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“No!”
Dan turned to look at him. “You know I’m not going to stop. Not now.” He touched the door again, and a shiver trickled through him, the same shiver as before, only more intense.
“What do you sense?” Gary asked.
Dan stroked the smooth wood surface. “Strong, positive emotions. Exhilaration, joy….” He grabbed the door edge and dragged it over toward the other side, and another panel slid into view.
Shock thrummed through him. He’d suspected, but he hadn’t been prepared for the reality of his discovery. Dan took several steps back, until he was almost at the opposite wall, to fully take in the panel attached to the doorframe. Secured to it was a painting, maybe sixty inches high and fifty across. It depicted a stormy scene at sea, a dark, dramatic painting.
It took Dan’s breath away.
Gary expelled a breath. “That’s beautiful. Why would you want to hide it away?”
Dan didn’t wait to hear the senator’s response. “Because it’sChrist in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, by Rembrandt. It was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in March 1990, one of thirteen works of art stolen in one night. The FBI valued the stolen works at hundreds of millions of dollars. None of them have ever been recovered, and there’s a reward of ten million dollars for information leading to their recovery.”
“How do you know all this?” Gary demanded.
“What do you think I was googling on the way back here? Lori gave me the idea.” He glanced at the senator. “Care to explain whatyou’redoing with it?”
Senator Cain swallowed. “It’s a copy. Cheryl painted it.”
Dan approached the canvas with reverence, then touched it lightly. “No, it isn’t a copy.” Another glance. “Want to try that again?”
The senator swallowed. “It was… loaned to me.”
Gary gaped at him. “By whom? The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum? I sincerely doubt that.”
Dan took another step back and almost stumbled over the marble hearth in front of the fireplace. He put his hand out to stop his fall—and froze.
Senator Cain stood in front of the painting. “Sothat’show she knew. She never told me. Six months after she disappeared, I changed the rollers on the picture panel.”
Dan sighed. “It’s too late, Senator.”
The senator became so still. “What do you mean?”
“There are no sliding panels left. It’s time to reveal what else you’ve been hiding.” He locked gazes with him.
Senator Cain’s breathing hitched. “You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?” Gary looked from the senator to Dan with a bewildered expression.
Dan said nothing, waiting.
Senator Cain shuddered out a breath. “That I killed her.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
GARY PRIDEDhimself on being prepared for most eventualities, but he hadn’t seen that coming.
“Youkilled Cheryl?”
Senator Cain nodded. “But—”
Gary held his hand up. “Stop right there, Senator.” This was one conversation that needed to take place at the precinct. He thought fast. The nearest police department was in Lenox, but…. “We’re taking you back to Boston. We’ll continue this when we get there.” And before the senator could utter another word, Gary Mirandized him, arresting him for receiving stolen property and the suspected murder of Cheryl Somers. One glance at Dan’s expression told him Dan was as shocked as he was.
He didn’t see this coming either.
Maybe it was more the case that neither of them had wanted to believe the senator capable of such a crime.
