Chapter 6: Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

Location: Belgium
Key Date: Sunday, 25th July, 1999

"No way," Elaine said firmly when Evan broached the subject with her later that morning. He'd told her that Amsterdam had lost all interest for him and that he was moving on the Belgium. And then he'd casually suggested that she might want to head home.

"You don't need to look after me Lainee," he pointed out gently. "Drew's gonna stick around for a while – I won't be alone."

"No," Elaine said again, folding her arms stubbornly across her chest in a gesture that reminded Evan too much of himself.

"Why not?" he persisted.

"Because something's up with that whole robbery thing and I'm not leaving you to get arrested again," Elaine retorted. "Whatever plan you and Drew cooked up this morning will have to include me."

"You ...," Evan trailed off, speechless.

"I'm not stupid Evan," Elaine pointed out somewhat smugly. "When two air force pilots go out walking at 6am it's not to hold hands and see the sights!"

"Right," Evan just barely stopped himself from squirming uncomfortably.

"So what's the plan?" Elaine asked, letting him off the hook with grace.

Evan knew there was nothing he'd be able to do to dissuade her. She was a free woman and he couldn't stop her from tagging along even without his approval. Giving in, he filled her in on his theory and the strategy Drew had suggested.

"So we have to pretend we don't know Drew?" Elaine seemed troubled by that. Of all the details she could have questioned, Evan was surprised that was the one she'd targeted.

"Unfortunately yes," he agreed. "It's just for this next leg ... hopefully we won't need to do this for longer than that. Drew will be fine by himself."

"Wait a minute," Elaine frowned. "How do we know they'll follow you to Belgium? Won't they be expecting you to be detained here?"

"Good point," Evan thought for a moment. "Either way it doesn't matter," he finally decided. "If they're watching us then they know the police let me off – for whatever reason. If not then we're out of it in which case we have no choice but to continue as we would have. I'm not letting them chase me out of Europe."

"And we don't know which it will be," she concluded.

"Not yet," Evan agreed. "The safest thing we can do is assume they are watching us. Seeing me free they'll probably assume that sketch wasn't enough to pin a robbery on me. That's what I'd think anyway, and I'd only be more determined that my chosen scapegoat looked even guiltier."

"Meaning more thefts and more evidence pointing to them," Elaine finished.

"Exactly," he shrugged. "It's gonna be tense for a while but I think if nothing happens in Belgium we can probably conclude I'm off the hook. To be honest I'm hoping that doesn't happen."

"Why?" Elaine frowned in confusion.

"Because then we'll never know who was behind this," Evan said simply. "And with whatever evidence they've contrived since they first decided I'd make a good target still out there this could come back and bite me down the track."

"It could," Elaine agreed worriedly. "Okay then ... let's do it."

oOo

After so many long legs in his journey, travelling to Brussels was a welcome change. At just under three hours it was by far the shortest trip Evan had made across Europe so far.

He'd grown fond of train travel ... the steady, continual motion, being able to walk freely from one compartment to another, as well as views of the surrounding countryside he wouldn't have seen otherwise. He didn't think Elaine would be won over anytime soon but then, it was his big adventure not hers so he tried not to feel guilty about that.

This journey was made difficult by the simple fact that Drew was on board too ... Evan had passed him in the corridor once as well as seen him when they were both getting coffee and been forced to pretend the other man was a total stranger. Thank god the journey was such a short one ... Lorne didn't think he'd be able to resist the urge to burst out laughing if he had to put up with Drew's deliberately pompous 'you're too far beneath me to be noticed' expression much longer than that.

At Brussels Station South Evan led his sister from the train, not noticing her wistful glance back as he focussed on his map.

"It's about a half hour walk from here to the Musée des Beaux-Arts," he told her. "Are you okay for that or do you want to find somewhere to rest first?"

"No, let's go straight there," Elaine insisted, shouldering her own small pack easily and grabbing her brother's arm. "So this is us, just acting normal," she commented with a weak chuckle.

"Yeah. If normal ever involves trying to outsmart an art thief we're gold," Evan replied, glancing down at her with a sudden frown. "You sure you're okay with this? It's not too late to go home."

"I'm okay," she said firmly. "Now, since I chose the last hotel I'll let you choose this time. As long as it's somewhere nicer than the one in St. Petersburg."

"Hey - I liked that place," Evan pretended to be insulted.

"And it was perfect for you," Elaine said loftily. "I require something with just a little more ... class."

