by Susan Harper
The woman nodded and left the room. Sheldon stared at Lonnie. “You can’t seriously sell all of my mom’s paintings,” Sheldon said. “I would like to keep some.”
“Well, Sheldon…” Lonnie muttered. “Look she left them to me, and Lark is offering a lot of money. Like, a lot of money. I can’t pass that up. I’m going to give you some of what I make off them.”
“I don’t care about the money, Lonnie. I want to keep some of my mom’s paintings,” he said.
“Sheldon, she offered two grand for one painting,” Lonnie said. “I’m sorry, bro, but I’m selling them.”
“There has got to be seventy something paintings in this house, and you’re going to sell every single one of them and not let me keep any?” Sheldon questioned.
“It’s nothing personal, Shelly,” Lonnie said. “Look, Ms. Lark is not a particularly patient woman. I’m going to go talk to her. I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t worry, Sheldon, I’m going to cut you in on what I make off the paintings.”
Sheldon watched Lonnie leave, looking very heartbroken.
“This isn’t right,” Kendell said.
Sheldon stormed outside, obviously not in the mood to talk now. He slammed the front door, leaving Pauline, Kendell, and Felicity standing in the dining area alone.
12
Kendell crossed her arms as she heard the front door slam shut. She shook her head. “That’s just not right,” she said. “How hard would it be for Lonnie to let Sheldon pick out a couple of paintings?”
“I agree, but I see where Lonnie is coming from,” Felicity said. “If I had some paintings I could sell for that much, I’d have a hard time just handing them out. I definitely think something is going on here. It makes no sense for Barbara to leave everything to the stepson she barely knew.”
“Do you think Lonnie could have done something?” Pauline asked. “He is certainly making quite a profit off the death of his stepmother.”
Felicity nodded. “It definitely gives him a strong motivation for killing her. But, based off of that that really big moving truck out front – it’s not like he’s not letting Sheldon have his fair pickings of his moms belongings. And, other than those paintings, it doesn’t seem like there is a whole lot in this house worth a lot of money. But, how would Lonnie have even known he would come across someone who loved his stepmother’s paintings enough to fork out two grand a painting? Unless he knew that long before the art auction, somehow managed to convince his stepmother to leave everything to him, and then plotted to kill her… but, how would he have known?”
“Maybe he knew Lark beforehand?” Kendell suggested.
“Yeah, but do you think Lark could have conspired with Lonnie?” Felicity questioned.
“You think she would want a woman dead just so she could maybe get a deal on her paintings?” Pauline questioned. “I doubt that. That’s a bit of a jump.”
“There is something we are definitely missing here. I just don’t know what,” Felicity said, shaking her head.
“Well,” Kendell said, leaning back a bit to spy around the corner – making sure no one was within ear shot. “They all did just walk off and leave a detective alone in the house. It’s almost like they expect us to go snooping around.”
Felicity snorted slightly. “I doubt that, but it’s not like we can get busted for breaking and entering when we’ve been inviting inside already. Let’s split up and look around. See what we can find. I’m going to go talk to Sheldon – see what he thinks about this whole situation.”
“Feel him out and see if he thinks Lonnie could have something to do with his mom’s death,” Pauline said. “You don’t just wake up one day and decide to become a murderer. If Sheldon has known Lonnie since their adolescent years, he might know whether or not Lonnie would be capable of something like that.”
“Okay,” Felicity said. “You two be careful.” Felicity headed outside in search for Lonnie, leaving Kendell and Pauline behind in the house.
“I guess we should split up too,” Kendell said.
Pauline nodded in agreement. “Why don’t you see if you can go talk to Lonnie and Lark. Find out from Lark why she is willing to pay so much money for a small-town artists artwork. See if you can find out if they knew each other before the art auction.”
“What are you going to do?” Kendell asked.
“Well, I figured while you have Lonnie and Lark distracted and Felicity has got Sheldon’s attention, I would use the opportunity to do a little bit of snooping around the house,” Pauline said. “You never know what I might find.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kendell said. “Watch your back.” Kendell left the dining area and headed towards the back of the house where she had seen Lonnie and Lark walk off only moments before.
She could hear their voices coming from the kitchen, but she paused before going inside to listen in. “I don’t know,” Lonnie said. “I think this one is worth at least three grand.”
“You’re trying to overcharge me, now,” Lark said, laughing slightly. “Your stepmother was a heckler too.”
“So, exactly how many paintings have you bought from her before?” Lonnie asked.
“About a dozen,” Lark said. “But, I came to the auction ready to write her quit a check this time around for her Marvel themed paintings. She ensured me they would be worth a lot more. I can’t believe Gerald was there. He kept trying to outbid me on those paintings. Your stepmother was clever inviting us both. And, here I thought she was being silly putting these paintings in an auction where people wouldn’t know what they were actually worth. But, she invited several of her past buyers, so we were outbidding each other the whole day.”
“So, that guy Gerald was a past buyer?” Lonnie asked.
“Gerald, Beth, Thomas – there were at least twelve or so there, but I outbid them all,” Lark said.
