I’m the artist.
33
Kane
As the room fills, Temperance shines. I’m proud as hell as I watch her work the crowd, speaking to one art lover after another.
She hasn’t yet noticed the two sold tags on the pieces I couldn’t let be sold to attendees. I know she and I made a deal, but I’d rather beg her forgiveness for this transgression than ask her permission.
One is the couple in the throes of ecstasy that there was no way anyone else was taking home, and the other is the sugar skull she and I spent the afternoon finding the perfect piece to finish it. Do I care that I dropped six figures here tonight? Hell no. It was the best money I’ve spent since the auction where I got the fleur de lis without knowing it was hers.
Over the next hour, I watch as Valentina discreetly places sold tags on four other sculptures.
I hope, finally, Temperance understands that her work is valued by everyone in this room tonight, and not just me.
Valentina Hendrix’s cop husband watches me closely as the night wears on, but I don’t show any sign of concern. Mostly because I’m not concerned. There’s no way he can connect me to anything I’ve ever done. I’m a ghost when it comes to my job. The only place I step into the light is when Temperance is involved, and my alias is rock solid.
In fact, everything is going perfectly tonight ... until I spot a familiar face in the crowd.
Fuck. What the hell is he doing here?
Giles weaves his way through the sculptures, but is blocked from Temperance by a small group of guests.
I move in his direction and feel the cop’s stare boring holes into my back. There’s a good possibility he could recognize Giles too. Years in the state government have kept his picture in the media.
“Damn, we even got politicians here tonight.” Rix’s voice comes from beside me, catching me off guard. Fucker moves fast. “Your girl should be proud of the crowd she’s drawn.”
“Whether she is or not, I’m proud enough for ten people.”
He laughs. “I know the feeling. Valentina didn’t think her stuff was good enough for her own damn gallery. It ate at me. Killed me that she couldn’t see how incredible her talent was. I hated that for her. Had to change her mind the hard way.”
“How’d you do that?”
“Put one of them up on the wall without her knowing, and wouldn’t you know, it sold the next day.”
“That’s one way to go about it.”
“It was what she needed. I saw it. She didn’t. So I took care of it.”
I’m reading between the lines to figure out if the cop is trying to deliver a silent message, and I don’t have to guess for long.
“I don’t like you, Sax. Don’t trust you. I think you’re hiding something, and Valentina has taken Temperance under her wing, which means she’s got a tether to you. I need to know what the fuck I’m dealing with by my wife bringing your woman into her world, and you’re gonna tell me.”
I keep my features schooled and show no reaction. “I don’t know what you’re worried about, but I’m guessing it’s those overactive cop instincts sending you false alarms.”
The cop shoots me a sharp look. “I recognize someone who’s seen way too much. I see that look in the mirror every fucking day, so it’s not something I can miss.”
I turn to face him, taking my attention off Giles. “What are you after, man?”
“Assurances that if you’ve got shit swirling around you, it won’t touch my woman or this gallery ever again.” He glances at the new glass window. “I don’t take kindly to shit blowing back on my family, and there’s nothing I won’t do to protect them.”
I lift my chin, actually respecting him even more for laying it out like that. “I appreciate the sentiment. More than you know. But that window didn’t have shit to do with me, and it wasn’t blowback.”
“Then why the fuck didn’t you show at the station when she came in? You don’t strike me as the type to let your woman walk into something like that alone.”
When did cops get so fucking perceptive?
“I had other business.”