No Place Like Rome (A Lexi Carmichael Mystery) by Moffett Julie

Author:Moffett, Julie [Moffett, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2013-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Coffee. I smelled coffee. I rolled over, opened my eyes and took a moment to get oriented. Where the heck was I?

Oh, yes. Italy. In a hotel in Sperlonga. We were working on an encrypted file...correction, we’d cracked an encrypted file only to find a photo of an old painting. Jeez. I almost got shot by a poison umbrella gun for that?

I sat up and saw the bed was empty. I had no idea where Basia was and how long I’d slept. I jumped out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I ran my fingers through my hair. Barefoot, I wandered out to into the common room. Basia and Slash sat in front of the computers. Well, Basia sat sideways in the chair watching Slash, sipping coffee and looking as gorgeous and rested as if she’d just been to a spa. It wasn’t fair. She was supposed to be jet-lagged or at least have some circles under her eyes.

Xavier, Elvis and Tito were nowhere to be found, presumably still asleep. Slash smiled at me when I came in and patted the chair next to him.

“Good morning, cara.”

“Is it morning?”

Basia laughed. “Actually it’s about five in the afternoon. You guys went to bed at eight in the morning.”

I smiled. “Hacker hours.”

Slash smiled back as Basia handed me a cup of coffee. “Are you hungry, Lexi?”

“I’m perpetually hungry in Italy.”

“I’m not surprised. The food is terrific. I’m getting ready to go out and get something for us to munch on until dinner.”

“Sure, whatever.”

She grabbed her coat and headed out. I dared a sip of coffee and realized Basia had watered it down for me. Thank God for best friends.

I studied Slash’s face. He’d showered, shaved and smelled really good. Again. “So, did you get any sleep?”

“Some. I’ve been up for a bit studying the painting.”

“Any stunning revelations?”

“No hits in any of the main art databases. I think we can safely assume this is not a well-known painting. However, I may have narrowed the list of potential artists. It’s likely a protégé of Leonardo da Vinci.”

“But not Leonardo himself?”

“I don’t think so. Da Vinci’s paintings are all very distinct because he used a technique called velature. He didn’t mix colors on the palette like most artists of his time. Instead he painted by applying layers of paint on top of each other to create a special kind of texture and depth of color.”

I learned something new every day when I hung around geek guys. “Cool. His protégés didn’t do this?”

“Apparently it was a difficult technique to do well. All his protégés used it to one extent or another...but very sparingly.”

“I take that to mean this painting shows evidence of velature, just not an expertise using the technique.”

“Si.”

I sipped my coffee and thought it over. “Okay. I’m still not sure how that ties into anything.”

“We’ll figure it out.” He tapped on the screen. “Whatever we need to know is right here somewhere. This is a pure digital copy of the real painting, taken with a special camera.

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