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Hey Jimmy,
check Gallery One, will ya?
Hey, Jimmy?
You there?
No sign of an outside entry.
Guy must of come in during
business and laid in wait.
He had key-card access
to the entire building,
could of hid out anywhere.
- Any witnesses?
- No, he was wearing a mask,
guards didn't get a look.
Well, this thing looks
pretty high tech to me.
- What'd they get?
- Pissarro painting.
Estimated worth--
Yeah?
What is it?
Paris au Printemps, Apres-Midi.
You speak French?
There was a girl, once upon a time.
- Who's that?
- Museum curator, Arthur Ruiz.
He was in bed,
when he got the call.
Excuse me, guys,
I got it, thanks.
How are you doing?
Don Eppes, FBI.
Hello.
So, uh,
what can you tell me
about the security here?
Well, we're a small museum, but
the system's state of the art.
Any changes in routine,
security guard roster changes?
You're thinking one of my people
had something to do with this?
Well, we're gonna
need to see a list.
Any security footage
you might have.
Of course, of course, that, uh,
that Pissarro was
the most valuable piece we had.
And frankly,
the timing couldn't be worse.
And why's that?
The painting was scheduled to begin
a major tour next month.
Well, you got insurance, right?
Actually, the Pissarro was on loan
from a private owner in Glendale.
He's out of town on vacation.
He must be a generous guy,
loan you something so valuable.
Actually, one of the advantages
of loaning a painting to a museum
is the savings
on an insurance policy.
Assumption being a secure museum
is as safe as a bank vault.
I'll get you that personnel list.
- So much for safe assumptions.
- So much.
You're not leaving that?
So, so I'll
I'll clean it up when I get back.
This isn't Animal House, Charlie.
Right, this is my house.
Yeah, I've been meaning
to talk to you about that.
It's not for sale.
I'm not interested in
buying the house back.
Just like to see you put
more into maintaining it.
It's a cup of coffee,
it's a bowl of cereal.
Oh, yeah.
What about the leak in the attic, huh?
The garage door needs fixing,
cable is out.
- Cable's out?
- Yeah.
Since when is the cable out?
Since our resident math genius
forgot to pay the bill.
Look, I don't want to be a nag,
I just want you to live up to
- your responsibilities.
- All right, all right,
I'll tell you what:
Make a list for me.
Okay.
I already did.
Running down the museum
employees, but no one's popped.
And we have eyes on the video.
So this guy beat a card-entry system,
- lasers and motion sensors.
- He's a pro.
- Hey, guys.
- Which is why we have to move fast
if we have any hope of catching
him or finding this painting.
Jack Tollner, from New York,
Theft Unit out of D.
C.
- David Sinclair, Megan Reeves.
- Morning.
- You got here pretty quick.
- Yeah, well, 22 million buys you a red eye.
- Here you go.
- Art Theft Unit, huh?
I always pictured you guys
for horn rims and bow ties.
Well, Lasik surgery took care
of the horn rims,
and I've never been partial
to bow ties, but
if you like them,
I'll go out and get myself one.
Oh, what are we looking at here?
Well, based on the paperwork the
museum sent over,
I'm guessing a piece like this may be
difficult to move.
- Because of its value?
- Because of its provenance.
- Provenance?
- The paper trail of ownership,
the documentation
of a piece of art's origins--
and this Pissarro has quite
a tainted one.
What do you mean, by tainted?
This isn't the first time
this painting's been stolen.
First time was by the Nazis.
Nazis stole the painting?
The provenance shows a pattern
of Nazi looted art that I've seen before.
- Looted how?
- When the Nazis came into power,
they passed laws forcing Jews
to register property,
it provided them virtual "shopping lists.
"
They looted homes by day,
shipped the families off
to the camps the same night.
Right and no witnesses.
Except for the few who survived.
All right, well, what we do know is that
whoever stole the Pissarro had skills.
Well, the Bureau has a database of
career art thieves, I'd start there.
All right, I'll get on it.
This is the perfect way to show
that electric and magnetic forces
- are two sides of the same coin.
- Right.
Hey, guys, what, uh,
what are we doing here?
