Chasing Vermeer

On Halloween night, Petra and Calder both don costumes to go trick or treating. Calder dresses like the pentomino letter “F,” and Petra dresses like the woman from her vision. When Calder sees her costume, he says he recognizes the figure. He drags Petra back to his house to show her a picture in one of the Vermeer books from the library. The woman from Petra’s vision is the subject of a Vermeer painting called A Lady Writing.

Calder shows Petra other Vermeer paintings. The woman in her dream is the subject of two other canvases. The children decide to keep a log of all the odd occurrences and coincidences they’re experiencing.

Calder randomly takes a pentomino from his pocket. It’s V for Vermeer. He’s embarrassed to confess to Petra that his pentominoes sometimes convey messages to him, but she says she thinks that’s cool.

In the school library, the two begin researching Vermeer. Very little is known about the artist’s life, and he didn’t sign all his paintings. He married, fathered 11 children, became a guild master painter, and died in debt at age 43. The original of A Lady Writing hangs in the National Gallery in Washington.

As they continue to talk about these clues and how they fit together, Calder takes out a packet of M&Ms and proposes a pact in which blue M&Ms will represent their secret puzzle; they’ll each eat one to signal their commitment to a solution. Calder adds, “It’ll be kind of our own private thing” (89).

Following a hunch, the children call the National Gallery just to make sure A Lady Writing is safe and hanging where it ought to be. They’re both shocked to learn that the painting is on its way to Chicago as part of a show called “Writers in Art.” They feel uneasy but don’t know what to do about the situation.

Calder tells Petra that he’s also worried about Tommy and the missing boy, Frog. Tommy now believes there’s a neighborhood conspiracy, but nobody wants to talk to him about it.

The next day, Petra is outside helping her father rake leaves. Her father seems distracted and upset. Petra wishes she could have found the letter he and her mother were arguing about.

Meanwhile, Calder is helping his father paint their house. They choose red because it was Grandma Ranjana’s favorite color. Vermeer was her favorite artist, but she always believed his work would have been better if he’d used more red. Thinking of his grandma’s preference for Vermeer, and seeing Petra next door wearing a red hat, Calder gets an eerie feeling, as it seems to be another coincidence: “Events that were purely accidental were beginning to feel like they fit together, but not in a way he understood or even knew how to think about” (98).

On November 5, Petra and Calder learn the shocking news that someone has stolen A Lady Writing. When the two compare notes, they agree that someone has chosen them to solve the mystery. Petra says, “It sounds nutty to say, but I think the Vermeer woman is depending on us—kind of like she’s been waiting for us to catch up” (103).

When the children arrive at school, Ms. Hussey shows up with an injured arm. Calder and Petra see her injury as having an ominous link with their mystery:

What had seemed intriguing just a couple of days ago suddenly felt sinister to both Calder and Petra: Petra’s dream painting had been stolen, Petra’s dad was acting weird, Calder was worried about Tommy, and now Ms. Hussey was hurt (104).

After school, the two notice Ms. Hussey hurrying to Powell’s where she has a tense conversation with Mr. Watch. She leaves the store carrying a thick package under her arm.

The following day, the Chicago Tribune prints a letter from the art thief. The thief says that the painting is safe, but he has taken a bold step, thievery, to uncover the truth. The thief claims that many of the paintings accredited to Vermeer were actually someone else’s work. After Vermeer’s death, someone destroyed the artist’s personal papers to hide this fact. The thief wants people to judge for themselves and to force those in authority to authenticate the rest of Vermeer’s paintings.

The thief will set up a website and post all the comments he receives, raising awareness of the issue until authorities decide to set the record straight. Once this task is complete, the thief promises to restore A Lady Writing to its rightful owners. He also thanks the three recipients of his anonymous letters, congratulating them on their pursuit of the truth.

The letter in the Tribune sparks controversy in the art world and on the street. The public at large has taken an interest in the theft and debates the merits of the thief’s position. The students in Ms. Hussey’s class perform their own examination of the works in question, and most agree that the art thief is right; Vermeer did not paint all the pieces.

Weeks have passed since Mrs. Sharpe invited the children to tea. She orders Petra and Calder to appear at her flat on the November, 22. When they arrive, she leads them into her kitchen, where Petra notices that the blue and white delft tiles, yellow table, and red tulips seem like something out of a Vermeer painting.

Mrs. Sharpe questions the children closely about Fort’s book. The children have trouble speaking with Mrs. Sharpe and liken it to “playing with a dangerous animal” (119). They all agree that people rarely see what’s right in front of them. When Mrs. Sharpe abruptly terminates their visit, she says they must talk again soon.

That evening, Calder tries to call Tommy, but the boy’s phone is disconnected. Calder shares his concern with Petra, and she reveals that she’s had a vision of the woman in the painting again. In her vision, the Lady is in a dark wooden cabinet somewhere.

Calder and Petra share some M&Ms and work out a strategy to search Mrs. Sharpe’s home. Their shared venture puts them at ease: “Both felt better by the time they had a blue one and closed the notebook. There was comfort in making plans” (126).