Fatal Brushstroke (An Aurora Anderson Mystery Book 1)

by Sybil Johnson

  “That’s awfully far to go to dump a body. He’d be taking a huge risk. Wait, he wasn’t even in Malibu Monday evening.”

  “What do you mean?” Liz said.

  “That article in the View said he stayed in his condo in town that night.”

  “Even better. He killed her in the condo, used her car to transport the body and, afterward, parked it where he knew it would be towed.”

  That could have been what happened, Rory thought. But they needed proof to convince the police and standing around talking about it wasn’t going to get them anywhere. Maybe they’d find something here that backed up the theory. “We should get to work. There are fewer supplies in the other room. Let’s start there.”

  In the classroom, Liz went through each cabinet, describing each item while Rory wrote down the information. Before long, they’d completed their work in that room and had moved back across the hall where the rest of the supplies were located.

  Rory felt a little overwhelmed as she once again surveyed the cabinet-lined room. “I think we’re going to have to split up for this one.” She attached blank inventory forms to the spare clipboard she’d brought with her and handed it to Liz. “You take this side, I’ll take the other.”

  They tuned a radio they found to a top 40 station and got to work, taking pictures as necessary, occasionally setting aside supplies to take home with them. Rory found an entire cabinet filled with finished pieces Hester had painted herself, including a tray that had earned her Master Decorative Artist certification. She selected a particularly nice example of Hester’s work to give to Nora. Two hours and a bathroom break later, they’d finished inventorying half the room.

  Rory rolled her shoulders and stretched out the fingers of her writing hand. Her clipboard was filled with page after page of inventory forms listing supplies that must have taken Hester years to accumulate. “There’s a lot of stuff here.” She rummaged around in her tote bag for another pen to replace the one that had run out of ink.

  “I know and we’re only halfway done.” Liz set her clipboard on the table and sank down onto a nearby chair. “I’m getting hungry.”

  Rory opened a cabinet with sliding drawers, relieved to see it wasn’t nearly as full as the others had been. “We can take a lunch break after I finish this one.” She tried pulling out the top drawer but, instead of sliding out smoothly, it came off its runners, spilling its contents all over the hardwood floor. She managed to catch the drawer before it fell down and smashed her toes.

  “You okay?” Liz looked at the pads of tracing and palette paper surrounding Rory’s feet. “What happened?”

  “Not sure. It just fell out.” Rory lifted the drawer and placed it back on its runners but, when she tried to slide it back in place, it stopped partway as if something were preventing it from going in completely. “I think there’s something stuck behind it.” She took the drawer out and placed it on the floor, then rummaged around in the back of the cabinet. “Got it.” She drew out a picture frame that, judging by the amount of dust on it, must have been in the back for quite a while.

  Liz picked up the pads of tracing paper off the floor, stacked them on the table, and walked over to where Rory stood. “What’s that?”

  Rory wiped off the front of the five-by-seven frame with the sleeve of her shirt and held it so Liz could see. A much younger Hester cradled a baby in her arms while Julian and a slightly frumpy blonde Rory didn’t recognize looked on. “That must be Kevin in Hester’s arms. Any idea who the other woman is?”

  Liz took the picture and examined it more closely. “Don’t know her. Must be a relative.” She handed it back to Rory who propped it up on the table.

  Liz was picking up the last of the scattered pads of paper and Rory was sliding the drawer back into place when Kevin poked his head in the room. “Dad wants to know if one of you could come up to the house and help him with something. He’s in Mom’s office.”

  Liz placed the paper on the table and said, “I’ll go. I’m at a good stopping point. I finished the cabinet I was working on.” Before Kevin could follow her out of the room, she added, “You don’t need to show me the way. I can find it.”

  Instead of leaving right away, Kevin peered into cabinets, picking up the occasional item and examining it. Rory inventoried the pads of paper as she put them back where they belonged, occasionally looking up to see what he was doing.

  Just as she was about to ask if he needed anything, Kevin walked up to her and cleared his throat. “I wanted to, um, apologize for yesterday. My behavior was inappropriate.”

  “You’d just lost your mother. That’s hard. Relationships with parents are never easy.”

  “Our relationship was complicated.”

  Rory nodded in understanding. “I know, I’m adopted myself.”

  Kevin looked puzzled. “I’m not that lucky. What makes you think I’m adopted?”

  Rory hadn’t meant to reveal a family secret. Although she hadn’t learned the details about her birth parents until fairly recently, her mom and dad had told her she was adopted as soon as she was old enough to understand. She’d always assumed other adoptive parents handled the situation in the same way.

  She averted her eyes to hide her embarrassment. “Sorry, I must have misunderstood.” When her gaze settled on a framed photograph of a bright red ginger plant, she remembered the conversation she’d had with Kevin at the store. “Are these yours?” She gestured at the photos scattered around the room.

  “A small sampling of my work. Didn’t take that one, though.” He pointed to the picture Rory had found in the back of the cabinet.

