The Portrait of Doreene Gray (21 page)

They murmured good-byes as he left.

Lyndsay sighed and put her arm through Reynaldo's. “Would you like me to help you make a list of everything that needs to be done?”

He lay his hand over hers where it rested on his bicep. “You are an angel.” They walked out together.

Lupita turned back to her soup.

Suki cleared her throat.

Lupita immediately turned. “Sorry. Did you want something?”

Suki put Gigi down and pointed to her. “Dog. Water.”

Lips tight, Lupita got a bowl from a cupboard and filled it at the tap before setting it on the floor.

Gigi ran to the bowl and drank thirstily.

“Is that where it's going to stay?” Suki asked.

Lupita frowned. “The dog?”

“The bowl. It's going to be in your way there.” Suki went to the conservatory door, looked inside, then came back. “There's a little space between the sideboard and the wall. I'll put it there.” She picked up the bowl and whistled lightly.

Gigi trotted after her, chin dripping.

Lupita turned to Angus and whispered, “Can't you make her keep it?”

“You can't make Suki to do anything,” Angus said. “And we're always traveling, you see.”

Lupita crossed her arms. “Hopefully it won't be here long.”

Suki came out alone. “She's drinking a lot. You might want to take her outside in another hour.”

“Okay, I'll take her outside.” Lupita gestured for them to leave the kitchen. “I have to cook now.”

“And don't forget to find a leash,” Suki said.

“Okay, I'll find a leash.”

Angus tugged on Suki. “Come on. She'll be fine.”

Suki shook herself loose and followed him out of the kitchen. “I know.”

*   *   *

Back in Angus's room, Suki plopped into the chair she had occupied before. “See what I mean about Lupita knowing Enrico? She knew how he liked his coffee, and she knows his stress drink of choice.”

“It certainly looks that way.” Angus sat in the chair by the desk and looked over at Michael. “Shoes off, please.”

Michael kicked off his shoes and resumed his place on the bed. “I want to know why she
lied
about the fact that she knew him. I mean, if you can't trust a Latina cleaning woman, who can you trust?”

Angus spread his hands like a film director. “Picture this … Maureene and Lupita are talking. Maureene says something about hating Doreene and wanting her gone, and Lupita says she knows someone who can kill someone at a distance
through supernatural means.
”

“An assassin,” Suki said.

Michael groaned. “Not you, too.”

“Not the supernatural part.” Suki frowned thoughtfully. “But Maureene didn't want her sister to sell the painting, and now Doreene can't.”

“Except that she left it to Reynaldo, and he can,” Michael pointed out.

“Yeah, but it would reasonable for Maureene to expect Doreene to leave her the painting in the will. She's the artist, after all.
And,
the portrait isn't the same. The scraps of paper with writing on it are gone.”

“There is that,” Michael said. “I wonder what was on that stuff?”

Angus nodded emphatically. “An excellent question. We should make a list of possibilities for the article.” He opened the lid to his laptop. “One, it was a spell for immortality, which evaporated when Doreene died.”

Michael opened his own computer. “Isn't the body supposed to suddenly age, in that case?”

“Two,” Angus continued. “When pieced together, the collage bits spell out the location of a hidden treasure.”

Michael began typing. “I like the treasure idea. It could explain the lights in the woods that Lupita saw. Someone was out there searching.”

“It was glowing skeletons,” Angus said firmly. “Three, the collage pieces revealed some secret of Doreene's, like a contract with the Devil.”

Michael typed more slowly, then stopped. “Are we sure it's a secret of Doreene's?”

Angus continued to type. “When Enrico and Doreene were fighting, Enrico said, ‘Give me the painting and no one has to know.'”

“Yeah, but Doreene was willing to sell the painting, in which case her secret would be exposed.
Maureene
was the one who was so against the sale.”

Angus thought for a moment. “Okay, but the collage pieces disappeared before the sale could take place. Possibly Doreene planned that all along, so her secret would be safe.”

Michael shook his head in frustration. “None of that explains why
Maureene
was so determined to stop the sale of the painting.”

