Ghost in the Gallery

by Kathi Daley

  “Aw,” Georgia said.

  Nikki flinched. “Maybe you shouldn’t tell Tanner that I told you that story. He didn’t know I was there, and I’m not sure he’d want you to know about his maternal side.”

  Georgia smiled. “Don’t worry, Nikki. I already know about all Tanner’s sides, which is why I love him so much, but I won’t say anything. Does anyone want anything else before I start picking up the food?”

  Everyone agreed they were finished, so Georgia began the task of clearing. I wanted to call Colt for an update, so I suggested that Nikki stay and help Georgia while I went and addressed some correspondence I needed to take care of before starting my day.

  After I arrived at the cottage, I grabbed a cup of coffee, which I took out to the deck. I punched in Colt’s cell number and then waited for him to pick up. I hoped he’d have something to share that would negate my need to spend the day helping Nikki as I’d promised I would. I hated to see her disappointment as new evidence and information came forward. Nikki was the sort to give her whole heart away, which is exactly what I suspect she did with both Elena and Damian.

  “Any updates?” I asked right off the bat. I figured if he was in a hurry, I didn’t want to waste time with idle chitchat, and if he wasn’t busy, I could get my update, and then we could chat.

  “A few. Elena was arraigned early this morning. She’s out on bail, but it looks like the DA intends to pursue a conviction.”

  “Seems like bail for a murder charge would be high.”

  “It was, but apparently Elena has friends in high places. I also found out that there were some irregularities listed on Damian’s autopsy report.”

  “Irregularities?” I asked.

  “Initially, it looked as if he’d died from a blow to the head since there was a huge gash on his head, and a lot of blood, but apparently the blow to the head didn’t kill him. He may have eventually bled out due to the head injury, but someone strangled him before that happened.”

  “So someone hit him on the head and then strangled him?”

  “That’s the way the report reads.”

  “So it looks like we’re taking accidental death or self-defense off the table.”

  “I think we can,” Colt agreed. “There was a lot of blood from the head wound. Even if it didn’t kill Damian, it would have incapacitated him. At least for long enough to allow the person who hit him to strangle him. Obviously, if the blow to the head had been self-defense, the killer would have had time to get away, and strangling him wouldn’t have been necessary. The fact that someone realized that Damian wasn’t dead, and suffocated him to finish the job, indicates an intent to kill.”

  “I agree. Would Elena have been tall enough to hit Damian at the angle from which he was hit? Would she have been strong enough to strangle him?”

  “Strong enough, probably. Tall enough, maybe. I guess it depends on whether Damian was standing upright or leaning over. Still, given the circumstances, I’m beginning to wonder if there weren’t two people at the gallery with Damian on the night he died.”

  “I suppose that Elena might have arranged to meet Damian and another person at the gallery. She could have taken care of opening the door, turning off the alarm, and security cameras and the other person with her might have been the one who actually hit Damian, sending him to the floor where someone then strangled him. If that is true, any idea who the third person might have been?”

  “No. Not yet, but I’m following up with some ideas. Did Nikki show up today?”

  “She did. And she’s still determined that we investigate on our own. I’d hoped you’d have this all wrapped up, but it sounds like you have a way to go.”

  “You could just tell her no.”

  “I could, but then she’d go off on her own. At least if I agree to work with her, I can keep an eye on her and maybe control the narrative a bit. I don’t suppose you have an idea for something safe, but juicy the two of us can tackle.”

  “Juicy?”

  “If you send us off on a wild goose chase, she’ll figure it out. What I need is a real job that Nikki and I can sink our teeth into that will actually help you while keeping us out of your way. I’d also prefer a job that will keep Nikki out of harm’s way.”

  Colt didn’t answer right away. I hoped he was considering my request and trying to come up with something Nikki and I could do to help rather than simply trying to find a way to tell me to butt out.