Oh, this screw is attached
to this battery by a magnet
and the current running through the wire
is causing that screw to spin.
Let me guess,
show-and-tell day?
Yeah, Charlie and I are preparing
a joint lecture on circular motion.
Yeah, the movement is governed
by Fleming's Left Hand Rule.
Our lecture's also looking
at the Coriolis force.
It's the same principle that causes
hurricanes to spin
counterclockwise in our hemisphere.
So, what's happened?
What's up?
A Pissarro was stolen last night.
The father of Impressionist painting.
Continue with the Pissarro, I'm sorry?
At, uh, The Roland Museum, they were in
and out less than six minutes,
so we got a database of art thieves,
names, M.
O's.
I'm figuring you can get
through it faster than us.
Maybe we could use a
Quadratic Discriminant Analysis.
Right, we can Look
for a combination of attributes
in this existing set of data that match
to a new set of data.
- Good, good.
- In this case,
identifying variables
of a particular theft.
Type of art, museum, security,
specifics of the crime.
Because there has to be something
to this museum
or something about this particular
piece of art
that proved attractive
to your thief, right?
- Right.
- In a field of flowers
we know that only certain types of flowers
attract certain types of insects.
An insect will alight on certain flowers.
Just like a thief will only be
attracted to certain targets,
based on specific characteristics.
We know the characteristics
of this most recent theft.
And we can compare
that data to past thefts
using a Quadratic Discriminant Analysis,
I mean, we should be able
to quickly and, you know,
efficiently boil down your suspect pool.
All right, I came to the right place.
I might have a suspect here.
Eight years ago,
Mrs.
Erika Hellman,
was notified by the Art Loss Register
that the current owner of the Pissarro
was trying to sell it.
- Art Loss Register?
- Database
of lost or looted artworks, I've often
seen it come into play in Holocaust claims.
Owner's dealer checked the Pissarro
against Registry,
found Mrs.
Hellman's claim that it had
been looted by the Nazis.
She sued the owner,
his name's Peyton Shoemaker,
and she lost.
Apparently,
there was insufficient documentation.
Not surprising.
The Nazis were very good
at covering their tracks.
How old is this woman?
Um, according to the DMV,
she's 78.
There are people she could have
paid to do this.
Did you know about the
Pissarro's provenance, Mr.
Ruiz?
Well, of course.
As the museum's
curator, I have to know.
Doesn't sound like you were too troubled
by the indications that it
was once looted by the Nazis.
No, it was a concern.
But we did our due diligence.
The owner's paperwork was in order.
We were satisfied with the
assurances he provided us.
Especially with the importance
of an acquisition like this one.
There are many paintings with problematic
provenances, Agent Reeves.
That doesn't mean they're
all Nazi looted art.
Yes, but none of those
other paintings would have
increased your admission
revenue by 50 percent.
Look, I don't deny the Pissarro's been
a boon to a small museum like ours.
Perhaps the Guggenheim can
afford to be more selective,
but we can't.
So, one family's misfortune
will be another man's treasure.
The painting hung in our home in Berlin.
When I was little,
my father used to pretend we
were the people in the painting.
He always promised that
when I got old enough he would take us
all there to Paris.
Obviously, did not happen.
I'm sorry for your loss, and
I hope you understand why I
would have to ask you
about it.
Well, I hate to disappoint you, but you,
you have the wrong man.
Naturally, I would love
to have it back again.
You see, the Nazis,
they took everything.
Not just the painting.
I don't have one
photograph of my family.
But when I look at the Pissarro
I-I feel as if I was
seeing them all again.
You have any idea
who might have taken it?
No, but we know who stole it
Sorry, Nana, traffic on the freeway.
I got here as soon as I could.
- Yeah.
- Hi.
This is my grandson, Joel.
This is Agent
- Eppes, Don Eppes.
- FBI.
From what I understand, a federal court
denied your grandmother's claim?
They used the law against her,
same as they used it against
my great-grandfather in 1938.
We just didn't have the money
to continue the fight.
What my grandson is saying is
that we did not lose the painting
on the merits of the case.
We lost it
because my memory is failing.
