The Case of the Stolen Art Work

by Karen Stillwagon

  “I could use some food. Hope you still have some of that pasta left.” Lorelei said as she put Bindi down on the couch and turned to hug Dee again. She whispered something in her ear.

  “Well, isn’t this a sweet, yet short reunion,” the woman said as she came out of the room, with the gun wavering between Dee and Lorelei.

  Dee grabbed Lorelei and pushed her behind her, putting herself between Lorelei and the mad woman.

  “I got more than one bullet, don’t think I won’t shoot you first to get to her,” the woman started walking toward them.

  “If there’s going to be any shooting, I will be the one doing it,” Michael’s voice came from behind the woman. She whirled around and Michael knocked the gun from her hand as Amy rushed the woman and knocked her to the floor.

  “Let me go!” the woman screamed as she kicked and bucked, trying to dislodge Amy from her back. Amy grabbed the woman’s left wrist and pulled it back, securing it with handcuffs. She pulled until the woman’s hand was between her shoulder blades. Amy then grabbed the right wrist and put the cuffs around the woman’s other wrist. Amy stood and Michael helped her lift the large woman to her feet and turned her around. The woman was trying to pull away so Michael tightened his grip on the woman’s shoulder.

  “Cheri Hastings, you are under arrest,” Amy said.

  “I want a lawyer!” Cheri yelled in her face, “I want my phone call! You’re gonna pay for this!”

  “Screaming for a lawyer, just like your husband, get her out of here,” Amy said to Michael as he led Cheri Hastings to the stairs.

  Dee ran to the side room and swung open the door calling, “Lily, here girl!” as Lily ran out and jumped on Dee, almost knocking her over. As she hugged Lily, she asked Amy, “How did you know she was here?”

  “We already had an APB for her car after Lorelei said there was a woman involved. She’s married to the pawn shop owner. She’d already left so we were looking for her car. Didn’t think she’d come here, though.”

  “She threatened to shoot Lily if I said anything to you when you got here.” Dee’s knees gave out as she collapsed to the floor next to the golden retriever, who put her head in Dee’s lap.

  “I’m sorry,” Amy said.

  “She wanted to make sure I wouldn’t testify against the man I saw in Jim and Fran’s house. And she wanted to make sure Lorelei would keep quiet, too.” Dee looked down as she rubbed Lily’s ears. “I think she was going to kill us,” she continued, without looking up.

  “You’re safe now,” Amy said, “both of you. Now get something to eat and something strong to drink, if you got it, and we will come by tomorrow.”

  “Do you know what time?” Lorelei asked.

  “Not early,” Amy said, “we still have work to do tonight and I, for one, plan on sleeping in.” She stuck out her hand to Lorelei, but instead of shaking it, Lorelei hugged Amy Holloway.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” Lorelei said, choking back tears.

  Amy gently hugged her back before pulling away. “I want to say we were just doing our jobs, but I am sure Michael will tell you something different. He was hell bent on finding you,” she said.

  “Can you thank him for me?” Lorelei asked.

  “You can tell him yourself tomorrow. I’m sure you will be hearing from him soon.”

  Just then, Lorelei’s phone went off. She dug in her purse and pulled it out. There was a message from Michael.

  Don’t scare me like that again.

  Lorelei smiled as she read it. She texted back.

  I’ll try not to, but won’t make any promises :)

  “I think he’s ready to go,” Lorelei said.

  “We’ll be talking to you tomorrow,” Amy said before turning to leave. Lorelei followed her down the stairs, thanked her again, then made sure the door was locked and the deadbolt set before heading back upstairs.

  Dee was in the kitchen heating up the pasta. Lorelei noticed two small tumblers half-full with a golden liquid.

  “I figured you could use that,” Dee said as Lorelei picked up the tumbler closest to her. She grabbed the other and handed it to Dee, who was stirring the pan on the stove.

  “I may need two, or even three,” Lorelei said as she took a small drink.

