Palatino for the Painter by Jessa Archer

Author:Jessa Archer [Archer, Jessa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Archer Mysteries
Published: 2019-05-20T22:00:00+00:00

✰ Chapter Twelve ✰

“Do you think he’s still in town?” Cassie asked as we turned onto Poplar Avenue. “You said before that he seemed like he was in a hurry to get back to California.”

At the estate sale, Kenneth McBride had seemed in a hurry to get everything wrapped up. I was fairly certain that he’d spent at least most of his childhood in Thistlewood, since Lucy McBride had been teaching when Ed was in school, and he’d graduated almost ten years before I had. Kenneth might even have been born in Woodward County, since Ms. McBride had some family in the area. So he’d probably have been considered from-here by the town natives back then. But thinking back to his expression as he’d stood in the living room, selling his mother’s belongings, I realized that you could lose that designation over time. Yesterday, he had seemed very much like an outsider.

“I suspect that he is ready to get back home. But when Wren went back to pick up the books she’d bought, he told her that he’d timed things so that he could handle the estate sale and the closing on the house in the same trip.”

And sure enough, a generic-looking car that was almost certainly a rental was parked in the driveway. We got out of the Jeep and rang the bell. Music was playing inside, something classical and dramatic. Beethoven, maybe. I rang again, and the music cut off. Kenneth opened the door and looked from me to Cassie.

“Good afternoon,” he said, looking a little puzzled.

I fought the urge to check my watch. Was it afternoon already?

“You’re the girl who bought those paintings,” he said to Cassie.

I extended my hand. “I’m Ruth Townsend. We actually went to school together, although I was a few years ahead of you. I spoke to you briefly after your mother’s service.”

He nodded. “I thought you looked familiar. I saw a lot of people that day. Yesterday, too. You were friends with Bud and Tanya across the street, right?”

I said yes, even though it was probably stretching things to say that Bud and I were friends.

“If you’re wanting to return the paintings,” he said, “I’ll give you your money back and you can just donate them to Goodwill. I’m trying to clear everything out, not bring things back in. How much did you pay?”

I shook my head. “No. It’s nothing like that.”

Cassie grinned at him. “And you shouldn’t be offering me money back. You gave them to me.”

He laughed softly, and I realized it was the first time I’d seen him smile. “Thanks for being honest. Everything has been a blur the past few days, and I’m still on California time. My brain doesn’t kick in until around one. Is there something I can help you with?”

“I hope so,” I told him. “I had a couple of questions about the paintings.”

He moved out of the doorway. “Come on in. I’m not sure that I can be much help, though. I don’t even remember what they looked like.

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