My grandmother is the only living witness
who ever saw the Pissarro
hanging in her father's home.
The rest of the family
were murdered by the Nazis.
The court would not accept
the failing memory of an old woman.
I had seven sisters and brothers.
You have family?
Yeah, I have a father and a brother.
But my mother passed away
a few years ago.
You know what loss is then.
Well, I-I, um
Look, I'm going to need to take a look
at your phone and your bank records.
Now, of course, this would
be with your consent.
Maybe you'd like to take a painting.
Joel, please.
I did not steal the Pissarro.
Though I admit, it has run
through my mind many times.
Surely you can understand this.
Family is our anchor to life.
We lose it, we're adrift.
You have no idea what it's like
to be the only survivor
of your family
and to have no idea why.
I find this whole Nazi association just
so sadly ironic.
How do you mean?
Okay, just observe this perspective.
Now, most artists at the time,
they painted street scenes
from the street level.
Yeah, but this was painted from a rooftop.
Why? Artistic choice?
Survival.
Pissarro was Jewish.
He was living in
Paris at the time of the Dreyfus Affair.
Anti-Semitic mobs were roaming the streets.
He feared for his life.
How do you know so much
about Pissarro, Larry?
Oh, my father was a painter.
Really? You never told us that.
It's not a memory that I gladly inhabit.
File this one under the heading of,
what, parental disappointment?
He wanted you to be a painter?
He wanted me to see the world
the way he saw it.
Which is the folly of fatherhood.
Tell me about it.
Why? Are you and your dad
having problems?
You know, he's been getting on my case
about how I maintain my house.
Now you see
why I sold my house, okay?
Renounce all worldly cares
for the more sublime pursuits.
I think we got something from
the FBI's Art Theft Database.
Three similar robberies.
Analyzing past thefts for common variables
with our current crime,
I've succeeded in identifying
three suspects;
Michael Ness,
Ben Larkin,
and this is Ronald Wheeler.
Ness is in a prison in Turkey.
Now, there's a good time.
And I think Larkin's dead.
Yeah, murdered
three years ago in Kiev.
All right, so we focus on Wheeler.
Wheeler's Canadian.
Database has a current address
for Wheeler in Toronto.
You know your art thieves, huh?
I'm impressed with how quickly
you combed through our database.
Homeland Security has no record
of Wheeler entering the country.
Well, no surprise there, right?
He'll be traveling on a false passport.
Let's get his picture out
to everyone, right?
The hotels, airports,
train stations, you know?
And I'd start with the upscale ones.
And within the last week.
You got a $22 million painting,
you're not going to stay in some dump.
He said his name was Gautier.
His real name is Wheeler.
Good morning, Mr.
Gautier.
Mr.
Gautier is not entertaining visitors.
We're going to need you to stay back.
Ronald Wheeler, FBI.
We want to talk with you.
Clear.
You smell gunpowder?
We just went way past
stealing high-end art.
Somebody's willing
to kill for this painting.
Mrs.
Hellman's story's
not that unusual.
Similar thing happened to a woman
who got several
Klimt paintings back
from an Austrian national museum.
They fought her for years.
I mean, she said it's the only thing
that's left from her family.
I guess the federal court
didn't see it that way, though.
Not for the Hellmans anyway.
Or the owner, this Mr.
Shoemaker,
just has more bucks to throw
at a high-priced legal team.
Is he back from his vacation?
Why? Do you think he
stole his own painting?
Look, I mean, he tries to sell it
he gets a lawsuit.
Right.
Maybe an insurance company
won't ask the same questions?
When did you get home?
Uh, about an hour ago.
- Didn't you hear me working outside?
- No, I didn't.
The re-circ pump on the
koi pond's on the fritz.
Yeah? Fish are okay?
Yeah, thanks to me playing bucket brigade.
Don't you remember I told you
that that pump needed servicing?
The list? Yeah, right.
I'm sorry.
- I've been busy.
I'm busy.
- Yeah, well, I've been busy, too, Charlie.
You know, at your age, I had a house,
a wife, and two kids to take care of.
Any murders to solve?
No, seriously.
Any life-altering
mathematical advances to conceive of?