  “You and me, both.” Dee tried to laugh but it came out as a sob. She could no longer hold back her tears.

  Lorelei went to her, took the spoon out of her hand and set it on the counter before turning Dee to face her.

  “I’m okay, I’m home safe,” she said as she put her arms around Dee. Dee hugged Lorelei tightly for a moment then pulled back.

  “Look at me, you’d think someone just told me my dog died…” Another sob escaped Dee.

  “Lily is fine, Bindi is fine, and you are I are both here, and safe.”

  “I know,” Dee said. Lorelei handed her a paper towel to wipe her eyes. Dee took it, wiped her face, then downed her glass of whiskey. She handed the empty glass to Lorelei, who had upended her own glass. “Fill them both back up, won’t you?”

  Lorelei refilled both glassed and took them, along with the bottle, to the table. She came back and got bowls and silverware. Dee followed her to the table with the pasta.

  They sat and ate while Lorelei told Dee what had happened that day, and how she had seen the man at the museum. Dee let her speak, only interrupting occasionally to ask a question when she didn’t understand something. When they finished eating, Dee took the left over food and the bowls back into the kitchen while Lorelei took the still two full tumblers to the front room where she waited for Dee.

  They sat in silence as they watched the lights of a ship out on the ocean, the only thing visible in the night. Bindi curled on Lorelei’s lap and Lily had her head resting in Dee’s, enjoying the ear rub.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  LORELEI WAS AWAKEN by a cold nose nudging her chin. She rolled over, opened her eyes and saw sunshine and blue skies greeting her. She reached for her phone that sat on the coffee table next to the couch. The display read 10:45 am.

  “Crap!” she said as she threw back the covers, “you must really need to go outside!” She sat up, rubbed the sleep from her eyes as her head throbbed from yesterday’s excitement. The two tumblers of whiskey she and Dee finished hadn’t help. She looked around and didn’t see any sign of Dee. After making her way quietly down the stairs, she unlocked the door and let Bindi out, who ran across the yard to the back side, near the fence, and did her business.

  Lorelei felt a bump on her backside and turned to see Lily, waiting patiently to go outside. She left the dogs outside to play in the sun as she made her way back upstairs and into the kitchen where she started the coffee and rummaged through the refrigerator looking for something to make for breakfast.

  “I thought I would take you out for breakfast, well, now lunch,” Dee said from behind her.

  “That’s thoughtful of you, but to tell you the truth, I would rather stay home. I don’t care to be around people right now.”

  “I guess I can understand that,” Dee said as she pulled two mugs from the drainer. She poured coffee as Lorelei continued looking through the fridge.

  “How about an omelet?” Lorelei asked.

  “That would be nice,” Dee said.

  “You go enjoy the view and I will make us breakfast.”

  Dee took her coffee and sat in her chair, facing the ocean. The storm had passed during the night and the sky was a crisp blue, but the ocean was still angry, with waves crashing on the large rocks out past the beaches. Today would be a better day. They could both relax, not worry about Jim and Fran’s place, except to feed the cat, and hopefully, Dee thought, they would find the missing paintings.

  “Do you want to eat in your chair or at the table?” Lorelei called out from the kitchen.

  “The table,” Dee said as she got up.

  Lorelei had found mushrooms, avocados, and Swiss cheese to make the omelets. She had toast with marianberry jelly to go with it. They
ate and talked about the last couple of days, wondering if they could have done anything different.

  “I could have left it up to the police to find the man from the casino,” Lorelei said, “but in a way I am glad I was able to find out who he was. And I had myself free from that back room before the police arrived. I would have been able to escape on my own. Time was on my side.”

  “It was still pretty risky,” Dee said between mouthfuls, “and besides, you aren’t trained like they are.”

  Before Lorelei could answer, her cell phone rang. She wiped her mouth and hands with her napkin and went to retrieve her phone. She looked at the number on the screen before she answered.

  “Hello, Michael.”

  “How are you doing this morning?” he replied.

