It was now 15 hours since the start of what Bette considered to be the darkest time of her life.  She’d left Tina in the hotel suite, crossing the art deco hotel lobby, after speaking briefly with the one man she could trust in the front desk.  She walked over to the adjacent café. The café had not opened as yet, but one of the waitstaff had allowed her to come in. She’d only spent a few minutes in there, after arranging delivery of Tina’s breakfast and cappuccino with him, then had exited through the side door.

A car had been waiting, and as soon as she’d stepped into it, it zoomed off, quickly navigating quiet city streets, heading for the airport.

Soon after, she had boarded a private jet.  She’d been  the only passenger, so she’d used the time to figure out her next move.

By the time they had landed in Dulles, she had a plan, and had felt rested.  She had been whisked to an interview room, and then transferred to a non-descript building just outside of Washington, DC.

Bette was a whistleblower.

During her visit to Paris in the six months previously, in the fall, while researching possible purchases for her gallery, she had stumbled on a cache of art that she, and much of the art world, had thought was lost in the tumult of the Nazi invasion of France.   Bette had realized that the horde could have been part of the art haul the Nazis had collected, often through illegal means, sometimes forcing unwilling owners to give up their art.  She quickly took pictures of the paintings she saw before anyone realized she had been in the backroom where the art had been carelessly stored.

After interviewing the store owner, she’d learnt that the space was being leased by a London-based gallery.  She’d made discrete inquiries about the gallery and had found out it was owned by a holding company, which itself was owned by another company.  On returning to L.A., she’d learnt, through George, how to find more information about that company.

“It’s called due diligence, Bette, and it’s important that you do it these days, before you get into business with someone.  Because some of these companies can just be shell companies, and can rip you off, before you realize what’s happened,” George had said.