Summary
Boris meets with Theo and hands him a plane ticket to Amsterdam. He tells him to withdraw money from his bank account, as they will meet with the thieves and pay for part of the painting, though not the full asking price. Theo prepares his things, and leaves Pippa a topaz necklace and a love note before he leaves for Amsterdam.
He boards the plane and eventually arrives in Amsterdam, surprised by the Christmas lighting and festive air of the city. Myriam books him a hotel in a canal house, and he locks his belongings away before joining Boris and Gyuri. They meet at a bar, and Boris tells him that his suspicions about Sascha are correct, and that he is trying to sell the painting to a wealthy Georgian. Boris makes plans to meet with Sascha and take the painting, and they all wait to find out the location of the deal.
Theo walks around the city after his conversation with Boris, and becomes overwhelmed and exhausted with everything there is to see. He goes to bed, but is awakened by Boris, who insists he get ready before they head to the location. He dresses in a suit and gets ready while Boris assembles a firearm. Theo protests, asking him to go to the police, but Boris insists, and they drive with Gyuri to a garage, where they leave their passports and head to the Purple Cow, a lunch cafe where the deal will take place.
At the Purple Cow, they meet in a back room with two men, one of whom is frantically calling people as their third partner does not show. One of the men lets them into the back room of the cafe, where Victor, Boris and Gyuri pull guns on the two men, and flee after grabbing the painting. Theo notices someone moving in the back of the cafe, but he gets away before any of them can catch him.
On the car ride from the Purple Cow, Boris splits the $40,000 that was meant to pay for the painting between Gyuri and Victor. Theo unwraps the painting, seeing it for the first time in eight years, and is overwhelmed by its lasting beauty. Though he has changed, the painting has not, and he is elated by the returned work of art. They all agree to meet at a restaurant, and Boris starts to put the painting in the car when someone behind them wishes them a Merry Christmas.
They are confronted by the man that got away from them in the restaurant along with three other men. The men pull their guns on them, but in the confusion Theo and Boris shoot them and get away, as the man, Sascha's boyfriend, gets away with the painting. Theo has killed a man, Martin, who is a friend of Horst's, and Sascha calls Horst after they get away with the painting, insisting that Martin step in and return it. Boris is shot and bleeding, but they drive away mostly unscathed.
Driving back to the hotel, they run into several dead ends, and Boris tells Theo to get out of the car and walk to the hotel. He spends hours walking in the dark, trying to find the canal house, and is still in his bloodied clothing. When he finally gets back, he is let in by someone who works at the front desk, and neurotically begins to scrub his clothing in an attempt to remove the bloodstains. He sends off some of his clothing to be dry cleaned and takes drugs Boris leaves for him to ease his anxiety. He dreams about Andy, and when he wakes up, in a daze, he feels the guilt of his murder setting in.
Analysis
On his way to Amsterdam, Theo leaves Pippa a note and an extravagant topaz necklace, "with the old childhood terror and exhilaration of having thrown a rock through a window" (804). Theo interprets his confession of love and his extravagant gift as a quietly seditious act or a childhood game, rather than a genuine act. Though he loves Pippa, he is leaving her a theatrical present, and only reveals his true affection as he leaves the rest of his life behind in order to retrieve the painting.
When he finally arrives in Amsterdam, the city is ominous despite its bright Christmas lighting. He describes the gulls as "plung[ing] and cr[ying]" and feels lonely and uncertain in this new city. This uncertainty extends to the heist, as Theo senses that something is wrong when one of the people in the cafe escapes, but he is distracted by the beauty of the painting and the relative ease of the heist.
But the morbid imagery Theo describes foreshadows Martin's murder, as Theo fights to defend his own life and Boris's but still loses the painting in the process. Again, the painting is surrounded by unnecessary bloodshed, and this time the murder is on Theo's hands. His innocent childhood theft leads to overwhelming repercussions, as Theo experiences anxiety, struggles with addiction, and is led to commit murder, only to again lose the painting.
After the heist, Boris leaves Theo, and Theo returns to the hotel in a feverish state. Again, Theo's sickness correlates with his mental state, and while Theo is surrounded by the Christmas holiday, he is miserable. Again, Theo attempts to numb the pain and escape.
As Theo contends with his guilt, he remembers his father, and begins to empathize with him. He recognizes the similarities between his father and himself, and recognizes that his father's quote—"there's always more to things, a hidden level"—also reveals his own depth, and the complex layers of his emotions, traumas, and secrets.
