Sherlock and Me (The Case of the Starry Night) by SJ Slagle

Author:SJ Slagle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nevada, mystery detective, vincent van gogh, women detective, mystery amateur sleuths

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CHAPTER 15

“…About what?”

“About the uneasy feelings I have with this exhibition.”

“…Uneasy feelings…”

“Yes, but let me start at the beginning.”

“A good place.”

“…Well,” he looked down and smoothed a wrinkle out of his pants. “It’s been a…strange experience so far.”

“How so?” Boy, was I going to have to drag every word out of this guy?

“Warren Sandstrom really wanted me for this exhibition, even though I’m not the world’s greatest living expert on Vincent Van Gogh, the centerpiece artist.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Well, thanks. My field of expertise includes the Impressionist painters, but Van Gogh is really considered post-Impressionist.”

“Okay…”

“So you’re wondering about Sandstrom’s motives.”

“In a word, yes.” This was interesting, but hardly worth swirling on my coat and hat.

“…What else?”

“Someone took some of the slides I use for my presentations.”

“Now that’s newsworthy. Which ones?”

“It’s mainly the slides of the painting Starry Night.”

“Can you think of any reason why someone would take them?”

“No.” He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “But I know the security guards aren’t worth anything.”

“How do you know that?” Sue O’Dell had made the same sort of comment.

“I came out of my office a few times to see one of them eating a sandwich, sitting on the gallery floor.”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of that information.

“…Huh…”

“Exactly. And we had that robbery.”

“What robbery?”

“…It wasn’t very big, but you must remember it. The umbrella… The Van Gogh umbrella that you brought back to Sue. How did it wind up at your movie theater?”

“The question of the day…”

“Well, it just has me concerned. Sandstrom is supposed to be providing fabulous security for the exhibition and he hires Laurel and Hardy. They’re sloppily dressed, laugh and eat food on duty. Hardly impressive…”

“… Let me flip this. You suspect Sandstrom of hiring security staff for possibly another reason?”

“Yes. When my slides went missing, I talked to Sue who agrees with me.”

“Agrees about what?”

“I think the Van Gogh painting may be a forgery.”

I blinked rapidly a few times as I tried to catch my breath. Now this was worth getting on my coat and cap.

“And you think Sandstrom is behind this?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you just go to the cops?”

Eric moved uneasily in his chair. “He’d just lawyer up and we’d never find out for sure.”

“If it’s a forgery or not?”

“Yes. All the paintings would disappear into someone’s vault, just to resurface in a few years when the furor had quieted.”

“… Why me? Why’d Sue bring in me?”

“You’re local and unobtrusive. Sandstrom would never expect that you were snooping around, getting information.”

“He’d never suspect me.”

“No and that would buy us time to find out.”

“Why do you think it’s a forgery? Looks pretty good to me.”

“I think it’s probably a fabulous forgery -- They exist. From the painting itself, it’s hard to tell, but there are other ways. The back for instance.”

“The back of the painting?”

“Sure. Old frames are sometimes cut down and placed on fake paintings to enhance their original period looks. Sometimes nails have been pulled from the frames and replaced.”

“Wow…”

“There’s the new stretcher bars on old canvases.

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