The Unlikely Murder Club: A Humorous Senior Sleuth Cozy Mystery by Gina X. Grant

Author:Gina X. Grant [Grant, Gina X.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wit & Grit Co.
Published: 2025-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-six

Agatha Shadewell, 1983

Having been born and raised in New England, where winter meant white Christmases and freezing outdoor sports, Agatha was only too pleased to make her way to Key West for the season. Odd jobs and vintage couture fashions resold through specialty shops kept the van running, food on the table, and a roof over her head.

At twenty-four, Agatha’s confidence ran high. She’d developed several useful skills in addition to refinishing furniture. Besides her ability to pick locks and fence jewelry, she could now talk her way into, and out of, almost anything.

She was trying to talk her way into a free stay at an exclusive resort when she met Robert. The first thing he taught her was that she had so much more to learn.

His passport said his name was Robert Dubois, thirty-five, from Seattle. Once she saw him naked, she was pretty sure he was closer to forty-five, but he could do things to her that Zeke never even tried, so she kept the lights off and asked no questions.

When country chic had come into style, Agatha had taught herself tole painting, adding cute designs to rustic furniture and milk cans. Seeing her potential, Robert gave her art lessons, coaxing her native talent to new heights. “Copying is easier than creating,” he’d say as encouragement. “Why limit yourself to one style when you can imitate the styles of many?”

While he claimed to be classically trained, he suggested she, “Stick with the impressionists, darling. They’re easier to fake.”

When summer hit and they made their way north, he enrolled her at the Madame Le Faux Académie des Beaux-Arts. Madame Le Faux, aka Francis Lemieux, ran her school out of a warehouse in Queens. Where else would the world’s only school for forgers be located?

As she had done with safe-cracking and lock-picking, she practiced painting until she thought her shoulders would bleed.

When she wasn’t studying, Robert took her to museums and galleries, to restaurants and plays, teaching her to appreciate not just art, but food and wine as well. She already knew jewels, high-end watches, and couture fashion. Under his tutelage, she blossomed into a sophisticated young woman.

They partied with the wealthy elite. Agatha developed a new persona as Aggie, a jet-setting It Girl. It wasn’t an act that rested well on her shoulders, though. Not only did she never feel like she belonged with these shallow socialites, she really didn’t want to.

Still, forging art pieces paid so much better than rescuing furniture from the curb. No more rising at dawn and pawing through trash. No more risk of bugs. She missed it, though— the refinishing, not the bugs. Restoring beloved antiques and vintage treasures had been her first passion and would stay with her for life.

Robert fancied himself an impresario, molding young Agatha into the woman of his dreams. He showed her off at gallery openings and black-tie events. The art world of the eighties launched new artists and styles. Robert taught her to tell neo-expressionism from abstracts.

“Only forge work in the style of artists working today,” he said.

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