Woman on Fire

Jules, Dan, Ellis, and Bakker meet with Stefan Dassel. Stefan is nervous. He worries they are trying to dredge up aspects of his family’s Nazi past. They assure him they are only looking for the painting. Stefan remembers seeing the painting once. His grandfather didn’t have it for long. He also knows a little about Arno Baum, though he never had connected Arno Baum with Ellis. His grandfather hid the Baum family during the war. Stefan knows more, but is reluctant to tell them what his father, Franz, told the family on his deathbed. Ellis pleads with him to tell him: “The war is long over. Everybody involved is dead. I’m dying. I’ve been tortured by too many unanswered questions” (198).

The narrative briefly flashes back to 1938. Arno Baum decided to leave Germany, but before he and his family left, he wanted to visit his mistress and son. He drove to Anika Lang’s apartment. When he entered, he found her posing for Ernst Engel. He told them to stop. He feared Anika being caught with a wanted man.

Stefan tells the investigative team that his father confessed to exposing the Baum family. Otto Dassel was jealous because the youngest Baum daughter, Lillian, didn’t return his affections. Helmuth Geisler demanded that Woman on Fire be returned to him in exchange for keeping Otto from getting in trouble for hiding a Jewish family. Otto agreed, but asked to keep the painting for one more week.

After the meeting, Dan tells Jules to escort Ellis back to Manhattan. Dan plans to snoop around Berlin. Dan instructs Jules to research everything she can on the Dassel family and the Baums. He reminds her not to go rogue again.

Margaux visits Adam at his apartment to tell him about Art Basel. He does not like Griffin Freund at all and does not want to be associated with him, or people like him, anymore. Margaux finds Adam boring and ungrateful. Adam confronts her about the night her father drowned, insinuating that it was no accident. Margaux changes the subject back to art. She wants him to paint her. He refuses and tells her to leave. She moves as if to do so but then takes off all her clothes at the door and walks back toward him.

Ellis goes to the original Anika Baum store, where he maintains a studio in the basement in which he designs all Anika Baum shoes. He wants to design a new shoe, “a strong, working woman’s sophisticated yet practical shoe—a first for him” (222). He has named all his shoes after women, some whose names are deeply meaningful to him, like his wife’s and daughter’s. He plans to call his new creation The Jules. He is about to ring for his assistant when he has a heart attack. He falls to the floor and remembers the last time he saw his father, which was the night Woman on Fire was painted. He must find that painting, he thinks. He hears sirens in the distance and then passes out.

Margaux is waiting for Milo Wolff, a renowned forger. When he arrives, she shows him Woman on Fire. Wolff wants 30 minutes alone with the painting. After 20 minutes, Margaux returns. Wolff tells her he only works with originals. What she has is a forgery, and he shows her how he knows: The brushstrokes are indicative of a right-handed painter. Engel was left-handed. He leaves.

Later, Wyatt finds Margaux among the detritus of a room. Her feet are bleeding from walking on the glass shards of a mirror. A Qing vase lies in ruins. He tells Margaux he has learned about a journalist talking to Carice Van der Pol. Margaux is more concerned with what to do with Woman on Fire. She tells Wyatt to dispose of Wolff.

Margaux goes to speak with Wyatt. Wyatt tells her about Jules and Dan and the investigative team they’ve built, including Ellis, Adam, and Bakker. Margaux is hurt to learn about Adam. Wyatt tells her that he took care of Wolff and his wife by hacking their Tesla and causing it to crash, killing them both. Margaux decides to go to Berlin to see Dan, saying, “He’s not going back to Chicago” (238).

Dan takes a painkiller to try and relax. He is tempted to have alcohol, but he won’t because of Ellis. He spoke earlier with the editors at Spotlight. They confirmed that the German government knew about Carl Geisler and repressed the information, and consequently Spotlight’s story, for fear of a scandal. They gave Dan a photo of a woman standing outside Carl’s apartment the night he was murdered. Dan recognizes Margaux. As Dan lies down on his bed, Margaux emerges from the shadows with a gun. She tells him she wants everything he has about the painting and herself. After some dialogue and parlay, Dan wrestles the gun away from Margaux, who pleads for her life. In a moment of hesitancy, she kicks the gun away and strangles him with her scarf. She stuffs painkillers down his throat before she leaves.

Adam and Jules are in his apartment. Ellis is in a coma, and they haven’t heard anything from Dan. Adam realizes they might have blown their cover with Jules’s presence in his apartment. He suggests he paint her, as an excuse for her presence there, in case someone catches them. She reluctantly agrees, remembering Rick Janus. After sketching for a while, Adam comes over to Jules and tells her he needs to touch her. One thing leads to another, and they sleep with one another. Afterward, Jules discovers the new painting of Margaux and leaves, feeling stupid and betrayed.

Jules learns that Dan is dead, apparently by suicide. She doesn’t believe it; she doesn’t believe he would have done that in the middle of an investigation. She worries she might have had something to do with his death because she saw Carice. Jules goes to the Chronicle to speak with Dan’s assistant, Louise. Once there, Louise tells Jules she received a photo from Dan before he died. Jules recognizes Margaux. She tells Louise to make hard copies of everything Dan was working on and to put them and the photo somewhere safe. She then leaves.

Outside, Jules gets a phone call from Adam: He has heard about Dan. Jules tells Adam that he needs to stay put and continue with his art and the exhibition. Jules is going to find out what really happened to Dan.