Page 40 of Caper Crush
“I’m touched, but how much money are you talking?”
“One thousand.”
“One thousand. Are you kidding?”
“Isn’t it worth that much to you?”
“The paintings are worth more. But that’s too much to pay for information. How will we even know the information is valid?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any harm in meeting them if they are willing,” Edmund says. “I’ll text you if they are. But it has to be just us. Nobody else. And don’t tell Officer Johnson.”
This sounds so suspicious.Like something from a movie. But it’s an opening that might reveal a clue.
“Okay. But offer five hundred.” I can barely afford that.
He pushes open the door to leave the study. But … the closet. So close.
“Is this the bathroom?” I open the closet door. This closet has two packages wrapped up in the corner. They’re bigger than mine or my uncle’s, but the extra length could be Bubble Wrap. “Just the closet.”
Vinnie and William enter the room.
“Do you like the Versal?” Vinnie asks.
“Yes.” Butnotthat Edmund is buying it. “Very evocative. Where’s the Agatha Boonland? I’d love to see her work in person.”
“It’s not here. It’s back at my gallery.”
“I thought you came up to see it,” William says to Edmund.
“I came up to persuade Vinnie to sell me the Versal and give me first dibs on the Agatha Boonland.”
“It’s in the gallery. He saw it there on Friday when he visited,” Vinnie says.
“I had to think about it, but I can’t stop thinking about it, so now I know I want it,” Edmund says.
Edmund and Vinnie were together on Friday before the party. And now Edmund is here when William and I are questioning Vinnie. Are they in cahoots?
“Is your buyer upset about the Kimimoto?” I ask Vinnie.
“Uh … very much so.”
As if he didn’t have one.
“Actually, I haven’t told them yet. I’m still hopeful we’ll find it.” Vinnie looks at Edmund. “I didn’t want them to go off and buy a different painting with the money needed for this one.”
“Miranda was looking for the bathroom,” Edmund says.
“Yes, but I opened your closet door by accident. Are you selling those paintings?” Let’s see if that throws him.
“Those are my two favorite paintings here,888and99,” Vinnie says. “I don’t leave them here when the house is rented. I bring them back to the city.”
No sign of concern.
I leave to go to the bathroom. Keeping to the nautical theme, the bathroom is a very dark blue with white towels. A round buoy hangs above the towel rack next to the porthole mirror. But the baseboard is worn and needs a paint job. A crack in the window glass is taped over. I could wait in the bathroom until they pass and then inspect the paintings in the closet. But I’d have to rip the wrapping. Too obvious. I dry my hands. Not knowing is going to kill me. I could put the tracking device on them, but it’s big and it would definitely be found when the paintings were unwrapped. Still, it seems worth it.
I leave the bathroom. They are all talking in the living room. I dash into the study, softly open the closet door, and slip the tracking device under the Bubble Wrap, fitting it against the frame of the painting to hide its bulk.
I join them in the living room.
