Purloined Painting (A Dark And Stormy Night Mystery Book 2) by Sara Bourgeois

Author:Sara Bourgeois [Bourgeois, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

After dinner, a delicious spread of salmon fillet, roasted mini potatoes and lightly steamed vegetables, she approached Barry at his table. “I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time,” she asked him.

He studied her for a moment and then nodded.

“Would you come to the beach with me?” She grabbed her zip hoodie from the hook at the door.

He said, “I’ll get my jacket if we’re going outside. Just a moment.” She waited while he went upstairs. Then she led the way out.

She sat down on the beach and indicated that he was to do the same. He was staring at her. “Please, just sit. I want to show you something, but we may have to wait a minute. I’m not trying to seduce you or anything. Please.”

He sat down and kept looking at her. She looked beyond him to the corner of the house. He looked there too after a moment. She was relieved to see a small gray shape appear. The kitten came and sat near them on the beach.

“Mr. Barry, I would like to introduce you to Kitty Jr. I wanted to ask if you ever paint portraits, especially of animals.”

He watched the kitten as Kitty stared at him. He was silent for a moment. “I have never done any animals. All that fur.”

Jan laughed. “That’s exactly what my art teacher said when I said I wanted to draw cats.”

“You’re taking art classes?”

“Yes, it started as a dare but now I enjoy it. I don’t think I could ever do justice to Kitty. But I think you can. I don’t want a cute kitten picture. That’s not who he is. Look at him. So self-contained and yet so small. Like he is innocent and omniscient at the same time.”

Barry looked at her. “Why do you think I could capture him?”

“Because your painting is like that to me. It’s dark but not oppressive. Somehow pure but mysterious. And that’s Kitty.”

“You asked earlier if that’s how I see the world. Why did you ask?”

“I wanted to know.”

“Why?”

Jan hadn’t planned for the conversation to go this way. She had hoped to understand the man better but instead he was asked her to understand herself. And she couldn’t answer that. Not yet. “I’m trying to figure out what lies behind the roles that we take on, the masks that we wear. Recently I was betrayed. Not by a person but by the role that I thought he played. Turned out I was wrong. Then I realized that he probably felt the same way. We all play roles but it is the core that matters. And I think that is what artists, at least some artists, tap into.”

He looked out at the darkening waves. “So, you want to know my soul? That’s invasive.”

“No, no,” she said quickly. “I want to understand my own. And I want someone to capture Kitty’s. So, I can take him with me when I leave.”

“Isn’t this your home?”

“No, Lois owns The Elusive Cat. I’m just visiting and helping out.

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