Framed Shadows: Shadows Landing #6 Kathleen Brooks (summer beach reads .TXT) 📖

could keep the art in the back and not out for display. This is very personal for us and very hard for us to part with. I’d hate to have people gawking over my grandmother’s paintings,” Maurice said so sincerely Tinsley almost forgot these were most likely stolen.

“Of course, Maurice.” Tinsley put her hand to her heart as if she were touched by his love for his grandmother. “Now, this will take me at least a week to go through and get ready for sale, but then I should be good to go. Is that timeline acceptable for your family?”

“Yes, but if you get done even quicker, we won’t complain.” Maurice signed the papers and handed them all over to her. “These paintings mean everything to our family. I need to know they will be kept safe.”

“I have a large vault in the back and a very good security system. Also, the police department is just right down there,” Tinsley said as she pointed down the street. She enjoyed the slightly uncomfortable look on Maurice’s face.

“This is the last one,” Murray said, interrupting them as he led Paxton to the back of the room. Paxton was carrying a large painting at least four feet tall. She couldn’t wait to get a look at it.

“Thank you for entrusting me with your family’s art. I will do right by the collection. I’ll call as soon as I’m ready to start selling them.” Tinsley stood and shook Maurice’s hand.

“We have some private buyers as well. The ones we told you about. Get a list of the art and text me with the painting names and how much each is worth. I’ll see if I can send some sales your way. When it comes to buyers I send you, I’ll tell you the price I will accept. No negotiating is necessary.”

“Whatever you want, Maurice. I’ll get that to you as soon as I catalog everything,” Tinsley promised. She would say anything at this point to get them out of the building so she could uncover each painting.

Tinsley walked them to the gallery door and waved goodbye as they got into the van. She smiled, waved, and wished they’d get out of there. As soon as they were heading down the street, she locked the front door and ran toward the back of the gallery.

Paxton had kept quiet and as soon as he was no longer needed, he’d slipped into the back of the building. Out of sight, out of mind.

“Paxton! There’s a Vermeer!”

Paxton strode from the back rooms with a look of disbelief. “A Vermeer? I don’t think so.”

Tinsley put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes at him. “Are you doubting my ability to identify a Vermeer?” She gestured for Paxton to open the painting on the desk as she pulled out the paperwork Maurice had brought her.

“Holy crap! It is a Vermeer. How would they end up with a Vermeer?” Paxton looked up at her with wonder.

“I’m not the expert here on forged papers, but these look a little new for being receipts from the 1940s.” Tinsley handed them over to Paxton to examine.

“This is current printer ink, but the paper has been tumbled in a dryer for a bit to make it appear older. They’re from Argentina. That’s it. I knew I was right,” Paxton said excitedly.

“Right about what?” Tinsley asked.

“The Myriad gang is working with the Argentinian mob. The Myriad want to expand their gang and their illegal businesses, but they can’t do that without muscle and money, which the Argentinians are giving them. I bet they teamed up. The Argentinians will become a silent partner for the Myriad, so to speak. They’ll supply the drugs and guns, and the Myriad will sell them. With a partnership like that, the Myriad will be able to corner a larger part of the illegal markets, and the Argentinians will just sit back and rake in the money. Plus they can take their illegal activities out of Argentina and then receive laundered money in return. They can look legit.”

“That makes sense to me, but not the art. Where does this all fit in?” Tinsley gestured to all the art.

“This is the expansion money. Half of the sale price goes to the Argentinians, and then the other half goes to Curtis for a fencing fee. There’s danger attached with fencing a lot of valuable art that a lot of people must be looking for. If he’s successful, then Curtis has the income to buy the best drug runners, dealers, chemists . . .” Paxton paused and then smiled. “They’re going to bring in some buyers, right? This is how they’re going to clean their money—pay the Argentinians and use the art to get the guns and drugs they need. Say you need a million dollars worth of guns and have a two million dollar painting. You sell the painting for one million to the gun dealer, so he’s not out two million. However, the gun dealer can go sell it for two million and bam, you’re both square and it’s all clean money. Or he can trade it for something else with another criminal.”

“I guess we’ll find out when I see how much they authorize the sale for,” Tinsley said, looking down at the Vermeer. “You won’t actually make me sell this, will you? This is history. It shouldn’t be used in black market dealings.”

“I don’t know what we’ll do. We might be able to sell a forgery or go forward with the sale and then immediately arrest the buyer. However,” Paxton said with a grimace, “we need to prove these are stolen. Then I need to link them to Curtis. After I have that evidence I can start taking down the people who come in to buy the paintings.”

“We need to get to work. I’ll call Ellery to see if she can come help, too.” Tinsley pulled out her phone and called her cousin-in-law while Paxton began moving the paintings to the back