Oh, I see; The same old story,
the same excuse for everything.
I don't need
You know what?
I don't need a lecture on how
to run my own home, much less my life.
The Pissarro was inherited.
My father's the one
who made the original purchase.
Any idea from who?
A reputable dealer in Paris.
Right after the war.
My father was in the Army
on leave in Paris.
He stopped by a shop,
saw the painting, fell in love.
And did he question its origin?
After the war, it was difficult
to know where anything came from.
So many had died or fled.
Well, how hard did you think
he, uh, actually tried?
My father bought the painting
from a legitimate dealer.
I have the paperwork.
He paid a fair price.
What, $12,000?
$12,000 was a great amount
of money in those days.
Well, still, it's nowhere near the
to get eight years ago.
I'm just curious--
does it
even bother you at all knowing
where it came from?
Well, the fact is, I don't know
where it comes from.
No one does.
But they have suspicions, don't they?
And I understand with the taint
on the painting,
it'll be almost impossible
to get the price your asking.
I'm not sure I understand
where this is going.
The Pissarro is insured.
For $22 million.
If you're suggesting what
I think you're suggesting
Yeah?
I feel bad for Mrs.
Hellman, I really do,
but the court heard all the evidence.
That woman did not stand a chance.
Which is precisely why
I offered her a settlement.
of any sale I made
if she agreed to drop her claim
against the painting.
- And she refused?
- Her grandson.
He threw my attorney's offer in my face.
You know, I had my father's
honor to consider.
I had to match it against the compromised
memory of an elderly woman.
If it were your father,
who would you believe?
Hey.
Ooh,
it looks pretty serious.
Huh? No.
Oh, no.
Come in.
- Yeah?
- No, actually, no.
I'm just, uh
I'm balancing my checkbook.
The bank called.
I guess I overdrew paying some bills.
- Oh, don't say it.
- What?
I'm a math genius, and I can't even
balance my own checkbook.
- Right.
I got an earful from Dad.
- I didn't say anything.
I should have known, you know,
this arrangement of dad living with me
would just end up driving us
both completely insane.
Nah.
I sort of get it now.
I mean, why you bought the house.
It's, like
it gives you an anchor, you know?
I mean, where you grew up, your family.
What's up?
Why do you think we were never religious?
- Mom wanted a Christmas tree.
- Yeah, exactly.
I mean, it's funny, right?
This case got you thinking about that?
Yeah, a little bit.
Actually, I need some help
with this, Charlie.
Oh, great, and Dad wonders
why I can't get any work done.
Well, it's just I'm trying
to figure out where,
you know, whoever stole
the Pissarro would go next.
With Wheeler dead
- I imagine the options are pretty limited.
- Totally.
But I do suspect
that there are only a few places
that this painting might end up,
and that can be charted with a diffusion map
using a network diffusion proba
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Just slow down.
It's like a vehicle
traveling along a network of roads.
You know, cars can go anywhere, right?
But a commercial truck is limited
to how many routes it can travel,
and if that truck is carrying
hazardous material,
well, then, the network becomes
even more restricted.
If it's carrying nuclear waste,
the network becomes even more limited,
and there are only a few destinations--
repositories--
where nuclear waste can go.
It's the same with the Pissarro.
There are only a few places
that it can travel.
Shoemaker might be right
on target with the grandson.
I have phone logs going back to the time
that Shoemaker made the settlement offer.
And?
Mrs.
Hellman's grandson made several calls
to a private investigator
specializing in the recovery
of stolen artwork, Peter Tucci.
Why do I know that name?
He has, uh, pending charges in Istanbul
related to the crime that Michael Ness
is doing time for in Turkey.
Ness is one of the art thieves
that Charlie pulled off the database.
Yeah, check this out.
Uh, the museum records its, uh,
security footage digitally.
I pulled an MPEG file from
about three months ago.
Nice.
Mrs.
Hellman's grandson?
- Is he casing the place?
- He contacted Tucci three years ago.
About hiring Ness to rip off the Pissarro.
But when Ness got caught,
he couldn't do the job.
Wow.
Joel Hellman really
couldn't take no for an answer.
