Murder in Pastel by Josh Lanyon

Author:Josh Lanyon [Lanyon, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-937909-64-2
Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2014-08-28T07:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

I offered to fix Adam dinner, to which he unwisely agreed. I was busily defrosting something that was either meatloaf or fruitcake from Christmases past when the phone rang.

The minute I picked up, Micky demanded, “Has Vince called you yet?”

“About what?”

“About the Virgin. He claims you stole it.”

I said on a disbelieving laugh, “You’re kidding.”

“I’m not kidding. He thinks Adam is covering for you.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. What does Adam have to do with it? I didn’t even know the painting was missing.” I covered the mouthpiece and said to Adam, “Did Vince tell you he thinks I stole Virgin in Pastel?”

“Vince is a goddamned idiot,” Adam said. “I meant to tell you earlier.”

That Vince was an idiot or that I was suspected of heisting a million dollar painting?

“Micky,” I said, “Adam was about to fill me in. Can I call you back?”

“Kyle, it’s not a joke. Vince called the sheriff and accused you of stealing the blasted thing.”

“Swell. I’ll call you back.”

I hung up and Adam said, “Honest to God, it slipped my mind.”

That was kind of a big slip, but I guess the murder of one’s lover was an equally big excuse.

“What happened? How come this is the first I’ve heard of the Virgin going missing again?”

“The night of the party,” Adam said, “Vince walked out and forgot the painting. The next morning he came over to get it and Brett apparently told him that I had put it away for safe keeping. Only Brett never mentioned it to me, so I never had a chance to tell Vince I have no idea where his painting went. It wasn’t there in the morning.”

“It wasn’t there when Joel and I cleared up,” I said.

“That’s what Joel says too. But Vince insists it was.”

“And he thinks I took it while Joel was fetching the doctor and you were busy with Brett?”

“Yes.”

I sat down at the kitchen table. “Terrific.”

“Don’t worry,” Adam said. “If push comes to shove, Micky, Joel and I will all swear the painting was gone before you were left alone with it.”

“Why doesn’t this reassure me?”

“I don’t know. I mean it to.”

Not that I didn’t appreciate my surrogate family’s willingness to commit perjury for me. I laughed uncertainly. “But Adam, is the Virgin gone again? Was it gone before the party ended?”

“No one remembers,” Adam said. “Everyone was distracted by the argument between Jenny and Vince, and then over Brett getting sick.”

I tried to read his face. “What else? There’s something else bugging you.”

“I’m not sure that Brett didn’t hide the thing for a—a joke.”

“That’s an expensive joke.”

“I know, but it’s the kind of thing that might amuse him. He liked yanking people’s chains. Vince is an easy mark.”

“But if Brett hid the painting, where would it be? He didn’t fake getting sick that night.”

“I know. I don’t really think he stole the Virgin. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe anyone else there that night did.”

I raked my fingers through my hair.

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