Page 106 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

Stone turned to the experts. “You all concur?”

“Absolutely,” Eliza said.

The other two nodded.

—

Monica was in the middle of her massage when her phone rang.

“Sorry,” she said to Chet, her masseur. “Can you hand me my phone?”

“No problem.”

He grabbed her cell off the lounge chair and handed it to her.

She checked the screen. The caller ID read:PATRICIA EASTLY. Patricia was Monica’s friend at Vitale Insurance who had been keeping her apprised of the happenings there since she’d left. Monica had asked her to look into the theft of Billy Barnett’s painting.

“I need to take this. Can you give me a minute?”

“Of course.” The masseur walked toward the far end of the pool to give her privacy.

“Hi, Patricia,” she answered. “What did you find out?”

“You were right. Billy Barnett’s not one of our clients. But the auction house that sold the painting to him is. That’s not the reason I called, though.”

“It’s not?”

“Another painting burned last night,” Patricia said.

“Last night?”

“Yep.”

It had barely been two weeks since the last time a similar incident occurred, and if the supposed art ring was real and had also been responsible for what happened to Billy, that was three robberies in fifteen days. In the past, the shortest time between events had been four weeks.

“Where did this happen?”

“Marin County, north of San Francisco.”

“Who was the insured?”

“Randall Vernon.”

Monica knew they had several clients in that area, but she didn’t immediately recall the name.

“Same situation as the others?”

“Yes and no. Itwasanother brushfire that burned down the house. The difference is, they’ve found a body.”

“Whose?” To this point, there had been no deaths associated with the suspected thefts.

“Police haven’t confirmed the person’s ID yet.” Patricia lowered her voice to a whisper. “Unofficially, we’ve been told that a distinctive ring belonging to Mr. Vernon was found on one of the fingers. But you want to hear something even stranger?”

“What?”

Monica’s phone vibrated with the arrival of a text, but she ignored it.

“The body wasn’t found in the house or anywhere near the property. It was a half mile away. The fire grew out of control before emergency services had been alerted. They weren’t able to get to the area where the body was until early this morning, after the flames had moved through. My understanding is that they are still trying to get the fire under control.”

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