"Watch it missy," he teased, "or you'll be staying somewhere by yourself." It was an empty threat - they both knew he'd never let her stay anywhere without him, even without the increased tension of chasing an art thief.

"Is Drew following us right now?" Elaine couldn't resist asking the most obvious question any longer.

"He better be," Evan returned. Catching his sister's look of concern he rephrased. "He's pretty good but I spotted him a block back. He's on our tail and travelling nicely so stop worrying."

"I wasn't ...," she trailed off when he looked at her with a raised brow. "Okay, fine, I was worrying."

"He can take care of himself," Evan reminded her.

"I know, but that doesn't mean he should have to," she pointed out.

"True," Evan narrowed his eyes as he wondered for the first time just how close his sister had gotten to Drew since their first meeting. Drew had stopped by to tell her about John personally and Elaine had known how to reach him fast enough to have him on a plane and across two continents within twelve hours. For a moment Evan considered questioning her but then decided it wasn't the time.

They walked in silence for a while, each taking in the feel of a new place. "There it is," Evan pointed across the street to a large building. The main entrance put him in mind of the White House with its multiple columns framing the large door. They crossed the street and walked up the stairs, lining up at the front desk to check their packs as was the usual practice.

As Evan watched the security guard placing his and Elaine's packs in a portable trolley, handing him a small numbered token in exchange, a new possibility occurred to him. Like most museums the Musée des Beaux-Arts didn't allow its visitors to carry anything beyond the usual handbags inside the museum. The procedure there was to attach a number to the bags patrons checked at the desk. If you knew what to watch for you could potentially observe the number assigned to a particular visitor. Make yourself a set of the right tokens and you could claim any bag you wanted, relying on the fact that the volume of bag traffic at the desk was enough for the guards not to recognise that you weren't the person who'd checked a bag in.

Maybe that's how they'd done it – the ones behind the theft of Van Gogh's 'Yellow House'. Thinking back Evan remembered that he'd taken a small bag into the museum in Amsterdam – the afternoon of his first visit. He'd intended to do some sketching and had thrown his sketch book, pencils and a few other items into his bag, checking it at the front desk as usual.

He didn't know for sure but it seemed the most likely way for the thief to have gotten hold of his sketch. Which meant they'd been watching him pretty closely ... a thought that sent both dread and anger running through him. On the plus side, if that had been their method then Drew would have something to observe as he too watched Evan and Elaine closely.

"What's your must see here?" Elaine asked curiously as they moved away from the desk and inside the museum.

"Bruegel's Fall of Icarus," Evan replied distractedly, discretely looking around while trying to look like he didn't have a care in the world.

"What's so special about this one?" she asked, drawing his attention back to her.

"Its reverse ekphrasis," Evan explained as he led them up the stairs and turned right, heading for the Museum of Ancient Art. Rather than just one museum, the Musée des Beaux-Arts was actually comprised of four separate museums, two of which were contained within the main building, the others located further out in the city.

"And that means?" Elaine prompted him. Although she'd studied art in more depth than her brother, her area of interest was Modern Art. 'Art' as a subject was so broad it was impossible for anyone to know it all. If it was painted before the mid 1800's Evan was more likely to know the details than she was.

"Sorry ... rather than verbal text describing a work of art, Bruegel used art to describe literature – Ovid's Metamorphoses in this case," he explained. They walked down a long gallery containing works from the 16th century until he saw it ... "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus", painted sometime around 1558.

"It's the story of Daedalus and his son," Evan said as he looked at the painting closely. "You know it ... or a version of it anyway. Daedalus was an inventor of sorts who got locked up in a tower to protect the secrets he'd learned. To escape he constructed a pair of wings, using wax and string and made a smaller set for his young son, Icarus. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun because the wax would melt but the thrill of flying was too much for the boy. He got too close, the wax melted and he fell into the sea and to his death."

Elaine frowned at the picture for a moment. It was familiar to her but she'd never studied it closely before or considered the story behind it. "So – where's Icarus then?" she asked curiously.

Evan pointed to the tiny figure under the sun, falling to the sea trailing fire.

"But he's hardly visible!" Elaine protested. "Why call it the fall of Icarus when if you didn't know the story you'd never notice him?"