  “You’d have been an amazingly precocious child if you had.” When Kevin didn’t appear to understand, Rory added, “Isn’t that you in your mother’s arms?”

  He picked up the picture and took a long look at it. “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen this one. Where did you find it?”

  “Behind one of the drawers.”

  Disgust mixed with anger spread over Kevin’s face, and he flung the frame down on the table. It landed with a crash. A tiny wooden duck that had been glued to the frame fell on the floor. “Just like Mom to shove my christening picture in the back of a drawer.”

  Rory picked up the duck and placed it on the table next to the frame it belonged to. “It was in one of her favorite rooms. She probably prized the photo. I’m sure it slipped behind the drawer by accident.” She didn’t know if what she said was true, but the words appeared to lessen Kevin’s anger. “I recognize your mom and dad. Do you know who the other woman is?” she asked.

  “That’s my godmother, Trudy. You saw her at the service. She’s pretty unforgettable.” Kevin grinned and added, “Looks different, doesn’t she? Don’t tell her I told you, but she’s had a bit of work done.”

  More than a bit, Rory thought. The woman had undergone a complete transformation. Even losing a considerable amount of weight wouldn’t account for the difference in her appearance. Trudy must have spent a fortune on plastic surgery, nipping and tucking everything she could, though she seemed to have drawn the line at Botox injections. Rory remembered seeing lines and actual expressions on the woman’s face.

  Kevin left the room grinning from ear to ear. By the time Liz returned, a roll of papers tucked under her arm, Rory had finished her inventory of the cabinet and was ready for lunch.

  “What did Julian want? Did you get a look in the safe?” Rory asked.

  “Yes, but it was disappointing. The only thing of interest were these.” Liz unrolled one of the 15-inch by 15-inch sheets of butcher paper she’d brought back with her and spread it out on the table, placing a bottle of paint on each corner to keep it from curling up again. “They look like originals from a tole painting book.”

  Rory leaned down to examine the pencil sketches that appeared vaguely familiar. A coffee stain obsc
ured what looked like writing in one area of the design. “It’s hard to tell, but this could be Hester’s signature in the corner. I bet my mom could clean it up a bit. How many pages are there?”

  “A dozen or so. Julian didn’t know what to do with them. He was going to throw them away, but I convinced him they were worth saving.” Liz rolled up the paper and placed it next to the picture Kevin had tossed on the table. “What happened here?”

  “Kevin got a little angry, but that’s not the interesting part.” Rory told her friend what Hester’s son had said about the woman in the picture.

  Liz picked up the frame and stared at the photo in disbelief. “Trudy, huh? I see her hair color wasn’t the only thing she changed. Her new body must have cost a fortune. I wonder who paid for it.” She placed the frame back on the table. “I’m starving, let’s see what’s in the kitchen.”

  After a quick lunch consisting of leftovers from the service, they went back to work. By the time darkness fell, they had inventoried everything in the two rooms. They repacked the tote bag and filled two boxes: the items they’d selected specifically for Nora went into one, the rest into the other. Rory wrapped a paintable silk scarf around Kevin’s christening picture and stuffed it in one of the boxes. She didn’t yet know how, but she sensed the photo might help in their investigation.

  After checking in with Julian, the two of them headed back to the store, eager to tell Rory’s mother about everything they’d found.

  Chapter 14

  Students in the Saturday evening painting class were leaving the store when Rory and Liz walked in the door of Arika’s Scrap ’n Paint. They smiled at Lily, the college student manning the checkout counter, as they walked by on their way to the classroom. After putting the boxes they’d brought from Hester’s house on one of the two eight-foot tables in the room, Rory and Liz returned to the sales floor.

  Once the last customer was out the door, Lily turned to them with a relieved look on her face. “Thank goodness you’re here. It’s closing time, Arika’s gone, and I have no idea what to do!”

  “Where’d she go?” Rory asked, surprised that her mother had left the store in the hands of someone who’d never closed before.

  “The police wanted to see her down at the station, but that was hours ago. She swore she’d be back before the class was over!”

  Rory frowned when she heard the news, certain the chief was behind the questioning, though she didn’t know what her mother could tell the police that she hadn’t already. “Don’t worry, I’ll close up. Anything I should know about?”

  The frazzled college student filled them in on everything they needed to know, then headed home to study.

  Rory flipped the sign on the front door and began closing out the register while Liz straightened displays on the sales floor and vacuumed. As the minutes ticked by and her mother still hadn’t made an appearance, Rory became more and more concerned. She had to count the money in the register three times before she got it right. She was making out a deposit slip and wondering how much it would cost to bail her mother out of jail when Arika walked in the front door.

  As soon as they noticed the new arrival, Liz turned off the vacuum cleaner and Rory laid the half-finished deposit slip on the counter.

  “Are you all right?” the two of them chorused.

  “What did the police want?” Rory added.

  Arika fished the store keys out of her purse and locked the door. “Hello, girls, thanks for closing up. I didn’t mean to be gone so long. Lily left?”

  “Only after I told her it was okay. What happened?” Rory asked.

