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She didn't like that her mom needed Nick to confirm what she'd already told her.
"She's good," Nick said shortly."But she was lucky, and so was I.We need to find out who's after us.And we believe you might be able to help."
"I don't see how.I didn't even know about the robbery."
"But you know Lucinda's work, her painting," Nick said."And what's happening is tied to that."
"I studied Lucinda's work when I was young.She was my inspiration to be an artist.I was fascinated by her.I even went to the school where she used to teach.I wanted to be exactly like her, but I was never as talented as she was."Her mother paused."The painting that was stolen wasn't nearly as good as some of the sketches in her book, so it didn't mean that much to me.I was sad that the rest of her work had been destroyed in the fire that took her life, so I clung to what she had left."She paused."I still can't believe someone stole that painting.It was lying around in my closet when I was a teenager.I never thought it was that important."
"We need to figure out why it was valuable," she said, feeling her headache returning, which probably had more to do with this uncomfortable situation than the car accident.
Her mother gave her a sharp look."You look pale.You need to sit down.I'm going to get us some lemonade."
As her mother moved into the small kitchen, she and Nick sat down on the sofa.It felt better to be off her feet.While her mother was getting the drinks, she looked around the apartment once more, her gaze coming to rest on three small, framed photographs on the side table.They were all of her and her mother, two taken when she was under five, the third from her twelfth birthday, right before her mother married Gary.
She was stunned to see them displayed on her mother's table.When her mother and Gary had gotten married, the only photographs in the house had been of the three of them or her mom and Gary alone.Her mother had told her she didn't want Gary to feel like he wasn't part of their family.
So why bring these photos back now?
Her stomach twisted with tension.She didn't want to do this.She didn't want to think her mother missed those days, because those days were long gone.
Nick followed her gaze and picked up the photo nearest to him."You were a cute kid."
"I don't know why she has those out," she said tightly.
He gave her a compassionate look and put the photo down."Because she wants to remember the good times.Maybe you do, too."
She felt too choked up to argue with him.
"I'm going to help your mom."He gave her leg a squeeze before getting to his feet.
She didn't want him to help her mother or to like her mother, but she couldn't tell him that.It would make her sound childish, and maybe that's what she was being.She wasn't a kid anymore; she was an adult, and she needed to act like one.
Nick and her mother returned a moment later, and she put her game face on.He handed her a lemonade and sat down as her mom took the chair across from them.
A long sip of the sugary drink almost immediately gave her more energy."So, we need to figure out what Lucinda and Tomas's work had to do with paintings by Frederico Germain and David Leoni," she said."All four artists had their paintings stolen this year, and we know they painted together at Tomas's studio."
"That's true," her mother said."Frederico was about ten years younger than Lucinda and David was probably twenty-five years younger."
She was surprised her mother knew that much."How do you know that?"
"I read Lucinda's diary.She talked a lot about the people she painted with at Tomas's studio."
"Lucinda had a diary?Do you have it?"
"No.I got rid of it years ago."
"How could you do that?"
"I asked my mother, and she didn't want it.You cared nothing about art, Isabella.I didn't think it would matter to you."
"It would matter now that we're trying to figure out if she and Tomas were killed."
Her mother's jaw dropped."The fire wasn't an accident?"
"It's looking less likely.Someone also suggested to us that Lucinda was a forger, that she was copying, not creating.What do you know about that?"
"I know she copied a lot when she was learning her craft.Her sketches recreating famous paintings were very good.But if you're asking me if she said that's what she was doing in her diary, she did not."
