Where this was said
Durham's Redemption and the Odd-Couple Legacy
At 26:50 · chapter starts 26:15
Given his past and his fraught relationship with police, Durham was kept away from the handover. But when he heard the news, his response was pure, unfiltered delight. [1] — Octave Durham "Durham wasn't present at the handover — his history with police made that impossible. But his reaction when Brand called him? Pure joy. 'I …" 26:13 As he told Rossman: 'All the people say, hey, you stole two paintings and Van Gogh did this, Van Gogh that. Now I bring one back — shut up.' Brand recounts a funny postscript: walking in the neighbourhood one day, a woman recognised Brand as the detective who recovered a Picasso. When Brand pointed out that the man beside him was Octave Durham — the one who stole the two Van Goghs — she turned pale and went inside. For Durham, the partnership has given him something he didn't expect: purpose. He's still involved in the world of crime, he says — just on the right side of it. Rossman reflects on the deeper truth of their collaboration: neither man pretends the other's past away. Brand doesn't excuse the theft; Durham doesn't pretend Brand isn't close to police. The tension between those two facts is exactly what made the recovery possible.