“I still can’t believe she was keeping such a secret from Sheldon and my dad and me,” Lonnie said, laughing slightly. “I mean, she always played little Ms. Innocent. But, turns out, she was just a retired crook. No wonder she always made so much money off all these paintings.”
Kendell could not quite figure out what it was about these paintings. Surely, there was something more going on. She entered into the kitchen, making herself known. “Hey, Lonnie,” she said perkily.
He jumped slightly. “Oh, hello,” he said. “It’s… Kendell, right? You’re friends with detective Sheldon hired?”
“Detective?” Lark questioned.
“Yes, Felicity Overton – she’s a local private investigator with an incredible track record,” Kendell said, eyeing them both. “Don’t worry, Lonnie. Felicity is the best woman for the job. She will find out what happened to your stepmother. I can guarantee that.” Kendell stepped towards one of the paintings hanging on the wall in the kitchen. “So, your stepmom’s house is jam packed with all sorts of paintings, I’ve noticed. I’m curious, Ms. Lark, about what made you so interested in them to begin with. Not that they aren’t wonderful. This one is particularly beautiful, I’d say.”
Kendell was examining a painting of a bowl of fruit. Barbara was certainly talented, but she had heard Lark and Lonnie discussing Lark paying anywhere between two and three grand for it. It was good, but it wasn’t that good. Suddenly, the clouds outside must have moved, so a bit of light flooded in through the window brighter than before. While Lonnie attempted to move to block the light, Kendell definitely noticed something peculiar. The painting shimmered. She pretended not to notice.
“I just know good talent when I see it,” Lark said nervously.
“Well, I’ll let you two get back to what you were doing, then,” Kendell said. “I’m sure you have a lot to discuss. There sure are a lot of paintings in the house. Whenever you two are finished, I’m sure Felicity would appreciate a one-on-one interview with you, Lonnie. That’s why we came here, after all.”
“Of course,” Lonnie said, eagerly pointing her towards the door leading out of the kitchen.
She sat the diamond on the table and continued to observe the painting. I hate to destroy it… but…Kendell cringed slightly as she used her fingernail to continue to scratch at the beautiful picture of the puppies. She peeled an entire golden necklace out from under the thick, layered paint around the same dog’s eye. From what she observed, Barbara had hot glued various bits of jewelry and jewels to the canvas prior to painting it. No wonder there was so much paint. Kendell’s eyes widened as she recalled the stepbrothers discussing how there was over seventy paintings in the house. If every painting was secretly stashing gold necklaces and diamonds – they were worth a fortune! And, it seemed like Lark and Lonnie both knew this. “I got to find Pauline,” she said under her breath, quickly hanging the painting back up on the wall and hoping Lonnie wouldn’t come in the room and notice the destroyed piece of artwork.
Pauline headed up the stairs, Dot napping in her little carrier she had slung over her shoulder. She searched for the master bedroom belonging to Barbara, deciding to search it first. The boys had clearly not been in this room just yet as the furniture, decorations, and a small pile of clothes in the corner had gone untouched.
Barbara had a beautiful vanity that Pauline could not help but to go and sit at. She smiled at herself in the mirror. There was a little jewelry box sitting in front of her, so she opened it up – revealing a beautiful assortment of necklaces. “She’s got good taste,” Pauline said, opening up a drawer in the vanity. More jewelry. “My oh my,” Pauline said, eyeing the drawer that as positively packed down with expensive looking necklaces. “This is real gold. Smart woman – that’s the way to invest.”
Pauline stood up and headed to the closet. There was a collection of shoes boxes in the corner. She opened one up, knowing that she personally used to keep things other than shoes in her boxes back before she owned a home. The first box merely contained a pair of new shoes that had not been worn, but the second box once again contained a bunch of jewelry. “What in the world?” Pauline questioned. She knew that some women had rather extensive jewelry collections, but this was a bit overboard. It seemed like there was nice, elegant jewelry stashed in just about every nook and cranny of her room.
Even when Pauline opened up the woman’s sock drawer, she found diamonds shoved away inside a folded pair of socks. “How could she possibly afford all this?” Pauline questioned.
As she was heading towards the nightstand, expecting to find additional hidden jewelry in there, she stubbed her toe on something sticking out from under the bed. “Ouch!” she said, sitting Dot’s carrier down on the bed while she bent down to see what she had run into. It was a scrapbook. “Ooh, lovely,” Pauline said, opening it up to find an assortment of newspaper clippings dating back to the fifties and sixties. Every single one of them was on a string of jewelry store robberies throughout the Midwest. From the looks of the papers, the culprit had never been caught. “Barbara was a thief!” Pauline exclaimed. But, she was a smart thief, it seemed. The woman clearly had bided her time before ever attempting to pawn the jewelry, otherwise she would have been busted back in the fifties and sixties. Pauline found a booklet sitting on top of her nightstand of an inventory she had done of her jewelry, and it looked as though the book was fairly new. “She waited nearly half a century before she started selling the jewelry,” Pauline said – realizing this was probably the reason she had never been busted. There was no way authorities would have been able to connect any pawned jewelry all the way out in Georgia to a string of robberies taking place in the mid-west nearly fifty years prior.