  “I’m okay, better than I thought I would be, but I still have a bit of the adrenaline going through me,” she said.

  “I am wondering if you and Dee can come down to the station. I’d like to get statements from both of you, and go over what we already have.”

  Lorelei held the phone to her chest, “Dee, would you be up for a drive to the police station? They want us down there for official statements.”

  “I think so, when do they want us?” Dee said.

  Lorelei put the phone back to her ear, “When do you want us there? And will I be able to get my car?”

  “Whenever you have the time, my partner and I are here all day, and your car is still sitting behind the museum. We locked it back up after getting your dog out of it.”

  “Did you get any sleep?” Lorelei asked.

  “No, we’ve been working all night,” he said.

  “Then we will be down as soon as we can, I don’t want you waiting on us.” Lorelei said.

  “See you then,” Michael said and hung up.

  Lorelei finished her breakfast and took the plates into the kitchen. She rinsed them, and the bowls from last night, then put everything into the dishwasher. She wiped down the granite counter tops and made sure everything was put away before letting Dee know she was going home to shower and change her clothes.

  She and Bindi went home. Lorelei unlocked the door to her little apartment, but she stopped before entering. She still felt apprehensive even though she knew the men who kidnapped her were in jail, along with that woman who showed up last night with a gun. Her heart beat heavy in her chest. Lorelei watched Bindi charge in and attack a stuffed toy, tossing it in the air and biting it to make is squeak, before she felt comfortable enough to enter. She took a deep breath, entered, then turned and locked the door behind her and put on the chain.

  After her shower, she got dressed in Levi’s and a soft sweater the color of mint. She went back into the bathroom and looked at herself. She didn’t see the young, carefree woman who greeted her yesterday. The dark circles under her eyes, pale skin, and damp hair brought a well of tears to her eyes. She grabbed a towel and draped it over her shoulder before grabbing a pair of scissors and started cutting. Long, dark, red locks of hair fell to her feet as she continued to cut. By the time she was finished, much of her hair lay at her feet. When she finally looked in the mirror, her hair fell a few inches below her shoulders in dark ringlets. Without all the weight, her natural curls returned. She applied mousse before brushing it out. She found a few strands she missed, and cut them off as well. She draped the towel over the edge of the tub and went in search of a broom. Bindi followed her back into the bathroom, but Lorelei shooed her out. She looked down at the almost two feet of hair on the floor and carefully began picking it up, hoping she could donate it to Locks of Love. What she couldn’t grab, she swept up and threw away.

  Once the mess was cleaned up, she went to work hiding the trauma of yesterday that appeared on her face. She applied foundation to hide the dark circles under her eyes, applied eye liner and mascara, then dried her hair. When she had finished, she looked at the results. Her green eyes had life to them again, and she didn’t feel as lost when she stared at her reflection. She hadn’t done too bad a job on her hair. It was even, as far as she could tell. She pulled the front up out of her face and held it with a spider clip. She was ready to face Michael Smith and Amy Holloway to give her statement. She hadn’t given one last night. They had taken her to the hospital to get checked out and when she was given the green light, they had taken her home.

  She found her boots, pulled them on and called Bindi to her.

  “You have to stay home and protect the fort. I won’t be gone long.” She kissed Bindi’s nose before locking up and making her way back to Dee’s.

  The look of surprise on Dee’s face when she saw Lorelei’s new look stopped Lorelei in her tracks.

  “You don’t like it?” She pulled at one of the curls and tucked it behind her ear.

  “You were beautiful before, but now…” words escaped Dee.

  “That bad?” Lorelei asked.

  “It’s gorgeous, it fits you,” Dee laughed as she led Lorelei to the garage where Dee’s Prius was parked.

  They went to the museum first to retrieve Lorelei’s car. It was as she left it yesterday, no worse for wear being left out in the storm last night. She got in and started it up then followed Dee to the police station a couple blocks away. Once there, they parked on the street and took the steps up to the City Hall building that housed the police station.

