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“You did a good job of making Paar’s death seem natural,” Naomi went on. “Carapaz and Gilchrist had a debate over how to handle it. Carapaz figured he would just wait you out. He argued that you didn’t have the resources to conduct a series of hits, especially against them. Gilchrist was more cautious. When you took out Carapaz, he decided the best defense would be a good offense.”
“And the Anguissola went up for auction to draw us out,” Helen put in.
“It did the trick,” Naomi said, smiling again. “And someday I’d like the whole story of exactly how it went down. But I hear noises in the garden. The cleanup crew is here.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
We watched from the shed as the crew, dressed in discreet grey coveralls, rolled the bodies up into tarps and stacked them neatly in the back of a paneled van. They slammed the back door and drove off without speaking to anyone.
“Where will they take them?” Natalie asked.
“There is a waste facility with an industrial incinerator just outside of Bristol. It handles all of our needs in southern England and Wales. Northern England and Scotland are a different division,” Naomi explained. “The ashes are dumped in the landfill. Within the hour, every trace of them will be obliterated.” She glanced around. “Just out of curiosity, how were you planning on disposing of them?”
“There was some discussion of pigs,” I told her.
She nodded. “Pigs are always a good option in the country.” She looked around the group. “So, let’s discuss the future, ladies. I am here to make you an offer.”
Naomi outlined the terms, and after a little haggling, we struck a bargain. Nobody put anything in writing. It was a handshake deal, decided over ginger chews and a vodka miniature Natalie had in her pocket.
“We get the termination order lifted and our pensions reinstated, and you get to take over as acting director until another board can be selected,” I summed up.
“We can go back to our lives,” Mary Alice said, reaching for Akiko’s hand. Akiko let her, and I realized then they were going to be just fine.
“Yes, but not immediately,” Naomi cautioned. “I have to make sure everybody gets the word that you’re in the Museum’s good graces again. So, lay low for a while, will you?”
“I’m going to Japan,” Natalie said suddenly. “I’ve always wanted to study ikebana.”
Akiko looked at Mary Alice and smiled. “Norway for us, I think. We could take Kevin to the land of his ancestors.” She raised Kevin’s paw and he gave a sleepy growl.
“What about you?” I asked Helen. She took a deep breath as she looked at the house. The fire hadn’t spread beyond the kitchen wing, and the cleanup team had finished putting out the flames. The pall of smoke still hung over the garden, and I figured our hair would smell like it for days.
“I have a house to fix up. I’m ready to tackle it now,” Helen said firmly. “You?”
I thought of a tiny Greek island where Taverner and I had spent a month a lifetime ago. We had rented a farmhouse perched on top of a cliff, overlooking a sea so blue you couldn’t imagine any other color had ever existed in the world. Thewind carried the smell of herbs and salt, and every day the sun had blazed like the chariot wheel of a god.
“Greece,” I said suddenly. “I’ll be in Greece.”
“We will be in Greece,” Minka corrected.
I smiled. I’d let her come and stay a little while. Then I would kick her out, gently, and make her see the world. She needed a gap-year adventure, and when she was gone, there would be time, all the time in the world, I decided, thinking of Taverner. A little sun would do him some good, especially if he were doing naked tai chi in my garden.
Naomi excused herself and went to use the bathroom. When she came back, the others said their good-byes and I walked her out. I took the long way, stopping in the study in front of the painting that still hung on the faded wallpaper. She surveyed it for a long minute. “Astraea,” she said, pointing to the scales and sword.
“You know her?”
Her smile was knowing. “My master’s thesis was the role of allegory and metaphor in the Italian Baroque.”
“Then you understand why this painting was important to Constance Halliday,” I said. “And what she stood for. What the Museum stood for. Once.”
“I do. And believe me, it will again. I promise.”
We shook hands and she left on foot. I don’t know where she left her car and I didn’t ask. She simply faded out into the shadows as silently as she’d come, and I realized her training might have been better than we’d thought.
I walked outside to catch my breath. It was cold, bitterly so, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave just yet.
It was dark in the garden, just before dawn, when the air is grey and the nightbirds are singing. They were tired, those nightbirds, and their song was quieter now. But they were still singing, and they went on singing until dawn broke over the trees.
