Page 64 of Close Up

“Absolutely. But whether or not the works of an artist with a great vision actuallysellis very much up to dealers like me.”

Chapter 31

What the hell just happened in there?” Nick asked. He glanced through the window and saw the dealer sitting down behind her desk. He turned back to a flushed and seething Vivian. “Did that gallery owner insult you?”

“What?” Vivian looked startled. “Oh. No, not at all. She wants to hang two of my prints and she’s offered me the use of a fully equipped darkroom that she maintains in her back room. I’ve got an appointment to develop my pictures tomorrow.”

“That’s great.” Nick took her arm and steered her toward a sidewalk café. “So why did you come out of the gallery with fire in your eyes?”

Vivian’s jaw tightened. “Because she enlightened me about why my career had stalled in Adelina Beach.”

“Did she?” Nick asked softly. “And what exactly did she have to say about it?”

“Evidently there are rumors going around to the effect that I have debased my artistic vision by dabbling in scandal sheet photography.”

“Debased, huh?”

“None of the reputable galleries in Adelina Beach will hang my work for fear of making it look as if the proprietors can’t tell the difference between real art and cheap, freelance photography. Apparently the owner of the Kempton Gallery started the rumors. So much for keeping my newspaper work a secret.”

“But the proprietor of the Ashwood Gallery here in Burning Cove is willing to display a couple of your photos in spite of those rumors?”

Vivian clutched the portfolio to her breast. “She saw what I was trying to do with my series, Nick. But in addition she said there was intimacy and sensuality in my work.”

Nick reflected on the parade of muscular young men who had displayed their very fit bodies in Vivian’s studio.

“Hard to miss the intimacy and sensuality in your pictures,” he said.

Vivian shot him a suspicious glance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I was just confirming the gallery owner’s opinion. If she’s willing to hang your photos in spite of the rumors of your newspaper work, it’s obvious she has a lot of confidence in her own taste.”

Vivian looked a little more cheerful. “Yes, it is.”

“Huh.”

She gave him another wary look. “Now what?”

“I was just wondering when the rumors about your descent into the world of scandal sheet photography got started.”

“I’m not sure. After I moved to Adelina Beach I did some work in the old-fashioned pictorial style. But my heart wasn’t really in it. I found it interesting from a technical point of view but not compelling, if you know what I mean.”

“I think so.”

“It was when I moved into the new, modernist style that I found my feet as an artist, so to speak. The first couple of pictures, bothlandscapes, got some attention. Kempton actually took both and sold them. But shortly after that the rejections started.”

“Interesting.”

Vivian shot him a quick, searching look. “Something happened out here while I was inside the gallery, didn’t it?”

“How can you tell?” he asked, intrigued.

She waved a hand. “Let’s just say I can feel it. Something about your energy.” She glanced down. “And Rex’s energy, too. Both of you look—I don’t know—as if you were a couple of hunters who had picked up a trail.”

He smiled, cold satisfaction moving through his veins. “That’s exactly what happened. You’re good at this kind of thing.”

“Well? What happened?”

He took her arm. “Let’s have coffee. I’ll tell you all about it.”

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