Angus frowned. “Presumably Maureene knew about Doreene's secret, and wanted to protect her sister from exposure.”

“
And
assassinate her?” Michael asked. “Not that I believe that part. Still, don't you think it makes more sense that the paper bits contained a secret of Maureene's? Enrico, who is clearly attached to her, came here to pressure Doreene into backing down from the sale.”

Angus squinted. “But Enrico said, ‘No one has to know' to
Doreene.
That's clearly a threat to expose
her
secret.”

Suki stirred in her chair. “Why can't there be two secrets? Maureene's secret was in the collage, and Doreene had a secret that Enrico knew about. He threatened to expose Doreene if
she
exposed Maureene.”

“That works,” Michael said slowly. “I would love to know what it was all about.”

“Doreene's secret might have been her marriage to Reynaldo,” Suki said. “Why
did
she keep that a secret?” Michael asked.

“Seems obvious to me,” Angus said. “Doreene didn't want her sister to know that Reynaldo would inherit. But that's not the kind of secret that's tied up with a mysterious painting. We're talking diabolical bargains and eternal youth, trust me.”

“I agree that a secret marriage isn't a strong enough threat,” Michael said. “Plus, if Enrico knew about the marriage and is on Maureene's side, why wouldn't he just tell her?”

“Doreene also kept her cancer a secret,” Suki said. “Maybe that was it.”

Michael shook his head. “I could see that if she had something contagious or hereditary, but she didn't.” Michael raised both hands in a eureka gesture. “
Insanity.
Doreene defaced a valuable painting with who-knows-what gibberish, then overdosed in her closet. Maureene didn't want the painting to sell and reveal that her twin had a mental illness, and that's also what Enrico meant when he told Doreene, ‘Give me the painting and no one has to know.' It all fits.”

Suki sucked in a breath through her teeth. “I don't know … Artists usually don't care if someone in the family has a mental illness.” She looked thoughtful. “Unless Doreene was going to become a more famous artist. But modifying one painting is a pretty limited portfolio.” She looked at her watch. “I'm starving. Do you think Lupita's soup is ready?”

“Let's go out,” Michael said. “I could use a break from this family's dysfunctional crap.”

“Every meal we have here is another opportunity to add to our story,” Angus said reprovingly. “We're going to go downstairs and observe the natives.” He started to rise, then sat back down. “I suppose I should e-mail Kroger those notes first.” He clicked through a couple of screens on his laptop. “There. Let's go.”

When they reached the conservatory, they found only Lupita, eating a solitary dinner. She got to her feet, swallowing a mouthful of soup. “Would you like some
posole
?”

“Has everyone else already come and gone?” Angus asked.

“Mr. Reynaldo and Miss Lyndsay went out. I don't know about Miss Maureene and Mr. Russo.” Lupita began to work her way around the table.

Angus held up a hand. “Stay and enjoy your soup. It smells delicious, but I think we'll explore the town a little more.”

“You sure? It's no trouble.”

“That's all right.” Angus turned to go.

“Where's Gigi?” Suki asked.

Lupita's mouth lifted on one side. “Miss Lyndsay took her along. She asked me for some cut-up cheese, too.”

Angus smiled. “Excellent. I'm glad to hear someone has taken an interest in the little mite.” He turned and patted Suki's shoulder. “Looks like your wee friend will be fine.”

“Yeah…” Suki said, her eyes narrow.

Angus waved to Lupita as he herded the others out the door in front of him. “I'm sure we'll see you again before we leave, but if we don't, thank you very much for all your help.”

“No problem,” Lupita said.

“So we are leaving tomorrow,” Michael said as they walked through the house.

“If there's a suitable flight, yes,” Angus said. “I suppose we should check now.”

“I'm
hungry,
” Suki moaned. “I'll check flights on my phone while we eat, okay?”

 

Nineteen

After dinner, they walked back to the house. The evening was cool and dim.

“So what's the plan for the rest of the day?” Michael asked.