I don't know a guy named Ronald Wheeler
or how he ended up dead.
Have a seat.
I haven't done anything.
Tell me about your relationship
with Peter Tucci.
That was over three years ago.
Right around the time
the courts decided against you.
I lost my cool.
It was a stupid thing to do.
Look, I understand how you feel.
I mean with your grandmother and all
and then not being able to help her.
They embarrassed her.
They brought in
doctors and tested her memory
and made her live
through things that
That's you at the museum
taken three months ago.
I go a lot.
I don't know, somehow
it made me feel
better to be close to it.
Not as good as having it would
make you feel though, right?
No.
I told you, I haven't done anything.
So what do you think?
Well, I think he thought about it,
but I don't think he did it.
He didn't make any real efforts
to cover his tracks either.
Well, now we're back to the owner,
Shoemaker, and the insurance scam.
It's a nice theory, but so far
I can't find a paper trail
between Shoemaker and our thief, Wheeler.
I mean, there's no payments
to a middle man, there's nothing.
That painting's got to be somewhere.
Yeah, the numbers are staggering.
The Nazis looted hundreds
of thousands of artworks.
Nearly a fifth of all European
art at the time.
Yeah, there's still
a lot out there, you know?
Museums, dealers, collectors
Yeah, it's just appalling--
blood trade.
I am starting to see a pattern here.
You know, the heaviest flow of art
running along these networks.
- China being a prime destination.
- Hmm.
So we should start concentrating
on networks supplying to China.
- Wouldn't be Dad, would it?
- It's a standoff.
Hey, here's another chestnut from my
rather exhaustive study
of the great artists.
Did you know that Monet's father wanted
him to be a grocer?
Oh, yeah? Well.
Good thing he didn't listen.
Well, fathers imposing their wills
on their sons
I tell ya, that is the stuff of legend.
This is hardly so grand.
I mean, the last message he left me
equated my refusal to take out the garbage
with my supposed commitment-phobia
and my failure to settle down.
There might be some truth in that.
- What?
- Uh, I'm just saying
Where were we? China?
Oh, yeah, it was China.
Hey, that smells good.
Where's Charlie?
I don't know, working late I guess.
Yeah? Or hiding from you.
He's been complaining?
You been giving him a hard time?
Hey, he owns the place, you know.
Remember when I was looking
for a place of my own?
And I thought that staying on here
was gonna keep me from moving on.
What does this have to do with Charlie?
Well, he just comes and he goes.
He has no idea how to maintain a home.
Dad, the guy's got a lot on his plate.
Hey look, I don't want to be a pest.
I just want to make sure that
when the time comes,
he knows how to take care
of his own house--
his own family if he ever have one.
Well, you got to talk to him.
I mean, you
can't just ride him like he's a little kid.
Are you referring to my failures with you?
Me? I'm a lost cause, pal.
What's up?
You had a tough day?
You know I had to interview that Holocaust
survivor yesterday, her grandson today.
Oh, about that painting, huh?
I felt weird 'cause nobody
believes the woman;
It's like her life never existed because
there's nobody left who remembers it.
Yeah.
You remember my mother's cousin, Anna?
Yeah, I mean
That was the same way with her.
She got out before the war,
but she spent her whole life--
the whole rest of her life
searching for her people.
Can you imagine that?
I mean, living that life
going through all that?
Afraid this woman finds a piece
and it gets taken away again.
Let me get you a plate.
Hey, did your mom's cousin
ever find anyone?
No, not a single soul.
Still taking your meals
outside the home, I see.
Still brown bagging it.
Is this some of your work?
It's my submission for entry
into art school.
One of the many life steps I never took.
You're pretty good.
Don't mistake technical ability
for originality.
Almost every one of these
is a copy of a masterwork.
My father insisted that before
I attempt anything original,
I had to understand those who
came before me.
Hey, what is all this
red marginalia here?
When network analysis
came up empty,
I found these leads to China.
Still no sign of the Pissarro,
so I must've miscalculated.
You know, some of the greatest
errors in cosmology
come not from poor math,
but from poor assumptions.
What poor assumptions am I making?
