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.That’s happened before, right? Somebody got fooled by a forgery.”Payton understood Mamie’s emotional turmoil.Sean had a way about him that inspired confidence.Whatever “it” was hadn’t worked on Payton, and he’d known it right from the moment they met.She held the kitten in the air and gazed into its big blue eyes.“What do you think about the name Maggie? Do you think that’ll suit you?” The kitten continued purring.“I’m not sure if that’s an ‘I hate it’ or a ‘that’s all right with me’ purr, are you?” Payton asked Mamie, trying to ease the tension.“By the way, would you mind watching Maggie a couple of days? I’ve got to go out of town.”“Be happy to keep an eye on her.”In her office, Payton looked up the number for Southwest Airlines and made reservations for a flight to Amarillo Regional Airport the next morning.Then she called Amanda and made an appointment to see her at three-thirty, which left Payton a half hour to kill before walking back downtown.She went upstairs and chose the clothes for her date: a white tank dress with a handkerchief hem.She set out antique jewelry trying not to think about Cameron’s grandmother, who’d given the turquoise necklace and earrings to her on her first “anniversary” in the family.High-heeled sandals and a lacy teal shawl completed the ensemble.Satisfied, Payton went downstairs, draping the shawl across the newel post at the bottom.She wondered where he’d take her.Of course, since she’d called him, he might expect her to have selected the site.In that case, Payton chose a small restaurant in Watertown, one she and Helen had eaten at a couple of times.****Payton and Amanda walked out of the marina parking lot and along the narrow beach fronting the tall stone wall.Both had removed their shoes and left them on the wall.Waves lapped on Payton’s bare feet.The water was cool but not uncomfortable.“I wanted to talk about your painting of the commodore,” Payton said.Amanda’s manner turned wary.“What about it?”“About it being a fake.”Her expression registered who told you? but her words said, “That’s old news.”“Was Edward really angry?”Amanda sniffed.“That’s not even the word to describe his reaction.He stormed out of the apartment.I saw him go down the dock.I figured he was getting things ready for the race and went back to my housework.I found out the next morning that he’d given Sean two black eyes.”Payton remembered those eyes, bursting up out of the surf.“What happened after that?”“Payton!” Amanda’s words came like a blast of dynamite.“You aren’t thinking my husband killed Sean!”“Someone killed him, Amanda.And I think the reason you’re so volatile lately is because you think so too.”Payton crossed her arms and tried to look at the water as something other than an enemy.Lake Ontario had tried to swallow her.“Where was Edward the night before the race?”“Just where I told the police he was, down at the marina working on our boat.He came upstairs about nine o’clock.”Where he could very well have been painting monkshood on the ropes of Sean’s yacht.“Do they know about his fight with Sean?”“He told them the whole story.”Then why hadn’t authorities confiscated either of the paintings?Who painted the forgery? She almost laughed thinking of the fiasco of a painting class the other night.Surely it couldn’t be any of them!Payton thanked Amanda and put her shoes on.“I think I’ll stay here a while,” Amanda said.Chapter 39Officer Vaughn Spencer’s pickup stopped in front of Payton’s house at exactly three minutes to seven.He got out and sprinted up the front walk.She’d never seen him in street clothes before—khaki slacks with a pastel striped shirt.He was younger than she, maybe ten years, and two inches shorter.His head was freshly shaved and gleamed like the proverbial bowling ball.Payton didn’t like bald men, particularly self-imposed baldness.Those were probably the same men who, when nature caught up with them for real, would rush off to the store for a case of Rogaine.Vaughn stabbed a bouquet of carnations at her.“I didn’t know what kind you liked.I mean…I didn’t know your favorite.”“These are beautiful.Make yourself at home while I get a vase.”She opened the plate cabinet, moved aside the knickknacks waiting for Mamie’s exhibit to be over so they could regain their proper place on the shelves, and took out a hand painted Columbian vase.It was made of clay and fired to a hard glossy surface.Someone had painted a desert scene in bold simple strokes [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]