  “I need someone to talk to Liv again,” Colt said. “I’ve spoken to her, and the DA has spoken to her, but she’s mostly just clammed up. She knows Nikki. Nikki shouldn’t pose a threat to her. Maybe if Nikki approaches her from the position of doing her own investigation outside the official one, Liv will talk to her. The woman keeps the books and handles the inventory. She’s known Elena for a long time, which, given what we’ve learned, probably means she knew Damian for a long time as well. She has to have an idea or an opinion as to what might be going on, but so far, she isn’t sharing what she knows with anyone.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Interviewing Liv is a good idea. I’m sure Nikki will want to talk to Elena as well now that she’s out of jail. We’ll go and do that, and you do your thing, and we’ll talk later.”

  “Okay. And keep an eye on Nikki. I don’t suspect Liv of anything, and I doubt she presents a danger, but I’m still not sure about Elena.”

  “I’ll keep my eyes and ears open. If I start to feel uncomfortable, we’ll abort. I’ll text you every two hours, so you know we’re okay.”

  “I like that idea, but make it every hour. Just a quick thumbs up will do.”

  “Okay. I’ll stay in touch. And call or text if you get new information. If I’m going to be in the middle of this with Nikki, I’d like to know what’s going on.”

  “I’ll keep you in the loop. Talk to you later.”

  As I suspected, Nikki was thrilled with my idea to head over to the gallery and chat with Liv. Elena too if she was there. If the gallery was closed, as I suspected it might be, Nikki knew where Liv lived, and we agreed that her house would be our second stop if the first one didn’t work out.”

  Chapter 12

  Nikki and I started by visiting the gallery, which, as it turned out, was closed. To be honest, I would have been surprised if it was open, given the fact that the owner had been in jail. There was a sign on the door saying that they were closed for construction, which I supposed was better than admitting they were closed due to a murder, but Holiday Bay was a small town. Everyone would eventually find out the truth anyway.

  We decided to head toward the house on the north edge of town where Liv had rented an apartment over the garage of her landlord, who I later learned was none other than Elena. Nikki shared with me that she’d given Liv a ride to work a couple weeks ago when her car was in the shop, so she knew where she lived. Liv was home when we arrived, and reluctantly let us come in after Nikki explained that we had a few questions and would appreciate a few minutes of her time.

  “This whole thing has been so surreal,” Liv said after offering us coffee, which we accepted.

  “It’s been very upsetting,” Nikki agreed. “I’d only known Damian a short time, but I felt like we’d really made a connection. He was such a genuine soul. I just can’t imagine who would want to hurt him.”

  “If you want my opinion, Damian was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Liv offered. “I doubt the attack on him was personal.”

  “So, you think he just ended up in the middle of things?” I asked.

  Liv nodded. “I heard that two of the most expensive Bloomfield paintings were stolen the night Damian died. Two other less valuable paintings had gone missing on Saturday night. My theory is that someone who’d come to the showing over the weekend decided that the gallery would be an easy mark, at least compared to the gallery where Bloomfield normally keeps his work, so they came up with a plan to steal the pieces before they were returned to the gallery in New York. Since Bloomfield was only
going to have his work on display with us for the weekend, they needed to act fast.”

  “If that’s true, why not take everything they wanted on Saturday?” I asked. “Why steal two pieces and then come back for two more the following night? That part makes no sense.”

  Liv frowned. “No, I guess it doesn’t make sense, but the only explanation I can come up with for the four missing paintings is theft.”

  “Do you think Damian was in on the theft?” I asked.

  “No,” Liv said right away. “I’m not sure why Damian was there, maybe he’d forgotten something he’d gone back for, but my suspicion is that he arrived at the gallery during the burglary, and someone hit him over the head to prevent him from sounding the alarm.”

  “That makes a lot of sense to me,” Nikki placed a hand over Liv’s. “I know Elena has been arrested, but I just can’t believe she’d do such a thing. I mean, why would anyone steal from their own gallery? Once word about the theft gets out, she’ll have a hard time convincing other artists to allow their work to be exhibited.”

