Disarming Caine: An Action-Packed Romantic Suspense Mystery (Caine & Ferraro Book 3) by Janet Oppedisano

Author:Janet Oppedisano [Oppedisano, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Antonio

That night, we sat at a long dining room table. Samantha and I faced Lucy and Miller, Kevin at one end, and Cassandra at the other. Next to Cassandra, both of her children, the adorable little Emma, and the young man, Logan.

Lucy had stood from her seat, wandering to where they had already hung my painting in the room. “Sixteenth century Baroque?”

I squeezed Samantha’s hand on her lap. The day she and Lucy had arrived to pick up my first repair of Number Vee, she identified a painting of that date and style. It had been such a turn-on, I’d thought of little other than how much I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and discuss art for hours on end.

Samantha laughed, and Lucy grinned at her. “Not even close, Luce! How do you remember that?”

Lucy tapped her forehead and sat in her chair at the dining room table. “It’s got a number in it.”

Miller sat sideways in his seat, inspecting it as well. “You seriously painted that, Ferraro?”

Samantha rubbed my ankle with her foot, which had been snaked around my leg all dinner. “He’s quite talented.”

He grunted in ascent, saying no more. I’d put on my best face the whole evening, focusing on each member of Samantha’s family as needed. I won her three-year-old niece over by drawing coloring pages for her; with her ten-year-old nephew, it was showing him how to juggle a football outside in the cold; and Kevin called me his best friend when he accepted the bottle of Macallan I gave him.

Cassandra and Nathan Miller would require the long game, much like Samantha had.

“Speaking of paintings!” Lucy pointed her dessert fork at Samantha. “I searched around for other photos on that real estate listing.”

Samantha made a quick cutting motion at her neck. Everyone’s attention turned to her.

“There are a ton of paintings in that house, but I found—”

“Real estate listing?” asked Cassandra. “Giving up on the apartment hunt?”

Samantha shook her head sharply. “It’s nothing. A friend of mine was looking to buy it and wanted my opinion.”

Lucy continued. “—three other photos that had been taken down.”

“Which friend?” asked Cassandra. “Someone from work?”

“Rhonda Wells,” said Lucy. “The owner of Mason’s Gallery.”

Samantha’s eyes narrowed at Lucy, who was not picking up a hint to be quiet.

Perhaps Lucy had enjoyed one or two glasses of wine too many. “Rhonda was checking out the house and saw a painting she thought was stolen. We were just looking. That’s all.”

Cassandra dropped her utensils on her plate. “Isn’t that dangerous stuff to get involved in?”

“Nah, it’s digital snooping only.” Lucy’s eyes lit up. “A few of them are really dark, so I’m going to sharpen them up before I send them.”

“Could this be enough to pass over to Special Agent Skinner?” I asked.

Cassandra sucked in a breath. “Special Agent? Are you—”

“You know Elliot?” asked Miller.

While Samantha calmed her sister, who thought this meant Samantha was headed back to the FBI, I responded to Miller. “Sì, I met him in Napoli in September.

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