Well, current wisdom holds
that the picture's Nazi associations
have compromised
its potential for sale
on the black market.
Compromised yeah,
but eliminated no.
Yet you can find no market to which
you can trace a sale.
China seemed the best bet.
Don came up empty.
Perhaps this Pissarro
is not for sale anywhere
because for some reason
it's simply not saleable.
Even with the taint, it's still worth
millions.
Why wouldn't it be "saleable"?
No idea.
I'm leaving.
All right.
I think I've figured out why you
haven't been able to find the Pissarro.
Using a computer program that analyzes fine
art paintings from enhanced photographs.
Now uses two criteria:
- Craquelure
- Craquelure?
It's a fancy word for the cracks that form
on the surface of a painting.
And those cracks form patterns
which will give us an idea of
where and when a work was painted
because the pattern depends
on the artist's materials:
the paint, the brush
even the canvas.
A painter in 15th century Florence used
different materials
than a painter in 17th century London.
Or a painter in 19th century Paris.
See, different materials
and the vagaries of time
create specific craquelure patterns
which we can analyze using
mathematical models.
You said there were two criteria.
Right, well
The analysis also looks at visual style--
the artist's actual brushstrokes.
- Like a fingerprint?
- More like a signature.
See with currency,
I used a wavelet analysis.
But with paintings, I can use a more
sophisticated curvelet analysis,
allowing us to look at the art
in three dimensions.
Using curvelet analysis,
we can measure the contours and depth
of an artist's brushstrokes,
giving us a mathematical expression
of the artist's unique signature
which we then use to evaluate other works
attributed to the artist
to see if the same hand
did, in fact, paint them all.
Enhancing the museum catalogue
photo of the Pissarro,
I ran both analyses and compared it
to other Pissarros from museums
around the world.
The results are undeniable.
This isn't a Pissarro.
It's a fake.
The Pissarro a forgery?
It's not possible.
Our math consultant did an extensive
analysis, Mr.
Ruiz.
From a photograph.
With a computer's enhancement.
I'm sorry, but whatever consultant
you used is mistaken.
I'm afraid that's not really possible.
Well, it has to be.
This painting underwent
an extensive authentication process
when it arrived here a year and a half ago.
Then what about a switch?
What if someone changed the painting
since the authentication?
How?
Hmm? When?
I don't work at a museum, but
have you cleaned the painting
in the past year and a half?
Under the strict supervision
of the museum conservator.
Who also, by the way,
performed the authentication.
And that would have been done
on the premises, correct?
Yes.
In our restoration department.
The Pissarro was taken down
June 3rd for a cleaning.
- Who did the work?
- Me.
And you also performed the authentication
on the Pissarro when it first arrived here?
That's right.
And you're certain that the painting
you cleaned on June 3rd
is the same one you authenticated
eighteen months ago.
Patrick has been with me 20 years.
I trust his judgment completely.
So, there's no chance you missed something?
This painting was the most important
piece we've ever displayed here.
Mr.
Holden?
I'm certain that the painting was the same
one that I examined a year and a half ago.
You have your answer.
Is it you that also does the museum
catalogues, Mr.
Holden.
For every exhibition.
And when was the photograph
of the Pissarro taken?
I don't know.
What do you mean you don't know?
This particular photograph
was furnished by the owner.
Peyton Shoemaker gave you the photograph?
Once in a while
an owner loaning a painting does
accompany the piece
with his own photographic
documentation.
So Shoemaker provided the photo when
he first loaned the piece to the museum.
The same photograph your brother used
to determine it was a forgery.
Okay, so we're saying, what,
the stolen one was a fake.
But did Shoemaker know it?
He may even be the one
who had it made.
Forgery of his own painting?
Owners often have forgeries made
to protect their art against theft.
But maybe Shoemaker was afraid
he'd lose his painting another way.
The Hellmans.
Those type of claims never really go away.
Collectors tend to shy away from
paintings with questionable histories
for that very reason.
In other words, if the Hellmans ever find
more evidence to support their claim
They could go right back to court.
He creates a fake to hedge his bet.
Then he loaned it to the museum to get
the break in the insurance premium.
