Chapter 65

“Susan?”

Julie knocked again on the windowed kitchen door. She could see Susan standing by an oak table which held a small painting on an easel. She seemed to be staring into space.

“Susan?” she said, a little louder.

Susan turned and saw her. She was surprised, as Julie had assumed she would be, but she smiled and opened the door.

“Well, hello!” she said. “Come on in.”

“I hope I’m not interrupting your work, Susan,” Julie said, apologetically. “I just felt like getting out of the house after all that rain, so I went out for a drive. Marc told me so much about this old house and the way you restored it. By the way, it’s beautiful! Anyway, I was driving by to see it, and I thought I might as well drop in and say hello. But, if you’re busy… that’s okay…I can let you get back to your work.”

“No, no. That’s fine…I’m glad you stopped by. I was just getting ready to frame one of the paintings I picked up the other night. I’m trying to decide on a frame. What do you think? Gold? Black? Wood? I’m thinking gold.”

“Oh, I love this painting,” said Julie, looking at the canvas on the table. “Definitely gold.”

Susan held the little painting up. “There’s so much gold in the sunset here…it has to be a little darker than the deepest gold tone. Antiqued, I think.”

“Yes. I think that would be perfect.”

“So,” said Susan, returning the painting to the easel, “would you like some coffee, or tea?”

“I’d love some tea. I’ve had so much coffee lately.”

Susan filled the teakettle with water and turned the gas on under it. “Do you mind if I finish framing that while we visit, Julie? It’s the last one I have to do, and I’d like to get it out of the kitchen.”

“Please…go right ahead.”

“Okay. This is a small size canvas,” said Susan. “I’ve got a frame in the den that I think will work, if I have all the pieces. I’ll be right back. The tea and the cups are in the cabinet next to the sink, if you want to get them.”

“Sure.”

Julie went to the cabinet and took out two cups and a box of Earl Grey tea.

Only one teabag...

She opened two cabinet doors, looking for another box of tea.

Dishes, glasses...

She opened a door...a pantry.

There it is, past the coffee...

There was a tall narrow crate in the middle. She slid it to the side.

AVRAM SOLOMON

Julie sucked in her breath. The top of the box wasn’t sealed up. It was filled with loose Styrofoam. She quickly brushed some aside exposing the top of a canvas. There were three letters on top: SFN

Suddenly she realized she was reading the letters on the canvas frame backwards. It was NFS…Not For Sale. And there were two. Marc’s Castle Cay paintings that he said he’d never sell.

•

Julie’s eyes drifted upward to a large Waterford decanter that sat on the shelf behind the crate. With a sickening feeling, she recalled what David had said about the dinner party the night of Marc’s death:

“I usually get up during the night, but we finished off a whole decanter of wine and I slept right through…”

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