In his ear, Grace murmured, “You see him yet?”
“Yup.”
“And…?”
“Ugly as sin.”
“Step on him,” Grace said, and Josh smiled softly, immersing himself in the painting once more.
In fact he was so immersed in his job that he was surprised by an authoritative tap on his sore shoulder.
He held back a wince and turned to find himself face-to-face with the enemy.
“Is nice,” Kadjic said dismissively of the painting.“But not what we are here for.”
Josh gave him a deliberate glance and then turned back once again.“I like this artist,” he said.“I’d like to work with him some more.”
“Too… how you say?Ethnic.”
Josh refused to look at him—or rise to the bait.“As is much of Chicago,” he said.“An African and Thai American background gives him amazing choices of history to choose from.”He offered his own casual, dismissive glance.“European heritage is not the end-all and be-all of art.”
He heard it—the sucking in of breath—and regretted his words.He wasn’t supposed to catch Kadjic’s attention.
“You are?”The question was low and obviously intrigued.
“J.D.Morgan,” Josh responded without offering a hand.“I’m Celeste’s art dealer.”
Some of the innuendo fell away.“Oh!You’re the one who found the Abercrombie?”
Josh nodded, able to tell the truth.“A friend of mine did.It was at an estate sale.Hidden treasure.”
“What sort of friend?”
Real reactions are the best reactions, son.Don’t give away any piece of your soul to this man.He’s dangerous, so we’ll trap him—but he’s nobody we need to play up to.
His other father, Felix Salinger, had said that, and his mother had seconded it.
“A friend who doesn’t need to be harassed,” Josh retorted.“He called me, and I made the sale.Does it matter?”
To his surprise, Kadjic affected an ingratiating sort of smile, and Josh realized with a shock that the man was playing up tohim.
“I want to make sure I am not… imposing,” he said, and Josh’s stomach roiled.
“Only on me,” he said mildly, although that bright, whimsical little pocket square seemed to spread a web of protective warmth over his body.
In his ear Grace was saying, “He’s not close enough for the clone, dammit.But don’t move any closer—he’ll take it wrong.”
At that moment, Celeste, wearing a bright red satin version of what Yzma wore in the children’s cartoonEmperor’s New Groove,stood on top of her wood-and-steel staircase to the next level and called out, “We should be ready!Everybody put down your canapes and drinks and come up to the exhibition level.My art dealer and I have beenverybusy preparing our little display for you, and we’re so proud for you to see our newest selection!”
“Oh thank God,” Grace said in his ear.“No lie, you’ve got Chuck and Carl out here ready to rush in there and defend your virtue.”
Josh didn’t respond—he couldn’t without arousing Kadjic’s suspicions—but he did allow his lips to curl into a smile.
“Will you accompany me?”Kadjic asked.“Ms.Buenaventura asked me here specifically to see this painting.The least you can do is escort me up.”
“Don’t let him,” Grace hissed.“With that staircase, all he has to do is hip-check you off and you’re toast.”
The staircasewasfrightening—no guardrail from bottom to top, and Josh had been forced to use the elevator more than once.But Celeste had wanted her guests to “tour” the grounds, and that involved the three flights of stairs through her kitchen and sleeping quarter levels.