  “Where, dear?” Arika checked the register tape, nodding her head in satisfaction at the day’s sales figures.

  Rory didn’t know how her mother could remain so calm after being interrogated by the police for what must have been hours. “Mother! At the police station. What did they want?”

  “That nice young detective just had a few questions for me.”

  “Lily said you were gone for hours.”

  “You know how she exaggerates.”

  “It’s not right!”

  “They were just questions. Let it go. Finish what you’re doing, then show me the inventory list.”

  While Arika took a tour around the store, preparing it for the next business day, Liz resumed cleaning and Rory finished putting together the deposit. She stuffed the checks and cash into an envelope, ready for her mother to take to the bank before the store opened Monday morning, then placed it along with the till in the safe.

  Once they’d finished their tasks, Rory and Liz joined Arika in the classroom where the store’s owner was putting away the last of the supplies used for the painting class.

  Rory pulled the clipboard with the inventory lists attached to it out of her tote bag and handed it to her mother.

  Arika flipped through the pages, then looked at the photos Rory had taken with her digital camera. “Quite a bit, isn’t there?”

  “What are you going to do with it all, Mrs. A?” Liz asked.

  “Assuming Julian and I come to an agreement on price, I think I’ll start by displaying some of Hester’s finished work in the store. Maybe put together an event in her honor.”

  “How about a paint-a-thon featuring her designs? I’d be happy to help organize it,” Liz said. “You could get Nora and some of the other painting instructors to teach.”

  “I like that idea. I should be able to put something together for...” Arika looked at the class calendar posted on the wall. “...next Saturday. I can work on the flyers tomorrow after church and put an ad in the View.” Rory’s mother often used Sundays to update displays, restock shelves and perform other chores that were easier to do when the store was closed.

  “Julian found pages filled with Hester’s original designs in her office. Maybe you could auction those off and give the money to Hester’s favorite charity.” Rory plucked the roll of papers out of a box and spread one of the sheets out on the table so her mother could examine it. “I’m afraid this one’s a bit stained.”

  “These are designs from Hester’s latest book.” Arika inspected the blot in the corner. “I’m not sure I can do anything about the coffee stain, but I’ll try. I don’t think it’ll make much difference to Hester’s fans, though. If I can’t clean it up, I’ll just display it as-is.” She rolled up the paper and set it aside, then gestured toward the two boxes on the table. “What else do you have in there?”

  Rory showed off the presents they’d brought back for Nora, then started dividing the supplies in the other box into two piles: one for herself and one for Liz. “Do you have something I can put these in, Mom?”

  Arika pointed toward a half dozen empty cardboard boxes in the corner. “I’m done with those if you want them. Before I forget, I need to give you the list of edits I want you to make to the website. I left everything in my office. I’ll just be a minute.” Arika headed into the back room where her office was located.

  Rory handed a pristine copy of a Debbie Mitchell instruction book to Liz who’d picked up one of the empty boxes off the floor and was putting her share of the supplies into it. “This must be yours. I’m surprised Hester had it. Teddy bears aren’t her style.”

  “I was as surprised to find it as you were, but I’m glad I did. Now I have a complete Cozy Cubby collection,” Liz said.

  “I still don’t understand why the police needed to question Mom for so long. She had nothing to gain from Hester’s death.”

  “That’s not completely true. She’s going to get a ton of supplies for a song. You know Julian doesn’t think they’re worth anything. And she was the last person to see Hester alive. Apart from the murderer, of course.”

  “Why would my own mother frame me for murder and bury the body in my garden?” Rory gestured toward the inventory list. “To get her hands on
a bunch of wood and paint?”

  “Maybe it was an accident. Maybe she was protecting you from Hester.”

  “That still doesn’t explain the body in my garden. Besides, how could the police have found out about the inventory so soon?”

  Guilt written all over her face, Liz exhibited an abnormal interest in the contents of her box. Rory waved a silk painting instruction book in front of the young woman’s face, but Liz continued to refuse to meet her friend’s gaze.

  “You told them, didn’t you?” Rory said. “When?”

  “I didn’t know they were going to ask her about it. Dashing D called last night about the painting class. One thing led to another...you know, he’s a really good listener.”

  When Rory emailed the list of students who’d attended the weekend class to Detective Green, she hadn’t expected it to result in her mother being questioned by the police for hours. “So that’s why they brought her in?”

  “Really, I had no idea they’d do that. And did I mention? That detective is a very good listener.”

  Rory sank down onto a nearby chair and stared at the wall opposite her. First, the police had searched her house. Then, Chief Marshall had all but accused her of murder at the memorial service. Now, Detective Green had brought her mother in for more intense questioning. Rory would confess right now if she knew it would stop the police from harassing her family, but they’d probably just believe her mother was in on it the entire time.

  “Rory?” Liz said tentatively. “Are we okay?”

  Rory looked up and smiled sadly at her friend. “Not your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

  “Phew! I was worried there for a minute.” Liz’s cell phone chimed and she glanced down at its display. “Text from a client. She wants to see me right away.”