  “Elena wouldn’t do any of this,” Liv assured Nikki. “And Damian wouldn’t have been involved in it either.”

  I didn’t respond at first, hoping that Nikki would ask about the alarm since Liv seemed to trust her, and she looked at me with distrust every time I spoke. Nikki, however, launched into a dialogue about how sad it was going to be to come into the gallery and not find Damian there, so I decided to ask the remaining questions I had myself.

  “I understand the alarm code was used when whoever showed up at the gallery on Sunday night entered the building, and that there are only a handful of people who have the code,” I said.

  “The alarm code was indeed used to allow whoever arrived to enter, but I suspect there are a lot more people with the code than you would imagine,” Liv answered.

  “I was told that you, Elena, Jennifer, and the cleaning lady are the only individuals to have the code other than the security company,” I said.

  “No. That isn’t true at all. Elena has given the code to a couple of the artists who have work displayed at the gallery. I don’t know how many people she may have given it to, but I know Damian had it, and she mentioned giving it to Bloomfield, who wanted access to his work for one reason or another.”

  Okay, that was an interesting piece of information. Either Liv was wrong about this, or Elena had lied to Colt about the number of people with access to the building. I suspected the latter was true.

  “Is the art the gallery has on exhibit insured?” I asked.

  “Oh, sure,” Liv answered. “Elena has a blanket policy that covers most of the work, but the very expensive pieces have additional coverage specific to that piece.”

  The insurance payouts were an interesting angle to consider. Could Bloomfield, who Liv just told me had the code to the gallery, have shown up to steal his own work in order to get the insurance payout? On the one hand, it seemed like he was doing well, and insurance fraud would be a risk not worth taking. But on the other hand, I hadn’t been able to figure out why a big name like Xander Bloomfield would even bother to show his paintings in a tiny gallery like Elena’s unless he had an ulterior motive for doing so.

  “Do you have copies of the riders added to your insurance policy for specific pieces?” I asked Liv.

  “Sure. They’re at the gallery. Why do you ask?”

  “I understand that two of Bloomfield’s pieces went missing on the night that Damian was murdered and two additional pieces the night before. Do you happen to know if the pieces that were taken had extra coverage?”

  She nodded. “Each of the pieces Bloomfield had on display had an insurance rider specific to the piece that equaled the appraised value. Having the extra insurance was one of Bloomfield’s conditions before agreeing to the exhibit. I imagine Bloomfield is upset that his work has been stolen, but if it isn’t recovered, he won’t suffer financially.”

  “What about Damian’s work?” I asked. “Did any of his work carry an insurance rider?”

  “No,” Liv answered. “Damian isn’t considered to be the same caliber artist as Bloomfield. His stuff is interesting, but his work was mainly displayed in the gallery based on his friendship with Elena, and not his organic talent. I doubt anyone would want to steal his work, and if it was stolen, the basic policy would cover the loss.” She reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m sorry. This whole thing has been so hard on me.”

  “I’m sure it has been difficult,” I sympathized. “I understand that you and Elena and Damian have been friends for a long time.”

  “I’ve known Elena for a long time, and I’ve known Damian for a few years now, but I can’t say that Damian and I were close. If I’m honest, we really didn’t get along.”

  “And why was that?” I asked.

  “Elena had a blind side when it came to Damian. She let him get away with things she really shouldn’t have.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  Liv shrugged. “Bookkeeping things mostly. Elena put me in charge of the books and inventory. I take my job seriously. There are certain things I need from the artists who display work with us in order to do my job competently. Most of the artists have been wonderful about supplying those items, but Damian seemed to be of the mind that my requests were unreasonable. It is true that as an independent seller, he wasn’t required by law to provide the background details an employer might ask for, but Elena asked me to do a catalog with information about all our full-time artists, which I then needed to gather from them. Damian was very stingy with the background information he was willing to share, which was ridiculous since I already knew almost everything anyway. Still, I did need some specifics, so I spoke to Elena about it, and she told me she’d talk to him, but I don’t think she ever did. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  “Were you close with Elena?” I asked.

