Chasing Vermeer

When Calder arrives at Powell’s for his part-time job, he notices Mr. Watch packing a book order for Mrs. Sharpe. Calder volunteers to make the delivery. Once inside Sharpe’s house, Calder pretends to need the bathroom. He checks the upstairs wardrobes for the stolen painting, but his search produces nothing.

That evening, Calder and Petra update their log of coincidences. Calder’s father interrupts with a letter from Tommy. After Calder decodes the message, he tells Petra that Tommy’s stepfather, Old Fred, has deserted Tommy’s family. Tommy and his mother want to come back to Hyde Park but have no money for the move. Petra and Calder spend the entire weekend organizing a bake sale and fund drive to raise money for Tommy’s return.

On Sunday evening, they hear a newscast about Mrs. Sharpe. She received one of the mystery letters and has contacted the police about it. Calder’s father casually mentions that Mrs. Sharpe’s husband was a Vermeer scholar. He was murdered decades earlier in Europe while doing research. Authorities assumed his death was a random street crime.

Both Petra and Calder fall asleep that night in a state of confusion over the two probable letter recipients: Are Ms. Hussey and Mrs. Sharpe in league with the thief, or are they victims?

The next day, officers arrest Ms. Hussey on suspicion of being involved in the art theft. The substitute teacher has a hard time keeping the class under control. Petra speculates that the letter she found in Calder’s garden must have been for Ms. Hussey, who then discarded it.

The following day, authorities release Ms. Hussey after she admits that she received one of the three letters. She and Mrs. Sharpe receive police protection in case the thief wants to harm them. When Ms. Hussey returns to class, she takes down all the Vermeer materials and steers her students away from the topic.

After class, Petra takes Calder to Fargo Hall to get some hot chocolate and discuss the case. She suggests that they actively go hunting for the painting. Petra thinks a misguided Ms. Hussey helped the thief and might have hidden the painting in one of the school buildings. Calder pulls the pentomino “U” which seems to confirm that University School is the place to look. If they can retrieve the painting, they can keep Ms. Hussey from implicating herself in the crime.

The two junior detectives decide to begin their quest for A Lady Writing by searching Gracie Hall from top to bottom. They tell the principal that they’re mapping the building as a school project. After examining all the floors, they realize that the storage space in the basement might be the ideal location to hide a painting.

They get the Lower School principal to unlock the basement for them. When the principal leaves for a moment, Petra and Calder check the supply shelves. Calder finds a wrapped parcel that is the same size as the missing painting. When the principal returns, Calder hides with the parcel, and Petra tells the principal that he’s already gone upstairs.

The principal escorts Petra upstairs, leaving Calder locked in the dark basement. It takes Petra a few hours before she can access another set of keys and free Calder. They return to his house to unwrap the parcel. The parcel indeed contains a painting, but not the one they’re looking for:

Someone with an eager, pear-shaped head and a green bun sat writing at a table. Her one visible ear was graced with what looked like a dangling Ping-Pong ball. There was an orange moon behind her, and a melting castle. The painting might have been done by a second grader, a second grader who was now a grandparent. It was not the Lady they’d been looking for (166).

It’s now early December, and Calder is home from school with a cold. As Petra is walking down the street, she sees a scrap of paper stuffed into the hedge by Mrs. Sharpe’s house. It’s a fragment of one of the thief’s letters. Petra isn’t sure how it got there, and she wonders if there might be a fourth letter in circulation. Petra immediately runs to Calder’s house to tell him about it. They agree to keep the letter a secret and place it inside Calder’s Geographer’s box.

The following day, a new book hits the stores. It’s entitled, The Vermeer Dilemma: What Happens Now?. The author says that the art theft has many positive results. Ordinary people are talking about old art masters and art in a new way. The author also concedes that the thief’s methods are morally wrong. He concludes his book by telling the thief that he has accomplished his mission, and it’s time to return A Lady Writing.

On their way to school the next morning, the children find paramedics taking Mrs. Sharpe out of her house on a stretcher and into a waiting ambulance. She has tripped and injured her leg. She hands the children a letter she wants them to post for her. The letter is for Ms. Hussey. Suspicious, the children consider reading the contents before they put the letter in the mail. At school, they’re still arguing about what to do when they drop the letter on the floor. A man picks it up and slips it into a nearby mail slot before they get a chance to see what’s inside.

That afternoon, they visit Mrs. Sharpe at the hospital. When she asks if they mailed her letter, they confess that they wanted to read it. Their curiosity amuses the old woman. She explains that she contacted Ms. Hussey because they both come from Nantucket, and she wanted to share the coincidence with her.

Petra tells Mrs. Sharpe that she feels the missing painting is communicating with her, and the old woman takes her claim seriously. When Calder shows Mrs. Sharpe his pentominoes, she’s intrigued and proves adept at spelling words with them.

That evening, Calder gets a call from Tommy announcing that he and his mother are returning to Hyde Park. Calder also learns that Tommy received a postcard from Frog who is simply staying with relatives in Washington. Frog’s postcard came from the National Gallery and bore an image of the stolen Vermeer painting on the front. When Calder shares this news with Petra, he speculates about coincidence once more: “Makes me think of a Charles Fort thing. Frog disappears to the National Gallery, then a picture of the Lady travels back to Tommy. It’s not teleportation, but some kind of strange symmetry” (187).