Page 99 of Fresh Canvas
Starting tomorrow, I was going to Nancy Drew this case wide open.
twenty-seven
AMANTHA
Istrode into the conference room looking like revenge. Did I wear Val’s favorite pencil skirt—perfectly hugging my hips—on purpose? I’d never tell. The red lipstick might have been a bit much though. Rolling my lips back and forth, I tried to elicit as much confidence from them as possible.
Kate followed in behind me, shooting me a knowing wink from behind her curtain of glossy hair. She tipped her head as if to say, “I see what you did there.”
I shrugged. It wasn’t my fault espionage happened to look great on me.
Okay, fine. Mediocre at best.
We settled into our usual chairs across from Brandon and Val. Brandon met Kate with a cocky smirk, which she ignored, though her knee began to bounce under the table. When Val’s eyes collided with mine, his mouth parted on a sharp inhale before snapping shut.
I fluttered my lashes innocently as I soaked up each flicker of regret and irritation. I leveled him with a sugary smile, twirled a pencil between my fingers, and crossed my strappy high-heels that I’d fully regret later.
Oh, sweet, sweet Val.You are so screwed.
The meeting continued, as did the multitude of not-so-secretive glances Val kept stealing at me. By the time I swept coldly out of the boardroom, I had counted thirteen.
Resuming Val’s phony investigation was my first priority, starting with finding the condition report of the real painting. During our last romantic dinner—I rolled my eyes—he said the keycard logs were useless unless we knew the exact date Lake Attersee was admitted to storage. And, according to him, that condition report would be the only place such information would be.
I loaded the record-seeking software Kate had trained me with when I first started. I toggled the search criteria and located the list of condition reports that had followed Lake Attersee since its creation. There were thousands.
Each time the painting had been moved—borrowed, archived, repaired, or rehung—the documents tracked its condition at all times.
But only one report held the information I needed.
A sly smile curved my mouth.
Thanks to my convoluted Google search history last night, I had learned that these types of filesdidcontain date stamps, even if the software itself didn’t list them out. I scrolled the expansive list, right-clicking each file until the back-end information expanded.
The thirty-second file I clicked was dated the week before the gala. Val’s perfect signature mocked me as he signed off on the forgery, knowing full well what it was. I cursed under my breath.
I screenshotted it for good measure and continued searching for the reportbeforeVal’s. The one that would show the day Attersee got logged into storage. And less than forty minutes later, I found my first breadcrumb.
This is it.
The date was listed over two years ago. The sloppy condition report said that Lake Attersee was being placed in storage “until future exhibition.”
The report also listed a few minor grievances: a miniscule tear on the edge of the canvas and a slight yellowing of the water lily’s petals.I inhaled sharply.
That’s my water lily.
I flopped back in my chair, eyes wide. My assumptions had been correct. Whoever stole the painting had done itafterit was placed in storage. I covertly pressed print with trembling fingers and rushed to the copy room. I pressed the warm paper against my cream silk blouse until I stuffed it into my bag under my desk.
Twisting back and forth in my chair, I chewed a pencil between scarlet lips. All of this was useless without Val’s access to the keycard logs. I didn’t know who else had access, and if I started asking around, it might tip off Kendra.
If only I could sneak into Val’s office…
But what about his password? I was no genius hacker. For the love, I could barely remember my own email password.
An inkling edged its way into my thoughts.Mycomputer didn’t automatically log me out throughout the day, so maybe Val’s didn’t either?
But I also had Brandon to contend with, whose desk had been temporarily stationed inside my ex-boyfriend’s office.
Even if I got them both out, it was pointless if Kendra and Blythe were present to witness my break-in.