Pauline sat the journal Barbara had used for inventory on top of the scrapbook that Dot was now sniffing at; the little dog had crawled out of her carrier. Pauline then opened up the nightstand. She found a manila envelope which she promptly opened up. Her jaw dropped. She had found Barbara’s last will and testament, and it certainly had not left her entire fortune to Lonnie. “Jackpot,” Pauline said. “Lonnie must have forged her will…”
The door opened, and Pauline jumped. However, it was just Kendell and Felicity. “Grandmama, you won’t believe what Kendell found,” Felicity said.
“Ooh, me first!” Pauline exclaimed, waving the will in her hands. “I found Barbara’s will – the real one!”
“Real one?” Felicity questioned.
“Yeah, I bet Lonnie doesn’t know she kept a copy of her original will in her room, or he would have gotten rid of it by now,” Pauline said. “She left all her paintings and her home to Lonnie and left about ten grand to Sheldon in her will, but most everything was supposed to go to Sheldon. I also found an inventory book on a bunch of jewelry that I believe was stolen.”
“Stolen?” Kendell questioned, and Pauline presented the girls with the scrapbook.
“Barbara was a thief in her younger years. She waited, though, before she started selling off her jewelry until her old age to set herself up with a good retirement plan,” Pauline said. “There’s jewelry hidden all over the place in the bedroom.”
“That’s not all,” Kendell said, holding up a paint coated, golden necklace. “Barbara has been hiding the stolen jewelry in her paintings and selling them to people who don’t seem to mind buying stolen jewelry.”
“You mean like Ms. Lark?” Felicity questioned.
“Exactly,” Kendell said. “From what I heard, Barbara had invited a lot of her regular buyers to the art auction. She was putting her jewelry onto canvases to move the stolen jewelry safely to the buyers.”
“So, what do you think, Felicity?” Pauline asked.
“I think Barbara kept her little jewelry heists a secret from Sheldon and Lonnie, but Lonnie found out about it and struck a deal with one of her buyers – Lark – to make sure he made off with the money,” Felicity said.
Pauline grinned. “I think we might just know who killed Barbara.”
13
The group of ladies spread all of the evidence that they had found out onto Barbara’s bed – including the painting from the dining room that Kendell had ripped jewelry from. The bed was covered in jewelry, the book full of newspaper clippings, the painting, and of course, the original will and testament. Felicity was busying herself with taking pictures of all of the evidence that they had found; she forwarded the pictures on her phone to Jack and then went ahead and gave him a call.
“Jack!” Felicity exclaimed once she had him on the phone. “Did you get those pictures? Yeah, I agree. Send the police down here. We’re going to let Sheldon in on what we found and see what we can do about making sure Lonnie and Lark don’t go anywhere…. We don’t know if Lark was involved, but it’s highly possible, we think. No doubt Lonnie had something to do with the will which makes him our most viable suspect… okay… yeah, we’ll be careful. Let Jefferson know what’s going down, all right? See you soon.” She hung up the phone. “Jack’s calling the police, and he’s heading this way now too.”
“Oh, how exciting!” Pauline exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Dot was circling around Pauline with her tail wagging a million miles an hour; clearly, the playful little pooch was feeding off the excitement from her owner.
“Should I go grab Sheldon and bri
ng him up here?” Kendell asked.
“Yes, that’s a good idea, but make sure Lonnie and Lark don’t see you,” Felicity said. “We don’t want to tip them off that we’re on to them before the police get here.”
Kendell nodded and slipped out of the bedroom. She quietly made her way downstairs where she could hear Lark and Lonnie still arguing about prices in the kitchen. “You told me you would give me better prices than your mother, Lonnie,” Lark sneered.
“These are better prices,” Lonnie insisted.
“Hardly!”
Kendell made her way outside the front door where Sheldon was still sitting and sulking. He was sipping on a soda and munching on some pretzels he had probably fetched from the kitchen. “Hungry?” Kendell asked.
“I haven’t eaten much since Mom was killed, and I think it’s finally getting to me,” Sheldon groaned. “Started getting a little woozy. I haven’t eaten today at all.”
“You got to remember to take care of yourself,” Kendell chastised. “I’m sure your mom would want you to.”
“Maybe,” he grumbled. “I feel completely blindsided by all of this.”
“Come with me – quietly,” Kendell said. “We might have found something that is going to help us finish up this case.”
Sheldon jumped up. “Really?” he asked. “You think you might know who killed Mom?”
“Keep your voice down,” Kendell said as they entered the house. She could still hear Lark and Lonnie bickering away.
“I can throw in that ugly cat painting upstairs if you agree to the price we’ve set for these two,” Lonnie growled.
“Well, I’ll have to have a look at this cat painting first, Lonnie, before I agree to that!” Lark countered.
“Fine. Fine,” Lonnie said. “Just tell me what you think of this one…”