Angus took an appreciative breath of the greenery-scented air. “I'm wondering if we might be able to poke around the house a little. There must be something that will give us an insight into Doreene's relationship to the painting—newspaper clippings, a scrapbook, even a diary.”

“Leaving aside the ethics of reading a dead woman's diary,” Michael said, “what if we get caught?”

Angus waved a dismissive hand. “Unlikely. Reynaldo is the only one with authority, and he's in no shape to lay down the law.”

“I don't know,” Suki said. “Lyndsay could put her hand up his backside and make him talk like a puppet.”

Angus smothered a laugh.

Michael snickered. “I suppose we can do a little poking around, if we're subtle.”

“I'm not suggesting we dump the contents of drawers onto the carpet,” Angus said. “I'm simply hoping to find something that will tell us what angle to take. Every family has secrets—this one more than most.”

Michael nodded. “Just remember—we're not writing a tell-all on these people.”

Angus patted his back. “Relax. We're only interested in family matters as they relate to supernatural events.”

As they approached the house, Reynaldo and Lyndsay came out the front door. Lyndsay's hair was swept up on one side and fastened with a clip. She wore a striking black-and-pink dress and carried Gigi, who also wore a dress, in the crook of one arm.

“She's made herself look just like Doreene,” Suki whispered. She surreptitiously pointed her camera at them and took several shots in succession.

“Out for a stroll?” Angus asked when they were in speaking distance.

“We're going to go look at the boats.” Lyndsay stroked Reynaldo's arm with her free hand. “Get out of the house a little.”

“Gigi is dressed for an evening on the town, I see,” Angus said.

The dog wore a pink sundress with a flouncy skirt. Lyndsay tweaked it so the neckline hung straighter. “To tell you the truth, I've always been a little afraid of dogs, but this one is different. After spending some time with her, she seems almost familiar.” Lyndsay stroked Gigi's soft fur.

Reynaldo's eyes took on a liquid sheen. “I remember when Doreene bought that dress for her. She said every blonde's wardrobe should have some pink.”

“It's one of my favorite colors,” Lyndsay said softly. She turned to Angus. “By the way, I keep forgetting to thank you for returning my beret. I wondered where I lost it.”

“You're lucky,” Suki said evenly. “So often, people just walk off with other people's things.”

Angus gave a jolly laugh. “Very true. Well, have a good evening.” He put a hand in the small of Suki's back and propelled her forward.

Once inside the house, he closed the door and heaved a sigh.

“Well done, Angus,” Michael said. “I thought we might have to break out the squirt bottle and break up a catfight.”

Suki shook herself and unclenched her fists. “I'm okay.”

Michael gave her a slap on the back. “For the record, my money was on you. She's tough, but you have a longer reach.”

Angus held up a hand to silence them. He listened for a moment. “It's very quiet in here.”

“Maureene and Enrico are probably at her cottage,” Michael said. “That leaves only Lupita.”

Angus nodded. “If we're in luck, she's out grocery shopping, and we have the place to ourselves. C'mon.” He headed toward the center of the house.

“Aren't we going to look around Doreene's room?” Michael asked.

“In a minute.” Angus led the way to the kitchen. The pot of
posole
stood covered on the stove, cooling. He squatted and opened the cupboard doors beneath the sink.

Suki looked at Michael and shrugged. “It's not the most obvious place to search for family secrets, but maybe that's the point.” She opened an upper cabinet, stared at the glassware inside, then shut it.

Angus shoved cleaning supplies aside until he reached the far back of the cupboard. He grabbed something with a crinkle of plastic, stood, and shut the cupboard. “Let's go upstairs.”

Michael tossed a pot holder back in a drawer and closed it. “What've you got there?”

Angus waved an open packet of yellow kitchen gloves.

They went back through the house, up the creaking stairway to the second floor, and down the hallway to where yellow
DO NOT CROSS
tape zigzagged across Doreene's doorway. Behind the tape, however, the door stood open. They stopped a few feet away.

“Who do you think opened it?” Michael said.

“Lyndsay the accessory thief,” Suki said. “I'm pretty sure the hair clip she had on just now is the same one Doreene wore at the press conference.”