Closer Than Blood by Greg Olsen

Author:Greg Olsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780332895
Publisher: Constable & Robinson

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Seattle

Penny Salazar and Adam Canfield had been assigned the task of managing the incoming items for the Class of ’95’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame Auction. Adam knew that meant Penny would stake her claim as the “chairperson” of the event and “solely responsible” for making it a success.

He was fine with that.

It’s a bunch of crap anyway, he thought, as he surveyed the contents assembled in the hospitality manager’s office at the Gold Mountain Golf Club, the staging area for auction items.

“Awesome,” Penny said, pointing to a lacquered black box with a trio of white herons painted on its gleaming surface. “This is going to bring in beaucoup bucks.”

Adam pretended to agree, but he said softly, “If you have bad taste and twenty bucks, maybe.”

“Huh?”

“Love it, Penny,” he said. “Love it.”

She looked at him, not sure if he actually did love it. Adam was so hard for Penny to read.

Adam knelt down to inspect the single item that caught his interest. It was a Victorian dollhouse that looked handcrafted in the way that suggested it could be pawned off as a piece of folk art. Folk art, the kitschier the better, appealed to Adam.

“I might bid on this myself,” he said.

“I didn’t know you still played with dolls.”

He refused to take the bait. “You’d be surprised, honey.”

Penny shrugged and looked over a set of carnival-glass cat figurines that she thought she might bid on.

Adam bent down and lifted the house. “Wonder if there is a label here or if this thing is completely handmade.”

When he scanned under the front porch he noticed the writing. It was written in red-brown.

“I know who killed Jason Reed.”

“Jesus, Penny, check this out.” He scratched it with the edge of a dime. “It isn’t a red crayon. Something else.”

Penny set down the glass cat and went over.

“That’s freaky,” she said, bending close to take a better look.

Adam’s eyes met hers. “I agree. But it’s more than that.”

Penny stood. “Just some kid saying something stupid. Mad at someone.”

He shook his head and reached for his phone.

“I’m calling Kendall,” he said. “She needs to see this.”

Penny put her hand out and gently pushed the phone away from Adam’s ear. “Wait a minute,” Penny said. “We need the money for the auction. I overspent. We can’t have the cops involved here. They might confiscate this or something.”

Adam ignored Penny and dialed Kendall. Of course she overspent. She ran the committee like she ran her life. Right into the ground.

Fifteen Minutes of Lame, indeed.

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