  “Very close. In fact, she’s the most important person in my life. I’d do anything for her, which is more than I can say for some people.”

  “Some people?” I asked.

  She frowned. “Never mind. It’s not important. Let’s just say that Elena doesn’t always make the best decisions when it comes to her personal relationships, but I don’t suppose Elena’s personal relationships are really important to this discussion. Was there anything else you needed to know?”

  “No,” I answered. I could sense the shield that Liv had erected. She knew she’d said too much, and we weren’t going to get anything else out of her. “We appreciate you taking the time to speak to us. Have a good day.”

  After Nikki and I spoke to Liv, we headed across town to speak to Jennifer. She was a part-time worker who had only met Elena back in June when Elena had first come to Holiday Bay with the idea of opening a gallery. The gallery didn’t actually open until late August, and Damian didn’t arrive until mid-September, so while Jennifer knew both individuals, she didn’t know either the victim or the suspect all that well.

  When Nikki mentioned that Elena had admitted to being the one who moved things in the gallery in order to perpetuate the idea that the gallery might have ghosts, Jennifer was surprised. She swore that Elena had never shared her plans with her, and in her opinion, the whole thing was a rather silly way to get some free publicity. I asked her what she’d thought had been going on, and she answered that she suspected that someone was moving the artwork to cover up missing pieces that actually had been removed, and to be honest, in my mind, that made for a much better explanation. I wondered if Elena had been removing pieces of art all along, and the ghost story was simply a cover-up.

  “I guess we’ve done what we can for today,” I said to Nikki once we’d completed our interview with Jennifer. “Do you want to go back to the inn, or do you want me to drop you at home?”

  “I’ll go back to the inn,” she decided. “When I first came to you about helping Elena, I was certain she was innocent, but it seems like most of what we’ve found out today points to the f
act that she’s been lying the entire time.” She blew out a slow breath. “I don’t know why I should waste my time trying to clear her name when she hasn’t been honest. Maybe I’ll just hang out with Georgia and Amy today.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. I think they planned to experiment with some new recipes for Georgia’s show.”

  Once we returned to the inn, Nikki went off to find Georgia, and I returned to the cottage to call Colt. He may have already considered the insurance scam idea, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. At the very least, the idea seemed like it might warrant a discussion.

  Colt suggested that we meet at Velma’s for lunch to discuss the information Nikki and I had managed to gather that morning, so I headed back into town. When I arrived at the diner, he was already sitting in a booth, chatting with Velma, who greeted me when I joined them, took my order, and then headed into the kitchen.

  “So it sounds like you and Nikki had a successful morning,” he said after a brief kiss hello.

  “I guess you could say that. If nothing else, I think the interviews helped Nikki to see the truth about both Elena and Damian. She’s helping out at the inn, and seems to have given up her quest to clear Elena’s name.”

  “I guess if nothing else comes out of the morning, then you can still consider your effort to be worthwhile.”

  I took a sip of the iced tea Velma set in front of me. “The one thing I did think might be important from the two interviews we conducted this morning is the fact that Elena had additional insurance riders on the paintings that Bloomfield had chosen to display this weekend. I have no reason to believe that Bloomfield might be in on whatever is going on, but I think it might be worthwhile to look into his finances. It has been mentioned that artwork has turned up missing from other galleries where Elena worked. It would be a pretty sweet scam to locate artists who might have met with financial trouble, help them steal their own work, collect the insurance, and then resell the work on the black market. If the artist is in on it, the fallout from the theft would be minimized, although I’m sure the insurance company would put their own investigator on it. Still, the artist would make out pretty well, and Elena and whoever was working with her, would get a cut and make out financially as well.”