Boris Pavlikovsky and Horst

Boris Pavlikovsky and Horst move in overlapping circles of the European underground art trade, where stolen masterworks serve as collateral for drug and arms deals. Horst, a German junkie from an immensely wealthy industrial family, operates out of a dilapidated Fifth Avenue townhouse filled with genuine Old Masters and forgeries alike. Boris first meets Horst through Myriam, Horst's right-hand woman, and the two maintain a wary, mutually useful acquaintance for years. Horst is described as "very intelligent and sensitive," with a deep knowledge of Dutch Golden Age painting, but also as a "bad junkie" whose addiction has cost him his family fortune and left him surrounded by a shifting crowd of trust-fund kids and hangers-on. Boris respects Horst's expertise and his role as a "junkie philanthropist" who supports many people, but he also recognizes that Horst is "far too gentle and trusting" in business, easily exploited by those close to him.

The Theft and the Double Cross

The central crisis between them arises when Sascha, Ulrika's brother and a close associate of Horst, steals The Goldfinch from Boris during a botched drug deal in Miami. Boris suspects that Horst may have been complicit in the original disappearance of the painting, noting that Horst "liked that picture very very much" and recognized it instantly by name. When Boris and his crew recover the painting by force in Amsterdam, Sascha panics and calls Horst for help. Horst, acting on incomplete information, dispatches his enforcers Martin and Frits to intercept Boris and reclaim the painting. The confrontation in the parking garage turns deadly: Boris and Theo kill both Martin and Frits in self-defense, and the Asian kitchen boy escapes with the painting. Boris later reflects that Horst may genuinely not have known it was him in the garage, but he also acknowledges the possibility that Horst was simply "saying it only to save face."

The Reward and the Rift

Despite the violence, Boris ultimately resolves the situation in a way that benefits both himself and Horst's world. Acting on Theo's earlier suggestion, Boris arranges for an anonymous tip to the art police, leading to a raid on Sascha's Frankfurt apartment that recovers not only The Goldfinch but dozens of other stolen paintings. The reward money—over two million euros—is paid out legally, and Boris insists that Horst is "probably just as glad it fell out like this" because Horst "has guilt, same ideas of public good, cultural patrimony." Boris explicitly states that he is "angry at Horst, a bit" and that he no longer trusts him "so much as formerly," but he also acknowledges that Horst's version of events—that he didn't know it was Boris in the garage—may be true. The relationship ends in a state of cautious, unresolved distance: Boris has profited, the painting is recovered, but the trust between them is permanently damaged.