  “We are here to see officers Smith and Holloway,” Lorelei said to the woman at the counter.

  “Let me get them for you,” she said and disappeared through a side door. She returned a moment later and said, “Someone will be out to get you.”

  There were seats positioned against the walls in the small waiting room. They sat closest to the door that would lead them into the back of the police station. They didn’t have long to wait before Amy Holloway came out.

  “Thank you for coming down,” she said. She did a double take at Lorelei before saying, “That’s a good look for you.”

  “Thank you.” Lorelei absent-mindedly reached up to her hair. It’s amazing what cutting two feet from your hair can do for the psyche.

  They followed Amy down a long hallway that opened up into a large room filled with desks and a couple offices off the main floor. Most the desks were empty except two, where men in suits worked away. Amy led them around the desks and down another short hallway that had doors on either side. They made their way down to the end and entered the last door to their right. Inside, Michael sat at the large table with papers spread out in front of him. His blond hair stood up at odd angles, his uniform wrinkled from the long night of work. He looked up when the door opened and stared at Lorelei, unable to look away. She smiled at him as she entered, followed by Dee then Amy.

  Suddenly, he got to his feet, “Thank you for coming, please have a seat.” He motioned to the chairs across from him. He ran his fingers through his hair, creating more spikes. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “If you don’t mind,” Dee answered as she took her seat.

  “I’ll have a cup too,” Lorelei said as she sat in the chair to Dee’s left, in front of Michael. Amy grabbed two cups, filled them, brought them over and set them down before taking a seat next to Michael, and across from Dee.

  “I don’t suppose you have anything to put in this,” Dee said after taking a sip of the strong coffee.

  “I’m sorry,” Michael said. He leaned back in his chair and grabbed a basket of small creamers and some stir sticks from the counter behind him. He handed them to Dee who took them and placed them between herself and Lorelei. Both women put in enough creamer to change the color of the coffee.

  “I have some pictures I need you to look at,” Michael said to Dee as he handed her a small stack of photos.

  She took them and looked at them, one at a time.

  “This is one of the paintings taken from Jim and Fran’s house,” she said as she handed back in the photos. “I remember them telling me about their trip to Italy and their trip to wine country. They bought this as a reminder.” She
kept going through the photos but didn’t recognize any more. “Are all these stolen?” she asked as she handed the rest back to Michael.

  “We believe so. These were all in the back of the pawn shop.”

  At the mention of the back room, a chill ran down Lorelei’s spin. Her face paled as she tried to hide the fear in her eyes. Michael caught this and wanted to jump over the table and take her in his arms and hold her close. Instead, he held her gaze for a moment, then a moment longer, until he noticed her color coming back. He looked back at the photos he was still holding.

  “We had officers at the pawn shop all night, taking pictures of the inventory. We will be contacting the families who reported burglaries in the last three months. Hopefully we can get the pieces back to their rightful owners. We don’t know how many have already been sold but we will be tracking those down too.”

  “For those of us who paid for the stolen artwork, will we be reimbursed?” Lorelei asked.

  “We are hoping that we can find all the buyers,” Amy cut in, “and get the pieces back. If they paid cash, we have no way of knowing where the pieces went. But with the kind of prices he was asking, there would be a paper trail, if they paid by credit card, like you did.”

  “We found a receipt with your name on it,” Michael said before Lorelei could ask the question.

  “I can just call the credit card company and cancel the purchase. And if need be get a copy of the police report,” Lorelei said matter of factly.

  This brought a smile to Michael’s tired face.

  “Then let’s get to that paperwork,” Amy said as she pulled out a notebook from under the scattered papers, “so we can all get home soon. I, for one, am in need of a shower and sleep.”

  Michael interviewed Dee at one end of the table, while Amy interviewed Lorelei at the other end, keeping the two separate while they answered questions. The two officers wanted to make sure it was done properly so nothing would come back on them if this went to court. It took a couple hours before both Michael Smith and Amy Holloway were satisfied that they had covered everything.