Shoemaker might even be trying
to pull off a double scam;
Have the fake one
stolen for insurance, right.
And then sell the
real one later on the sly.
Why steal back the fake Pissarro now?
I mean, it's been hanging on
the museum wall for a year and a half.
Hey, wait, what that guy,
that curator guy say
- it was going on tour.
- Next month.
Which would have meant
another authentication.
Fool me once, shame on you,
fool me twice
Now the question is
- where is the real Pissarro?
- Right.
- You can add, but you can't hide.
- What's broken?
I've come with a peace offering.
French dip.
Well, thank you, but you
didn't have to do that.
But there are a lot of things
I don't have to do, Charlie,
but I just do them because I want to.
Just feel like you worry
about me too much, Dad.
Charlie, look, you're a grown
man, but you're still my son
and I'm still your father.
Okay, i-i-it's not
about the house or chores.
It's, uh, it's about
accepting responsibility.
Dad, I'm a
I'm a full-tenured professor
at one of the most
prestigious universities in this country.
How do you think I got here,
by slacking off?
You can do the math, Charlie,
we all know that,
but, uh, sometime, you're going
to want more for your life.
And i I know you can't see that
right now, but
sometime, God willing,
you're going to have to make a choice
between one of your algorithms
and one of your kids
upstairs with the flu.
I have a kid with the flu now?
Charlie, I look at Larry,
you know, a-and I respect him,
but look at him;
He's all alone.
I mean, he sleeps on couches,
puts his work ahead of relationships.
You got to start somewhere.
The kind of life I'm talking about,
it just doesn't happen by magic.
Is that what this has been all about?
You're worried that I'm
going to turn into Larry?
I worry about that, too, sometimes.
Yeah
because I look around and I
don't see the best role models.
For example, Einstein.
Einstein never had a home life.
Einstein dumped his wife
and married his cousin.
I hope that's not your way
of making me feel better.
Dad, I'm wrestling with all this,
all of it.
My math, my work with Don,
Amita.
I'm sorry, I just don't have it
all figured out yet.
You have no right.
Actually, we have a warrant.
This is ludicrous.
You're telling me
that my painting is a forgery
based on an analysis of a photograph?
A photograph that you
submitted to the museum,
and I spoke to your insurance company;
They're going to withhold your payment.
Yeah, well, I'll take them to court.
I wouldn't count on the courts backing
your play a second time, Mr.
Shoemaker.
The Hellmans are behind this,
aren't they?
They paid some *** math expert
to look at a photograph and
say that my Pissarro is a fake.
Well, if they think they're going to get
something out of this, they're wrong.
That's a really interesting theory,
but the math expert works for us.
Why? Why would
I steal my own painting?
And if it was a fake, why would the Hellmans
have fought for four years to get it back?
- Nothing so far.
- Of course, there's nothing!
I didn't steal the painting and I never
shot a gun off in my life.
My father
was an honorable man
who served his country.
He was not a criminal
and neither am I.
So, where would someone like
Shoemaker hide that original?
If he is our guy, he's done
a real good job of
eliminating the one witness who could
pin the forgery on him.
By killing Wheeler.
Wait a minute, if he commissioned a fake,
there's got to be a forger.
Maybe our second witness.
Find him, we find the killer.
It won't be easy catching this guy.
I've met any number of forgers
capable of work this good.
Well, maybe he's been caught before.
Maybe he even has a file.
That's a lot of names to run down.
Well, what if we don't run down the names?
What if we run down the paintings?
We have a photograph of
the forged Pissarro, right?
Yeah, and the Bureau has a photographic
database of other forgeries seized
over the years.
So, we give the photograph to Charlie,
he can do an analysis
against all the other forgeries.
If he can tell us Pissarro didn't paint
the fake, maybe he can tell us who did.
So per your request,
I compared my analysis
of the forged Pissarro to the FBI database
of other recovered forgeries.
The algorithm identified
one painting in the database
that most closely resembles
the handiwork of our suspect
to an accuracy rate
of, like, 89.
9%.
- All right, so you found him?
- Oh, I definitely found him.
- So who's our forger?
