‘It makes no sense!’ Suzie said as she and Judith returned to Suzie’s upstairs sitting room a few minutes later.

‘I’d agree with you there. But it explains why Elliot hated Stefan, doesn’t it? And you know what else? Fred told us that Elliot’s painting style was mid-century, didn’t he?’

‘Whatever that means.’

‘It means he would have known all about Rothko. A mid-century painter. So, he’d have known his techniques. His palette of colours and how he made his paintings.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘Imagine you’re Elliot, and you want to reclaim the Rothko that Stefan stole from you. What can you do? You can’t very well walk in there and take it back. Stefan would notice the gap on his wall and know who’d stolen it. But Elliot is a painter who’s trained in the techniques of Rothko, isn’t he?’

‘Oh! You think he painted a fake?’ Suzie asked, her eyes alight at the idea.

‘It’s a possibility, isn’t it? And I reckon Elliot is exactly the sort of person who’d think he could paint a forgery of Stefan’s Rothko. So let’s say that’s what he did. He painted a copy, then the plan was to break into Stefan’s house, leave the forgery on the wall and make off with the real painting.’

‘You think that’s what he did?’

‘It’s worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. And from Elliot’s point of view, Stefan stole it from him back in 1988. That would fester with anyone. But you know what? This could explain why there’s no longer a frame on the Rothko in Stefan’s house.’

‘How come?’

‘Let’s walk this through. Elliot makes his forgery, but the one thing he can’t do is fake the frame. So he breaks into Stefan’s house with his forgery, but as he’s in the process of taking the frame off Stefan’s real Rothko, I interrupt him. And this is the third time he’s either broken in or tried to break in to get the Rothko. Elliot isn’t going to be thwarted. So he grabs the real Rothko from the wall, frame and all, and puts his forgery up in its place, hoping that no one will notice it doesn’t have a frame on it.’

‘I still don’t follow,’ Suzie said.

‘I think the Rothko that’s currently hanging on Stefan’s wall is a fake painted by Elliot. And Elliot legged it with the real Rothko, frame and all.’

‘Oh I see! Then we need to tell the police.’