Page 83 of Sapphire Nights
“Jade feared this day would come,” Elaine said with a sigh, not admittinganything. “Fine. I’ll take a look at my calendar and get back to you. Tell me how to reachyou.”
Sam gave her the studio’s phone number and the one at the café. “I’ll give you my cell too, but it won’t reach me unless I’m off themountain.”
“I do wish you’d come down here, Sam,” Elaine said anxiously. “I could meet you in Santa Cruz or somewhere if you don’t want to try citydriving.”
“It’s all right, Elaine. I’m hearing the stories I need to hear. Keep in mind, I’m a scientist, not an artist. Wolf would be proud ofme.”
Elaine’s voice brightened. “That’s true. I have a gallery opening this weekend, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I clear a place in my schedule. Just becareful!”
After reassuring her mother’s friend, Sam changed clothes, got in herSubaru, and headed for the lodge. The car shouldn’t sit idle for too long, she reasoned. Now that she had her license back, she didn’t need to walk everywhere—although the exercise certainly allowed her to eat as much of Dinah’s wonderful food as sheliked.
Once she parked at the lodge, she wasn’t entirely certain what approach she should take. Lance wasn’t likely to be hanging about thecomputer room, and he was the one she really wanted tosee.
The sheriff’s car was there, pursuing the ongoing investigations, so she assumed she couldn’t be in too much danger. She really didn’t want to talk to any officialdom except Walker though. She parked behind the lodge, near the small building she’d been told Lance used for hisstudio.
Deciding she’d use Elaine as her excusefor stopping by, she walked up to the studio’s open door as if the Kennedys really were her family and she belongedhere.
Lance looked up from his work when Sam knocked on the door frame. Remembering Mariah’s warning, she studied him. He’d pulled his graying blond hair back in a piece of string at his nape. He had the same Viking bone structure as his sister. His jutting cheekbones andsquare jaw were just more masculine. If she did not mistake, his color was healthier today. He was tall and lanky and not muscular by any means, but he didn’t look like a weakman.
“Samantha,” he acknowledged with a nod, cleaning off his brush. “You have been very much a topic of conversationlately.”
Huh, she didn’t even need an excuse to stopin.
“Have I? Should I apologize?”She entered even though he hadn’t invited her. She was used to the absent-mindedness of her adopted parents. She stopped to examine a collection of small portraits grouped on onewall.
“No, not at all. I gather my nephews are somewhat bemused at learning their father wasn’t a model of good behavior, but he died when they were young. There was no reason to enlighten them.” He pointed atthe photo-sized portraits she was admiring. “What do you think? I understand you were raised by professionalartists.”
“That doesn’t mean I understand art,” she protested. “I’m just like everyone else, admiring for personal reasons and not necessarily for the right ones. You’ve captured likenesses extremely well as far as I can see. In this one, Mariah shines almost as brightly as the crystalsshe hangs in her nets. But in this one, Kurt is looking a littletired.”
She studied another of a gorgeous blond woman wearing what appeared to be aHello, Dollytype of costume. The face looked familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. “Who isthis?”
Cleaning his brush, he leaned over her shoulder. “Valerie. Isn’t she gorgeous? I had to do that from memory. While she’s on stage,I’m too enthralled to even sketch. Her voice ismagnificent.”
“Valerie?Valdis? She was on stage?” That explained the carryingvoice!
“That was a long time ago. She’s extremely talented, but she retreated from the public eye after her... accident.” He put his brush back in a mason jarholder.
Guessing he wouldn’t tell the story, wishing she could have the image to show toCass, Sam moved on to the next portrait. “Who is this person with the redeyes?”
“Juan,” he said curtly, reaching over her shoulder to take down the image. “Something in the paint erodes the color after a while. I’ve been experimenting with the formulas used in the seventies, but I cannot achieve their clarity. Although I do recollect others developing the unfortunate redness, so perhapsthe crystals they used wereimpure.”
“Crystals?” Sam studied the rest of the miniature portraits. He did have a gift for capturing likeness, although she couldn’t see much personality in the people represented. Monty and Kurt could have been stone statues for all the life they exhibited. She was surprised to find Dinah in the collection. She didn’t think Lance went to the café often. Andwas that Valdis again—without the scar and looking much, muchyounger?
“The formula included grinding crystals into the natural substances they used for coloration. I prefer not to use poisonous ingredients. I’ve experimented with both their formulas and my own, mixing the crystal in different mediums, but every so often, they still deteriorate.” He studied Juan’s image, shrugged, and addedit to a stack turned to thewall.
“Perhaps Juan’s family would like the painting?” Sam suggested. “Can you blot out thered?”
He hovered uncertainly over the stack of canvas turned to the wall. “Juan was an unhappy man. When they were younger, my nephews had to buy his silence with their allowances when he caught them out past their curfew, until they started telling their motherrather than hand over the money. Thought that rather smart of them. So I did the same when he tried to blackmail me over a trifling incident. Not a very bright fellow. Do you really think his family would like theportrait?”
Sam remembered her one encounter with the surly security guard. He hadn’t seemed to be a bad man, but unhappy might describe him. Was that what Valdis had channeled—Juan’sunhappiness that he was poor and the Kennedys were rich? Her aunt could have picked up on that while Juan was stillalive.
“I think they’d like it,” she said, keeping her voice light so as not to encourage him if he didn’t want to do it. “Families always think the best of theirrelations.”
“I’ll cover the red with a dab of tempera. That seems to limit the corrosion. Maybe Monty willtake it to the family forme.”
He finally took the time to study her. “You are more interesting than the Kennedy side of the family. You resemble the Ingerssons. Valerie has those same delicatecheekbones.”
Ridiculously pleased that he’d noticed a family resemblance, Sam brushed at her cheek. She hadn’t realized anyone knew of her relation to Valdis. “My parents tended to paint meas square blocks or eagles or other weirdnesses, so I don’t see myself as othersdo.”
