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“That hurt!”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
“Sorry.” He takes my face in his hands, kisses me full on the mouth. “I love you. Let’s go to bed, Mrs. Blackman-to-be.”
FOUR
Fall came fast this year. One moment we were spending weekends by the beach and the next I had to pull out the heaviest clothes from storage. There’s a biting wind this morning that makes me wish I’d worn a scarf. I was lulled into complacency by a small patch of blue sky which, by the time I get off the bus is well and truly gone, replaced by gray clouds.
I am on a mission. I’m going to ask Bruno for an advance against my salary. I’ve never done that before, and I’m not completely sure he’ll say yes, but I think he will. Bruno likes me. Notlikesme, but we get on well. I am a valued employee. I sell a lot of works for him. You could say I’ve turned his business around. That has to count for something.
I walk briskly, past the firefighter memorial where a crow that was calmly perched on a bronze shoulder takes off with a cry, past the plane trees that stand behind the memorial, with their stark, black branches against the sky.
I am rehearsing the conversation in my head. If I may, Bruno, could I get an advance on my pay? Fifteen hundred dollars, is that all right with you? No. Too deferential. What about, Bruno, by the way, I’m going to need an advance on my pay, fifteen hundred dollars. Could you transfer it today? No. Too entitled. Not at all my style.
I turn the corner and I’m at the door of the gallery, my keys in my hand hovering before the lock, but the door is already open. Only by an inch or so, which isn’t necessarily unusual—it could be that Gavin or Bruno left it open when they came in—except the bolt has jutted out so the door can’t close again. You have to put the key in the lock and draw the bolt back, and this is something that happens sometimes with this door. You have to pull it quite hard for the latch to engage, otherwise it gets wedged against the plate and a gust of wind can push the door open, at which point the bolt will spring out, which is exactly what happened here.I was supposed to have the whole lock replaced, as it’s old and not the most secure system in the world, but I had other things on my mind. I put it off, and then I put it off again.
The other thing I notice is that the sign I put up before I left yesterday is still there.Back at 4. My stomach does a little twist. Just a small one. I’m not panicking yet. I walk in. The light through the passage at the back that leads to the second gallery is on and I can hear footsteps.
“Oh thank God!” I say out loud. I turn to the alarm panel but of course it’s already off, as is the CCTV control panel. I take off my coat and drop it on the desk with my bag. “Is that you, Gav? I think I just had a heart attack, for a moment I thought—”
“Hi, Laura!” It’s her, the young woman from yesterday. Summer, that’s it. She’s standing in the open doorway that leads to the second gallery, beaming her big smile at me and holding a black folder against her chest.
I check my watch. “Oh, hi! Of course, nine am, and I’m two minutes late. I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right. I was early.”
I unbutton my coat, glance over her shoulder. “Is Gavin out the back?”
“Sorry, I don’t know who Gavin is, but there’s no one here. Just me!”
“Just you?” I tilt my head. “So how did you get in?”
“The door was open.”
“Oh.” And then, from the corner of my eye, something odd.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
I turn my head slowly. On the wall to my right should be six of Claire Carter’s works on display. Now there are five, plus a blank space. I walk over, put my hand where the work is missing. “The Inverted Garden,” I say. I turn to look at her and for a moment, I don’t know what to say. “It should be there. Do you know what happened to it?”
“No, should I?”
I’m going to be sick. I turn back to the wall. “When did you say you got here?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No, there was no one here. Like I said, the door was open and I just walked in. The light was on down there, so I called out and walked through to the other gallery, but there was no one there either.”
I walk out the back and check the storeroom. It’s locked. I rummage through my bag and get out my phone, call Gavin.
“Hi Laura, I’m on my way. What’s up?”
I’m biting on a fingernail. “What time did you leave the gallery yesterday?”
“Oh, yeah, I didn’t make it back. Things took too long at the bank and by the time I left, it was after five anyway. Why?”
