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26
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Walking the streets of Spain, Mort had no idea where to start first. Of course, the probable thing to do would be to head on over to the Portuguese owner of 'The Nine Gates' house. But Mort wanted to do a little research first before he approached the owner.
Passing various shops and stores along the Portuguese street, a particular sign caught his eye.
The sign on the door read: 'HERMANOS CENIZA RESTAURACION DE LIBROS'
Mort approached the shop, opened the door and stepped inside. An old man, Pedro Ceniza, smoking a cigarette, stood behind a desk. "Senor," Pedro said.
"Buenas tardes," Mort said.
"Buenes tardes," Pedro repeated.
"Buenas tardes," a third voice said.
Mort turned to see another old man, Pablo Ceniza surface from behind some stacks of paper. He resembled Pedro so greatly, that they obviously were twins.
"You speak English?" Mort asked. They both nodded at the same time. Mort opened his book bag and pulled out Balkan's copy of 'The Nine Gates' "I'd appreciate your opinion on this," Mort said, holding out the book to the brothers.
Pedro took the book from Mort. Pablo quickly cleared away some papers on the workbench to make room for it. Some ash from Pedro's cigarette fell on the cover.
Pablo quickly blew it off. "What a habit for a bookbinder!" Pablo said, scornfully at his brother's bad habit. He smiled at Mort, "'The Nine Gates'... Superb edition. Very rare," Pablo said.
Pedro opened it. "The Milner copy," Pablo said, admiring the book.
"You used to own it, right?" Mort asked.
"We used to, yes," Pedro replied. "We sold it," Pablo added. "We sold it when the opportunity presented itself. It was too..."
"... too good to miss. An excellent sale," Pablo finished. "An excellent buy - impeccable condition," Pedro said.
"Impeccable. Are you the present owner?" Pablo asked.
Mort shook his head. "No, a client of mine."
"I would never have believed she would part with it," Pablo said, thoughtfully.
"She?" Mort asked, confusedly.
"Senora Corso," Pablo said.
Senora Corso? What the hell did that mean!
Desperate for a smoke, Mort reached into his coat pocket and extracted a crumpled
cigarette. He raised it to his lips and suddenly stopped short, produced the equally crumpled pack and offered it to Pedro, who had just discarded his butt.
Pedro helped himself to a crumpled cigarette, and placed it into his mouth. Mort lit the both of them. "I don't understand...," Mort began, but trailed off. "C-Corso is my last name. What do you mean by Senora Corso?" Mort asked, confusedly.
"All we remember of her is that she was tall, thin and had blonde hair," Pedro said.
Tall. Thin. Blonde hair: Amy Corso. Mort's world was crumbling.
"He paid for it," Pablo said, breaking Mort out of his thoughts.
"He?" Mort asked, even more confused now. But then it hit him; Ted.
Ted... Milner. Ted was the previous owner of the book. That fucking asshole, Ted. He was Liana's friend. The friend she had accompanied when he purchased the book.
"It was the senora who made him buy it. He did not seem particularly...," Pedro trailed off.
"..interested," Pablo finished.
Mort had never known Amy to have even been interested in Satan. Mort had never known that the very book he was holding, had been held by his ex-wife as well.
He hesitated briefly before continuing and decided to leave the matter that this was his ex-wife who had been the owner out of it for now and get down to the real issue; The issue that Balkan wanted him to determine. Was this copy real? Or was it a fake?
"Could it be a forgery?" He asked, leaving the millions of questions that he would rather have answered instead of this one back inside his head.
"A forgery?" Pedro asked, surprised that Mort would ever even dare ask something like that. He turned to Pablo, "You heard that, Pablo?"
Pablo wagged his finger in Corso's face, disapprovingly. "I took you for a professional, senor. You speak too lightly of forgeries."
"Far too lightly," Pedro added.
"Forging a book is expensive. Paper of the period, the right inks... Too expensive to be
profitable," Pablo explained.
"Still, it can be done?" Mort asked.
The brothers looked at eachother and nodded. "Of course it can be done," Pedro said. "It requires great skill, naturally, but yes, it can be done," Pedro said.
"Do you think that could be the case here?" Mort persisted.
"What makes you ask?" Pablo asked.
"My client wishes to satisfy himself of the book's authenticity," Mort explained.
The brothers looked at eachother.
"His name is Balkan. Boris Balkan of New York," Mort added.
Pablo and Pedro exchanged another glance. "All books have a destiny of their own," Pedro said.
"Even a life of their own. Senor Balkan must be a collector. He's no fool. He must know this book is authentic," Pablo said. "We know it," Pedro said. "So must he," Pablo said.
"This book was with us for years," Pedro said. "Many years," Pablo added.
"We had ample opportunity to examine it thoroughly. The printing and binding are superb examples of 17th century Venetian craftsmanship." Pedro explained. He took the book and went through the pages under Mort's nose. "Finest rag paper, resistant to the passage of time! None of your modern wood pulp."
"Watermarks, identical shades, ink, type faces... If this is a forgery, or a copy with missing pages restored, it's the work of a master," Pablo explained. "A master," Pedro repeated.
Mort gave a small smile to the brothers. "Yes. Have you studied the engravings? They seem to have some... underlying significance."
Pedro and Pablo reopened the book and looked at the engravings. "But of course... Here, for example," Pedro said, opening the book to an engraving which displayed a peasant man approaching a bridge with two gate towers. Above the towers there were clouds, and nestled inside the clouds there was an archer, aiming his arrow at the unaware marching peasant. Pedro held the book out in front of Mort. "This one can be interpreted as a warning. 'Venture too far' It seems to say, 'and danger will descend on you from above'."
"These types of books often contain little puzzles," Pablo said, giving a small glance to his brother. "Especially in the case of such an illustrious collaborator," Pedro said.
Mort looked at Pedro with sudden interest, then at the book, then back at Pedro. "Collaborator?" He asked.
Pedro shrugged. Pablo stared at Mort. "You cannot have proceeded very far with your research, Senor. Here, look close," Pedro said, holding a magnifying glass over the engraving. "You see? Only six of the nine engravings were signed by Aristide Torchia," Pedro explained. He pointed to the bottom right corner of the engraving.
Mort bent over it, looking mystified. Pedro began to grow impatient. "Yes. And the other three?" Mort asked.
"This is one of them." Pedro said, pointing back to the magnified area of the engraving.
Mort peered through the magnifying glass once more.
And then he saw it. A small lettering in the corner; 'LCF'
"'LCF'?" Mort shook his head and looked up from the book. "Who's 'LCF'?" Mort asked.
"Think," Pedro said.
Mort thought, as instructed. 'LCF'. How the hell was he supposed to know? He didn't have the slightest idea who 'LCF' could b--
"Lucifer?" Mort blurted out.
Both brothers chuckled heartily. "Very perceptive for you, senor. Torchia was burned alive because he wrote this book in collaboration with someone else," Pedro explained.
"You can't honestly believe--"
"The man who wrote this did so in alliance with the Devil and went to the stake for it. Even Hell has its heroes, senor," Pedro said. Both brothers laughed.
Mort looked from one laughing old man to the other, trying to figure this out.