- His name is Gustav Stolberg.
- Well, where is he?
- He's in a Jewish cemetery
in Budapest.
He died in 1948.
So, our forger died 60 years ago?
So the fake's at least that old then.
Interpol just faxed over
the file on Gustav Stolberg.
In 1946,
he was convicted of fraud.
He died in prison two years later.
Hungarian police seized what they believed
to be five forged paintings in his shop.
Take a look at the list.
Fourth title down.
The Pissarro.
Hungarian police assumed
all five canvases were a fake.
Right, but one wasn't.
So, we think that the real Pissarro's
been sitting in a Hungarian
police vault for 60 years?
Wouldn't surprise me.
The Communists never threw anything away.
They packed the Pissarro into a crate
along with the other forgeries.
So Mrs.
Hellman's father must have
paid Stolberg to paint the forgery
and then gave him the original
for safekeeping.
At least there's some justice;
the Nazis looted a fake.
It also means that Shoemaker's
probably telling the truth.
that he didn't know the
Pissarro was a forgery.
And maybe no one did.
Look, the fact that that
painting was stolen a month
before it was supposed to go
on tour can't be a coincidence.
Wait a minute.
Holden, the museum conservator.
Yeah.
If what you're saying is true,
that the real Pissarro has been found,
then I must have made a mistake.
A mistake? But you've been doing
this for 20 years.
The fact is, you lied to us, didn't you?
You knew that Pissarro
was a fake the whole time.
Now we're not just talking about
a painting.
A man is dead.
And you're looking at
conspiracy to commit ***.
Whatever you were paid,
Mr.
Holden, it's not enough.
Paid?
You think my integrity
would be for sale?
He said it would ruin us.
We'd already announced
the acquisition.
It's one thing to display a painting that's
suspected of being Nazi looted art
but to exhibit a forgery?
Who said it would ruin you?
Excuse me.
Holden gave you up, Ruiz.
I spent my life devoted to the reputation
of this museum.
Killing a man's not going to do
much for the reputation.
Wheeler was a charlatan.
He found out the painting was a forgery,
he tried to blackmail you.
Do you know how difficult it is
for a museum like ours
to actually acquire
a Pissarro?
Yeah, but you didn't actually
acquire a Pissarro, did you?
By the time Patrick alerted me to
the forgery, it was already too late
The Pissarro had put us on the map.
Only the tour next month would
have exposed you.
I thought if the painting had just
disappeared--
what would be the harm?
Shoemaker had his insurance and
the museum would have had its future.
Yeah, it's not much
of a future now, is it?
Is this really necessary?
Yes, this is really necessary.
Come with me.
The Hungarian police
just delivered it to us.
It's yours, Nana.
Always has been.
I think your father clearly saw
the writing on the wall with the Nazis.
So he went to Stolberg and
commissioned a forgery.
After all these years
To think, even I was beginning
to question
whether what I remembered
was even true
Well, I hope this can give you
a little bit of comfort.
Yeah.
You know, I can't imagine--
six years old--
the world around you safe.
Then one day everything
disappears--
parents, family,
everything you know
One painting can only
give you back so much.
Well, maybe for Mrs.
Hellman,
given the wisdom of her years,
that'll be enough.
Hallo! Oh, hey.
What, you guys started
without me, huh?
I'd think Einstein would say
we started with you.
Just a different time
and space, am I right?
I like that.
I've been taking a closer look
at Einstein lately.
- What's to eat?
- Red meat on the barbecue.
Provided we still have a barbecue.
Did you got my note,
we're out of propane.
I thought you'd take care of it.
I'm kidding.
We got a new tank,
we're good to go.
- All right
- No, no, no, stay, stay.
I got it.
You're gonna grill?
Yeah, you know, T-bone steak with
Mom's amazing steak sauce.
A little corn on the cob.
Hey, you want some help?
- No, no.
Think I can handle it.
- All right.
Charles, that is white corn.
Hey, you know how you told me about
your mom's cousin not finding anyone.
Yeah.
You think you could give me
a list of names?
You're gonna find them?
Yeah, I mean I'd like to try.
- What do you think?
- Okay.