Death of an Artist by Kate Wilhelm

Author:Kate Wilhelm
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

13

BY FRIDAY THAT week Tony knew a lot more about Dale Oliver than the superficial information his first searches had provided. He knew that periodically Dale faced the serious consequences of lapsing in credit card payments, the lease payments on the BMW he drove, and even his rent. He had been an adept credit card juggler apparently, signing up for new ones with lower interest rates as often as possible, but that was no longer a possibility for him. His credit rating had dropped too low. Twice it appeared that an influx of new cash had arrived just in time to avert what no doubt would have been catastrophic to anyone living on image.

Tony had tracked down Dale’s sister, whose film career had consisted of several commercials. He found two of the commercials on the Internet and knew why a film career had never been in her future. Beautiful, with a good voice, but a wooden body. She couldn’t act. Married young to a producer, divorced, married again to a history professor at UCLA, three children. Nothing, he decided, and gave up any further poking into her past.

But something about Dale had to be real beyond his debts. A lot of people lived on plastic, not a crime in modern society, rather it might even be considered the norm.

Where had he gotten cash on at least two occasions? Gambling? Lottery? Selling possessions? “Put on a mask and held up a bank,” Tony muttered, and it was as plausible as anything else he had come up with. With a real ongoing investigation, he brooded, all the possibilities would be checked out. Pawnshops, gambling tipsters … Had Dale bought pricey cuff links that he had since sold? Gifts to Stef? Sold. The Rolex sold, replaced by a fake? On impulse he called Freddi Wordling in her Portland gallery.

“Tony Mauricio,” he said when she answered his ring. “Are you free to talk a minute?”

“Why don’t you give me your number and I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

He gave her the number, leaned back in the uncomfortable chair to wait. Leaning back didn’t help, and he rose and walked to the sink, back, out to the balcony, back. When she called in five minutes, he took the call on the balcony, where he could see houses and trees.

“Just a couple of quick questions,” he said as if assuming his right to ask, and her duty to answer. “I don’t want specifics, just a general idea. Have the gallery profits increased since Dale joined?”

She laughed. “That’s an easy one. No. In fact they’re down, but so is the rest of the economy.”

“Did your former partner have an audit when he put his share up for sale?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Have you had an audit since then?”

This time her response was delayed. At last she said, “No. Why do you ask?”

“Was auditing part of a routine in the past, annual audits, something of that sort?”

Again she was slow to respond. “Tony, I asked why you’re asking about audits.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.