Boris reappears and plans Amsterdam trip

Boris Pavlikovsky, Theo Decker's closest friend from his Las Vegas years, reappears in New York after a long silence, and together they plan a dangerous trip to Amsterdam to recover the stolen painting The Goldfinch.

Reappearance and Reunion

Boris finds Theo on St. Mark's Place in the East Village, calling out "Potter!" and embracing him. He is taller, with a hollower face, a long black coat, and new scars. He has replaced his gray snaggleteeth with a standard row of white teeth, done by a dentist in Sweden. Boris is now married to a Swedish woman named Astrid, a former ski champion, and has twin children, though he admits he doesn't know them well and has a third child he has never met. He lives all over Europe and Asia, running a "housecleaning agency" called "Polish Cleaning Service" as a front, with a motto: "We clean you out." His right-hand man is a woman named Myriam, who has a blue pentagram tattooed on her wrist. Boris tells Theo he stopped by his antique shop earlier but Theo was out. He also reveals that after Theo left Las Vegas, he lived with Xandra for four or five months, and that Xandra was dealing drugs supplied by her friends Stewart and Lisa. Boris helped her by giving back the money he had stolen from her.

The Plan to Recover the Painting

Boris confesses that he was the one who switched Theo's painting with a Civics workbook years ago, taking it from his locker. He says he tried to tell Theo not to leave that night, but Theo wouldn't listen. He has been trying to get the painting back ever since. He explains that the painting has been used as collateral in drug and arms deals, and that it was involved in a botched DEA raid in Miami that resulted in a wrongful death suit. He has a good line on the painting's location, believing it is in Europe, possibly Belgium, Germany, or Holland. He has a contact named Horst, a German junkie from an important family, who has information about the painting's whereabouts. Horst's associate Sascha, who is Ulrika's brother, is the one who stole the painting from the Miami deal. Boris plans to meet with Horst to get more information. He tells Theo he has a ticket for him to Amsterdam and that they need to leave immediately. He instructs Theo to get his passport and as much cash as he can. Boris has a driver named Anatoly, who does not speak English, and his usual driver, Gyuri, has already flown to Antwerp to pick up a car. Boris tells Theo that he will supply more cash once they get there, along with a bank draft from a bad bank in the Caribbean. He plans to pay the people holding the painting, but not the full amount, as a lesson. He tells Theo not to worry, saying, "If we lose, we win, and if we win, we win!"