‘He did! You’re right. It was a massive scandal at the time. Or at least, it was to us in the industry. You see, when Dudley died, Elliot inherited all of his art. And Elliot got Stefan to value his dad’s artwork to get it ready to be auctioned off. At that point he didn’t know what a crook Stefan was. None of us did. And the collection was worth a few hundred thousand pounds, it was a serious windfall for Elliot. Even though, in among the good stuff, there was quite a bit of tat.’

‘Including,’ Judith said, ‘an abstract painting that was three plain bands of colour. The top one yellow, the middle one grey, and the bottom a sort of dark red.’

‘You know it?’ Fred said.

‘So, following your logic, I take it that Stefan said it wasn’t worth much.’

‘That’s it. You see, it wasn’t signed, and it was found in a box with a couple of other unsigned paintings. And the other two paintings were amateur hour, they weren’t worth a penny. So Elliot was happy to let Stefan buy the box for a few quid. But it was another one of his scams, wasn’t it? Because, as soon as he owned it, Stefan said he wasn’t sure if it was what he thought it was. So he took it up to London for a second opinion. And it only turned out to be by Mark Rothko, about the most famous American painter of the twentieth century!’

‘How much was it worth?’ Suzie asked.

‘The thing is, it was only a sketch, not the finished article. That’s why Rothko didn’t sign it. But there’s a photo of him painting it, so the provenance is proven and that made it worth a few hundred thousand pounds.’

‘You’re kidding me!’ Judith said, amazed.

‘And Stefan refused to give it back to Elliot, or pay the correct market price for it. He told Elliot he was sorry he’d misidentified it, but there was nothing he could do. It was an honest mistake. And you’re right,’ Fred said in realisation. ‘It was only a few months later that Elliot applied to art school. I’d not made the connection before. Stefan betrayed him, and Elliot had left the business by the end of the year.’

‘Now that is very interesting,’ Judith said. ‘Thank you very much for your time, Fred.’

‘No worries,’ Fred said. ‘And if you don’t mind, I really must get back.’

‘Of course, and thank you again!’

As Fred pushed his cart off, Judith and Suzie watched him go.

‘So why,’ Judith said, ‘would Elliot break into Stefan’s house, finally get his hands on the Rothko painting worth hundreds of thousands that he should have inherited from his dad, and then leave it on the wall while he steals the frame that was around it?’