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"If their relationship is love, I don't want any part of it."
Her lips turned down in a frown."Love can be wonderful, Nick.I hate to see you turn your back on such an important emotion to have in your life."
"I'm not turning my back, but my expectations are not high.Anyway, we don't need to talk about it."
"Well, if you don't want to talk to me about it, maybe you should talk to your parents."
"If they really wanted me there, they would have called.But that's not the way our family operates.They have their lives; I have mine.And I suspect there's a hidden agenda behind this ceremony.Maybe it's a way to get some extra publicity for an upcoming concert or something."He popped another olive into his mouth."Let's get back to the problem at hand.Did Papa ever tell you why the paintings had to go in the vault?"
"Only what I said before that Tomas wanted his work to be protected and away from the eyes of all the artists who came in and out of his studio when he taught classes there."
"I wonder why he wanted his work hidden away.Tomas was an artist.Why wouldn't he want his work to be shown to the world?Isn't that why he painted?"
"It might have had something to do with being a perfectionist.If it wasn't perfect, he didn't want to show it."
"If it wasn't perfect, why did he give it to his son for safekeeping?It sounds like he wanted to protect it, hide it, maybe.For what reason?"His mind raced around the puzzle taking shape in his head."Was there something in the painting?Was it even his painting?"
"What?You think he stole it?"she asked in shock."Your great-grandfather was not a thief."
"I'm just considering all the possibilities.Tomas knew someone wanted that painting or both of his paintings.That's why he gave his work to Papa and told him to keep it safe.Then he dies in a fire where his entire studio is destroyed.That seems like an enormous coincidence."
She gave him a troubled look."When you put it together like that, it does.I never thought of it that way.The fire was an accident.It was a tragedy, but it wasn't a mystery."
"Maybe it wasn't an accident.Perhaps it was purposefully set to destroy Tomas and his work.Lucinda might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.Or she also had something that someone wanted.Her painting is gone now, too."
"But she didn't hide her painting.It was just loose in Sylvie's things.It wasn't framed or anything."
"Which would have made it more difficult to find.Both of your houses were burglarized.I can't believe Papa didn't think that was odd after just losing his father in a fire."
"Marcus was distraught when Tomas died.He wasn't thinking clearly."
"I wish I could have seen the painting," he muttered.
"You can see a picture," she said, taking out her phone."I took several photos at the exhibition."She opened her photo app and handed him her phone."The first one is Tomas's painting and the second one is Lucinda's."
He enlarged the photo so he could see the painting better.He had never been that interested in art and knew little about it.Tomas's painting was a bright swirl of colors of a tree heavy with leaves, with a bird building a nest.The rest of the painting was a blurred wash of sunset colors, pinks, purples, and oranges.
"It looks better when you see the actual painting," his grandmother said."The brush strokes really make the scene come alive."
He nodded as he moved to Lucinda's painting.She'd focused her perspective on stairs that went up one way, then turned to the right, each step a mix of browns, lined and weathered.There was a light at the top right corner that gave an almost eerie look at the stairs.The rest of the painting was black."This feels a little darker."
"I thought so, too.But they're both good, don't you think?"
"Honestly, Nonna, I have no idea."He flipped to the next picture."What's this one?"She leaned over to take a look."That one is by a woman named Lisette."
"It's much busier than the other two, looking at a park carnival scene."
"There wasn't a theme to the exhibit.Each artist just had to have been born in Rome."
"What about the other painting that was stolen?Do you have that one on your camera?"
"Yes, I took photos of all twelve paintings.Keep going," she said."It should come up.Frederico's painting features geometric colored shapes and patterned tiles."
He flipped through several more pictures until he got to that one.As she'd said, Frederico's painting was a combination of shapes and colors that didn't really make sense to him.They could have been floor tiles or ceiling tiles or just shapes, but like the other two, the edges of the painting were blurry.He had no idea if it was good or not, but someone else might."Do you mind if I send these to my phone?"
"Of course not."
He texted himself the series of photos so he could pass them along to other experts.Then he handed back her phone.
