Another Day, Another Dali by Sandra Orchard

Author:Sandra Orchard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Women detectives—Fiction;Art thefts—Investigation—Fiction;United States Federal Bureau of Investigation—Fiction;Government investigators—Fiction;Mystery fiction;Christian fiction;FIC042060;FIC022000
ISBN: 9781493405220
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2016-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

15

By the time I got back to headquarters, Tanner was out on one of the SWAT team’s weekly training exercises. In the rush to catch up with Detective Richards, I’d forgotten to ask Tanner what he’d learned about Saturday’s shooter. That would have to wait now.

I called Zoe at her job as head of security of the Forest Park Art Museum. “Hey, I need a favor.”

“Does this favor involve me being a bullet shield against drive-by shooters?”

“Ha. No.”

“Good, because as grateful as Jax is to you for setting us up, he doesn’t want me within a hundred yards of you until he’s convinced Saturday’s shooter wasn’t aiming at you.”

Hmm. He’d probably been jogging on the spot outside my apartment building this morning at my usual run time, itching to read me the riot act. I shuddered. Made fending off a vengeful, viper-like zucchini seem not so bad.

“Hey, I’m good with ordering from dial-a-dress-dot-com.”

“In your dreams. What do you need?”

“Could you convince your chief art restorer to let me borrow the museum’s electronic paint tester?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. I’d say we owe you.”

I winced at the reminder of the investigation that resulted in Petra’s death.

“Will you bring the painting here?”

“I’d prefer to borrow the tester. I have several paintings I need to test. Some are in evidence, and I’d rather not have to transport them.”

“Fair enough. When do you want it?”

“I can be there in twenty minutes.”

“Oh. As in, you want it now. Hold on a second.” Zoe put me on hold.

While I was waiting, I jotted down a list of the paintings I wanted to test: Tyrone’s that Aunt Martha bought, the forged Dali left at Gladys’s, the supposedly forged Degas, the forged Renoir recovered from the drug bust, the forged Margaret Keane in evidence at St. Louis PD, and if possible, some of Truman Capone’s pieces.

The line clicked back on. “No problem,” Zoe said. “I’ll have it in my office waiting for you.”

“You sure you want to risk Jax’s wrath by letting me get so close?”

“He might as well get used to my defiant streak now.”

I laughed. Somehow I couldn’t picture her facing Jax down on too many issues. Then again, she’d gone against the museum board’s wishes last February and reported the thefts I wound up investigating.

I picked up the tester—without getting Zoe shot—then drove to my parents’ house to test Tyrone’s painting first.

I let myself in the door and did a double take at the sight of my mom in the middle of the living room floor, playing with my old Fisher-Price dollhouse. “Mom?” I eased the door shut so as not to startle her.

“Oh, Serena, look what I found when I was cleaning out the basement. You used to play with this for hours. I’m washing it up for my future grandchildren.”

“Is there something I should know about Shawn?” Shawn was my brother who gallivanted around the world, planning and leading tour groups. A job that neatly left him free to enjoy a girl in every

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