"It's Bruegel's interpretation of the entire story," Evan explained. "Ovid mentions the ploughman, shepherd and fisherman as well – all holding useful implements crucial to their livelihood. Making them central and Icarus barely visible was Bruegel's way of placing greater value on the renewal of nature than he did on Daedalus altering nature artificially by creating mechanical flight in the form of bird wings." Evan paused, glancing down at his sister to see her looking at the painting intently. "No plough stands still just because a man dies," he said softly.

When Elaine turned to look at him, he explained. "Bruegel read a lot of biblical literature and often painted to common proverbs. That's the one he was believed to be thinking of when he painted this. The three intent on their work while behind them Icarus fell to his death." He sighed. "Life goes on."

"And that's why it's on your list," Elaine concluded softly, taking his hand and squeezing it comfortingly.

"I guess," Evan admitted.

They both turned to look at the painting, standing silently and just letting the story and what it meant to each of them wash over their minds. Eventually Evan roused himself, nudging Elaine with his elbow.

"You need to go look at your art," he said in a low tone, reluctant and yet purposeful. He didn't want to be separated from his sister, worried that somehow she'd be in danger alone even though it seemed he was the target.

"You're right," Elaine replied. She didn't move though, clinging tightly to his arm now.

"I'll be fine," he reassured her. "I'm not alone ... remember?"

"Be careful," she said before breaking away and heading for the stairs leading back to the Museum of Modern Art.

Evan watched her go before resolutely turning back to Bruegel's Icarus. Now that Elaine had left him he found it difficult to get into the art ... instead he made a play at pretending to behave as he had at the other galleries, all the while wondering which, if any, of the other patrons was the one watching him.

oOo

After a suitable amount of time had gone by Lorne left Ancient Art behind and went searching for his sister. Regrouping in the lobby they claimed their bags and walked unhurriedly from the Museum back the way they'd come.

Half an hour later Evan and Elaine had checked into a simple hotel suite big enough for them and Drew, and were sitting down to talk about their morning when a knock sounded at the door.

"Drew," Elaine said, jumping up quickly.

Evan beat her to it, looking out the spy hole before nodding and stepping back to let her open the door.

"Anything?" Evan asked as soon as the other man was inside the suite and the door closed behind him.

"Unless you count an increased knowledge of that Bruegel guy's motivations for painting a farmer no," Drew quipped back. Sitting down, he smiled as Elaine sat beside him before directing his attention back to Evan.

Lorne stood near the window, glancing out at the view of the street below before turning his attention back to his companions. They looked ... close, even though there was a respectable gap between them. Putting his concerns aside, he focussed on the issue at hand. "So either no one's watching me or they're really good at staying hidden ... or they've got another way of tracking me. Either way we're still in the dark here."

"So what do we do now?" Elaine asked, leaning forward and angling herself so she could look at both men.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Evan grinned across at Drew.

"Catch them in the act?" Drew suggested.

"Exactly," Lorne replied. "I'll go back to the museum this afternoon and do the customary sketch before I go back inside. You see if you can source a floor plan for the museum, just enough so we know roughly where they store the works not on display. Then from tomorrow night we stake it out ... if they run true to form they should be hitting the museum within the next couple of days."

"And what about me?" Elaine asked pointedly.

"You go and do ... girl things," Evan replied, hurrying into speech when it looked like she was going to protest. "We can't afford to suddenly start acting differently Elaine," he said seriously. "What would you be doing this afternoon if we were still in the dark about the robberies?"

"Staying with you?" she tried hopefully. He just stood with a raised brow, saying nothing, waiting for her to come to the right conclusion on her own. "Fine," Elaine gave in abruptly. "I'd be checking out the shops and looking up what the best local tourist attractions are."

"Right – so you do that, Drew looks for the plans and I go and sketch," Evan summarised. "Simple." Not waiting for protests he headed for the door, saying over his shoulder "I don't know about you guys but hunting art thieves is hungry business. I'm going downstairs to find some food."

oOo

"So ... how long have you been in love with my sister?" Evan's voice was low in the silence of the car Drew had hired the day before. They'd stuck with the plan and were on their second night of staking out the eastern corner of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, parking in an alleyway across the street out of sight but still with a clear line on the section of the museum where the undisplayed works were kept.

"Since the day I met her I think," Drew didn't try to pretend he didn't know what Evan was talking about.

"You weren't just 'in the area' after John's funeral," Evan stated that fact, his tone still giving no indication of how he felt about the situation.

"No," Drew admitted, squinting in the darkened car in an attempt to see Evan's expression. "I heard about your abrupt departure and I knew she'd be worried ...," he paused for a moment. "And I needed to see her ... needed to talk to her about John."

