Hot House by Lisa Towles

Author:Lisa Towles [Towles, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, murder mystery, private eye, mystery series, crime mystery, crime thriller, mystery crime, mystery ficton, detective team, sleuth mystery
Publisher: Indies United Publishing House, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

We spent the rest of breakfast and the drive to San Diego chomping on the details I got from Hannah last night. The drive south to San Clemente always seemed underwhelming to me compared with the open ocean vistas of I-5 the rest of the way. Derek offered to drive so I could admire the view, which I found so thoughtful given the position of my steering wheel. I’ll never tire of the endless horizon and the beautiful monotony of blue-on-blue. It’s my respite, my comfort, and my salvation from the uncertainties of life. Whatever the curve ball, I always had that vista to return to.

“So Sophie,” he said, “probably when she was still pretty young, started keeping a log of who she met, their role and title, their sphere of influence, and collected data points about them.”

“Not exactly a typical teenager.”

“And these data points were being used, no, collected as a sort of currency that she maybe intended to use sometime in the future?”

“Currency. Good word for it,” I said.

“And her brother, you said he was some kind of art dealer?”

“That’s what pinged something in the center of my chest, reminding me of Martel. Well,” I reconsidered, “Martel’s an art dealer, yeah, covering up his career as an art smuggler, which covers up his reputation as an embezzler, an assassin, and his life as a spy. So he’s smuggling secrets for different countries but disguised as a reputable art broker.”

“Very sixties,” he said. “And you think Jonathan Michaud’s got the same kinda scam going?”

“Maybe, but to me it’s all about Sophie. I think her brother may have been connecting billionaire art investors with stolen art, skimming off the top to make it economical for him, and I think Sophie was on to him.”

“Sort of brings a whole new wrinkle into this case, doesn’t it?”

“That’s right. Suddenly Sophie’s no longer a naïve art student and, instead, a very enterprising young businesswoman—”

“…who’s holding a full deck, you know, with her people-of-power logbook. Is it possible that’s what she was selling to Judge McClaren, and it wasn’t a piece of art?”

“I really need to talk to the judge. That would clear up a lot of these questions. But if you’re right about her trying to sell that register to him, maybe that’s what my burglars were looking for in my house,” I realized. “Does Roger McGuin think I have Sophie’s register?”

“Seems like you played it pretty well with him, so maybe not. Anyway, Hannah didn’t tell you where it was, right?”

I let an eerie smile creep across my mouth.

“You know where it is,” Derek surmised. “Where?”

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