corrected.”
He looked at me strangely.
“Only if you find the original.”
At the time, I laughed.
Now I understood.
He wasn’t talking about antiques in general.
May you like
He was warning me.
---
Related Stories