Evan said nothing, the silence beginning to feel more than a little weighty as Drew wondered what the hell he was thinking. "You're angry," he finally said.

"No," Evan denied. "You're a good man Drew ... I just .... I want more for my sister than to spend her life waiting hopefully for someone who might not be coming home."

"Not everyone ends up like John," Drew returned, just a little exasperated even though he understood what was driving his friend.

"Elaine's already lost a lot in her life Drew," Evan ignored the comment. "I don't want to see her grieving like that again."

"Is that why you broke it off with Steph?" Drew asked intently.

"It wasn't a 'forever' thing," Lorne said dismissively. "We both knew that going in."

"Yeah, except she did the unthinkable and fell in love with you," Drew shot back.

"That was a long time ago now ... and besides, this isn't about me," Evan retorted irritably, not wanting to go there.

"No," Drew argued. "I think this is about you. Why you broke it off with Steph when I'm pretty sure she wasn't the only one in love, why you're having a mid life crisis over what happened to John, and why you don't want me involved with your sister."

"You haven't lost someone you loved so don't sit there like you know what the hell it's like!" Evan returned, his voice echoing harshly in the confines of the car. Calming only slightly he continued. "My Mom was broken after my Dad died ... I remember what she was like before so I know she was never the same after. She lost something ... her spirit ... her nerve ... a piece of herself ... something. Now she'll talk about being out there seeing the things she's always dreamed of seeing when we all know she'll never do it." His breathing echoed harshly in the enclosed space as he struggled to calm down. "I won't do that to someone ... and I won't see it done to Elaine." The quiet purposeful tone was like a knife after his passionate outburst.

"You were ten," Drew said gently. "Trying to cope with your own grief as well as all the changes that had to take place. Don't you think that maybe your memory might be flawed ... that's a lot for anyone to handle, let alone someone so young."

"I -,"

The knock on the window startled them, both too absorbed in their conversation to pay enough attention to what was going on outside the vehicle.

Evan looked out and then groaned. "Perfect," he muttered under his breath, winding down the window. "Yes Officer?" he asked the uniformed man standing beside his door.

"Is there a problem here gentlemen?" the officer asked, the implied 'what the hell are you doing here in the middle of the night?' clear but unspoken.

"Ah ... no Sir," Evan shot Drew a quick glance before continuing. "We were just ... admiring the Musée des Beaux-Arts ... it really is a beautiful piece of architecture isn't it, particularly at night." He'd considered for a nanosecond telling the man the truth – that they were attempting to catch a thief – but discounted any chance he'd actually believe them.

Drew swallowed down the urge to laugh, despite the seriousness of the situation. He was glad it was Evan doing the talking though – there was no way he could have said something like that as sincerely as his friend had.

The officer looked at both men for a moment, assessing their open, honest expressions. "Of course," he finally said. "I'll have to ask you to leave now ... loitering in the area is prohibited." He paused again, meeting Evan's eyes sternly. "If I see you around here again there will be several questions I'll be compelled to ask."

Evan nodded, the unspoken message clear. The policeman was suspicious but prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt ... a privilege he'd revoke if they came back. "Thank you Officer," he said respectfully, reaching for the keys and turning on the engine.

"Gentlemen," the officer stepped back to let Evan drive slowly forward, obviously intending to wait until they'd left.

"Well ... that went well," Drew concluded as they exited the alleyway.

Evan said nothing, driving them silently back to the hotel car park. He remained silent until they were getting out of the car. "For the record, I wasn't in love with Steph Riley," he said insistently.

"Only because you wouldn't let yourself go that far," Drew retorted.

"So you're saying it's possible to stop yourself from falling all the way, even if it's the right person?" Evan asked.

"I'm saying ...," Drew stopped, realising where his friend was going. If he said yes then Evan would immediately come back with a request that he stop whatever it was he was doing with Elaine. "Nice try," he complimented. "I never really thought about it before but since you ask maybe I have to conclude that Steph wasn't the right girl for you."

He pushed the button for the lift back to the ground floor, getting in first when the doors opened. They rode the lift silently, Drew not speaking again until they were inside their suite and he was standing outside his room. "Either that or you're more miserable than even I gave you credit for," he finished, leaving Evan standing there staring after him.

Authors Note:

The latest picture has been added to my website page ... it's an interesting one, particularly with the link to Daedalus. I hope people are taking the time to look at the art as we go through the story!