Monkey Business by Lois Schmitt

Author:Lois Schmitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Published: 2017-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The next morning, I headed out to the photography exhibition where I planned to talk to Saul Mandel’s wife.

The Sea Breeze Community Art Center was located in a French Mansard Victorian house. I paid my ten-dollar entrance fee to a patrician-looking woman with an expression as frosted as her hair.

The photographs were arranged by subject: gardens, wildlife, people, and seascapes. I guessed Mrs. Mandel’s specialty would be wildlife, so I wandered toward that section, where a woman with a shape reminiscent of Reuben’s cherubs stood in front of a photo of a coyote pup. My guess was right. The nametag on the lapel of her olive green pants suit read Sylvia Mandel.

“Your photos are terrific,” I said. “I particularly like the one of the coyote pup. Where was it taken?”

“Yellowstone Park. My husband and I vacationed there last year.”

“Really? I met your husband at the Rocky Cove Zoo. He doesn’t seem the type who would ever take vacations. I guess that shows how wrong first impressions can be.”

“You’re partly right. It was a working vacation for him. He conducted wolf research. I have a photo of a wolf here.” She pointed to an eight by ten photo titled Wilderness King.

“He certainly is dedicated. He told me about his current research on elephants and that he works on it every night.”

“He certainly does. Never takes a break. Here’s my picture of a squirrel holding a nut.”

“It’s charming. Saul said you help him?”

“Saul is very gracious. He credits me with a lot more than I actually do.”

“He makes it sound like you’re there for him twenty-four/ seven.”

“I assist him with his computer, but for the last few weeks, I’ve been too busy preparing for this exhibit to spend much time with him.”

“Are you saying you didn’t work with him recently because of the photo show?”

Sylvia scratched her head. “I can’t remember exactly. If he developed a computer glitch, I’d try to help him resolve it, but for the most part I burrowed myself in my basement studio after dinner. I concentrated on my project while he worked in his office upstairs. By the way, my photos are for sale. If you buy today, ten percent goes to the art league. Perhaps you’re interested in the coyote?”

With coyote photo in hand, I left the exhibit. Saul Mandel never said his wife worked with him every minute. He had only said she helped him with the computer. He hadn’t lied, but still . . .

Sylvia Mandel’s commitment to her photography equaled Saul’s passion for his elephant research. Absorbed in her work in her basement studio, Sylvia would assume Saul was upstairs the whole evening.

Bottom line was, she wouldn’t have noticed if he’d left the house.

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