Where this was said
The 2020 Singer Laren Theft and the Search Begins
At 19:49 · chapter starts 19:20
March 2020: Brand gets a call from police. A Van Gogh — 'The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring' — has been stolen from the Singer Laren Museum. The first question police ask: where is Octave Durham? Durham has an alibi, but the mere suspicion infuriates him. Even more infuriating is the theft itself. Brand recounts Durham's outrage: 'I am the Van Gogh thief. Who do these guys think they are?' Brand recognises the emotion as an opportunity. He proposes they work together to find the painting. [1] — Arthur Brand "Six months after the Van Gogh was stolen, a photo appeared on the dark web — the painting next to a fresh newspaper, the underground versio…" 19:15 Durham agrees — on one condition: he will never inform on another thief. He starts asking around in the criminal underworld while Brand works his own sources. For months, nothing. Then, roughly six months after the theft, a photo appears on the dark web: the painting placed next to a fresh newspaper, the underworld's equivalent of a proof-of-life ransom note. To Brand and Durham, it's good news. The painting is out there. It can still be found.
The informant who knew where the Van Gogh was hidden refused to trust Brand — a man known to work with police. Only when Durham sent a video vouching for Brand did the terrified informant agree to return the painting. A thief's word opened the door no detective could.
