Page 27 of Caper Crush
“We’re going to be late for our dinner reservation.” Edmund puts his arm around Annabelle.
“We should go.” Annabelle looks at me. “I’m really sorry about your painting. I hope they find it.”
I nod, unable to speak. I have to find the paintings.
Chapter seven
It’sdarkoutsidenow.I close the shades in Uncle Tony’s dining room. William’s shared chart is open on the laptop Takashi gave me, but it provides no answers. Takashi and Uncle Tony have what is a called a classic Upper West Side apartment bought years ago when the West Side was more affordable and filled with artists and intellectuals. The separate dining room follows Takashi’s aesthetic taste. Other than the glass dining table and chairs, a tall floor vase with quince branches commands one corner. Japanese calligraphy art hangs on the wall. It’s as minimalist as possible.
The familiar squeaky rolling wheels echoing in the hallway grows closer. It’s bad if they’re bringing out the tea trolley. Uncle Tony lived in London for a few years, working in the West End, and became a firm believer that tea can cure anything. And then he found the tea trolley in an antique shop upstate. It is actually lovely—and very useful—not just for tea, but dinners in front of the TV and breakfast in bed. Takashi is also a huge tea drinker. Tea is like wine in Japan, with regional differences.
Takashi wheels in the trolley with dinnerware and a bag of take-out Chinese food. He opens up the pagoda boxes and plastic containers, placing serving spoons in each. A short bustle of activity erupts as we each take a plate, pour a cup of green tea, and divvy up the food.
“What have we got?” I take a bite of my egg roll.
William shows us the suspects and the analysis so far on his shared spreadsheet. “We’ve got a lot of people who need money, but not enough to steal the painting. The painting went out either via your sister, Vinnie, or the catering team.”
“And my sister has her own independent tie to the catering team,” I say. “But I don’t think she’d steal my painting. Let’s add a column for those who use Kimberly’s Catering.”
“Vinnie has also used Kimberly’s Catering.” Takashi points to Vinnie on the spreadsheet.
“And Edmund.” William types in the additional information. “I also did some Internet research, and Vinnie didn’t pay his taxes the last quarter.”
“You found that out? Wow.” I put anXunder Vinnie for motive in our shared spreadsheet. William’s accounting acumen is useful.
“It’s publicly available.” William shows me his screenshot of the database.
“Even though I dislike Vinnie, given that he would get a sales commission, it doesn’t seem worth the risk to steal it.” Takashi sips his tea. “I walked around our block earlier to see if any additional security cameras would give us some videos of any action on the street after the party, but I didn’t see any.”
“We’ve also got Edmund’s suggestion that we shouldn’t focus on the party—that it could have been another time.” My moo shu pork pancake is crunchy and sweet, although eating it by hand is not the most elegant look, as some fillings fall out onto my plate.
“The police did ask when we last saw it,” Takashi says. “I don’t think they’ve narrowed it down to just the party.”
“And when was that?”
“I wrapped it up and put it in the closet on Thursday. I thought it would be safer there. I worked from home on Friday, but I did leave the house to pick out flowers. Maria cleaned the apartment in preparation. Most everything else was delivered. And we went out to dinner on Friday night.”
“But even if it wasn’t stolen at the party, it would still have to have been someone who knows the value of the Kimimoto,” I say.
William creates a column for Knows Value in our shared spreadsheet and puts anXnext to Annabelle, Edmund, and Vinnie.
“Unless you think you discussed it anywhere else, Takashi? And how did the thief know it was in the closet?” I add a Closet Knowledge column to our shared spreadsheet.
“Good point.” William nods. “This also seems planned, unless Annabelle just grabbed them and left.”
“It’s not Annabelle,” I say.
“We can’t dismiss that possibility yet,” William says.
“Maria asked on Friday where they were, and I said we’d put them in the closet,” Takashi says. “But she only left with a small garbage bag per the security footage.” We’ve looked at the footage for Thursday and nothing went out then. After the party, the cleaners took out a clear bag of bottles and one small bag of garbage.
“Has Vinnie publicized the sale yet?” William asks.
“He told some people. I told the real estate agent upstate, but other than that, I haven’t talked about how we’re going to sell the Kimimoto to buy the house. I’ve been a bit torn about selling it. Because I do love the painting. But not as much as the cottage,” Takashi says.
They’ve had their eye on this cottage for years, but the older woman who owned it didn’t want to sell it. They couldn’t blame her. But a few months ago, she decided to move to Florida to be with her daughter, and she agreed to sell it to them. She was happy to sell it to someone who loved the cottage as much as she did.
“Did you tell Vinnie the Kimimoto was stolen?” I ask.
