Perished by a Painting by Fiona Grace

Author:Fiona Grace [Grace, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiona Grace
Published: 2020-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

Lacey drummed her fingers anxiously on the countertop in her store, her eyes fixed on the door.

As soon as she’d gotten back to the store from Finnbar’s home, she’d sent Gina home. She didn’t want her friend to give her a lecture about how risky a plan this was.

Just then, Lacey spotted the red Jeep Cherokee pull to a halt on the sidewalk. Out hopped the grumpy man who’d barged into her at Chumley’s, back before sweet Edwin’s life had been snuffed out.

Are you his killer? Lacey thought, shuddering.

The doorbell jangled as Gaz the Jeep man shoved it roughly open. Chester let out a low growl as the man stomped across the floorboards toward the counter.

Lacey showed Chester the palm of her hand, telling him to relax. His growling ceased, but his eyes remained alert as he followed the man’s path toward Lacey.

“Lacey?” the Jeep man said.

“That’s right,” Lacey replied, keeping her voice breezy. “You’re Gaz?”

He nodded. There wasn’t even a hint of recognition in his eyes. Either he was masking it because he was guilty, or their brief encounter back at Chumley’s had left no impression on him and he was innocent.

Still, Lacey noted the strange energy he had about him. It was a sort of shiftiness, like he was expecting someone to pounce on him from behind at any second. His movements were jerky. Hasty.

As he pulled the gold engagement ring out of his pocket, a bunch of lint came with it and sprayed over the countertop. He flung the ring down like it had absolutely no personal significance to him at all.

“You reckon this is worth something, huh?” he said in a gruff voice, making an unpleasant scritching noise as he ran a hand over the dark stubble on his chin.

Lacey took the ring, turning it in her fingers. It was a solid yellow gold band. She inspected it closely, partly to give off the pretense of examining it, but mostly to avoid meeting Gaz’s eye. His shiftiness was putting her on edge. It didn’t help that Chester looked like he was ready to bring him down at even a moment’s provocation.

“I need to inspect it for defects,” Lacey said. “It might be from a line that was discontinued due to a fault. They’re starting to fetch a decent amount at auctions now. It’s one of those silly things where the imperfect ones become more sought after. Like that Harry Potter novel with a misprint.”

Gaz frowned. Harry Potter wasn’t the way to go with him, Lacey noted.

“If I can make some dosh off it then my relationship won’t have been a total bust,” he murmured.

So far, he’d shown no interest in anything beyond getting as much money from the ring as possible.

Lacey reached for her loupe and inspected the ring through it. It was actually a pretty nice vintage ring, with a genuine hallmark and an inscription that confirmed its twenty-four-karat purity.

“Where did you buy this?” she asked, genuinely curious as to why such a rough-looking

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