Fatal Family Ties by S. C. Perkins

Author:S. C. Perkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

TWENTY-FOUR

It was my phone dinging with a text that made me look away from Ben—just before my father noticed, luckily. I may be an adult, but practically salivating over my boyfriend was not something my father likely wanted to see, or something I wanted him to see, thank you very much.

“Is it from Cisco?” Ben asked, jutting his chin in the direction of my phone.

I nodded. “He said the painting is ready for pickup. We can come by any time after ten a.m., except for between noon and one p.m.”

Dad, who had been tightening a bolt on the planter, asked, “Did he say what was under the painting?”

“No, darn it,” I replied.

Mom looked at Ben and me like we were nuts and flung up her hands. “Why are you two just standing there? It’s already after nine and it takes almost half an hour to get to the museum district with our Houston traffic. Go, get dressed and see what he found!”

A little while later, we were at Ben’s car, both of us having taken quick showers and dressed in jeans. I’d just thrown another blanket borrowed from my mother in the back seat for extra protection for Camilla’s painting when I realized Ben was standing at the driver’s-side door, looking down and frowning. He ran his finger along the edge of the window, his blue eyes irritated.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as he finally opened the door and slid in.

“It looks as if someone tried to break into my car last night,” he growled. He looked up at the motion-activated floodlights my father had installed near their front porch, where Ben had parked his Explorer. “I guess the lights came on and scared them away.”

I put my hand on his arm just as he jabbed the button to start the car. “You mean it wasn’t there before? The damage to your weather stripping?”

His head turned my way. “You saw it? When?”

“Yesterday, at the cookie place. You took a work call and I went to look at Camilla’s painting. I noticed it then, but I guessed it had happened at some other point because you didn’t mention it when we got in the car.” I grimaced. “I’m sorry, Ben. I figured you already knew, and I guess I forgot all about it with the excitement of meeting Cisco and finally getting to know what’s underneath the painting.”

“You noticed it yesterday afternoon?” Ben asked. “Are you sure? And did you see anything suspicious at the time?”

I said I was sure and told him about the black Suburban and gray BMW trying to leave the lot at the same time. “I didn’t see anyone standing outside your car or anything that indicated they’d been doing anything underhanded, though.”

“Any chance you caught any license plates?”

I shook my head. Now I was feeling irritated on Ben’s behalf. “You know, I kind of wondered if Camilla’s ex, Gareth Fishwick, might have done it. He seemed angry enough at being walked out of Camilla’s house like a criminal.

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