Page 12 of No Artful Refusal
Chapter 5
From a coffee shopacross the street, Devyn watched the detectives enter the museum.
Finally.
She’d spent hours on this street for three days straight.Obviously, she had put too much hope in Cade Laurier, thinking he’d take immediate action on the tip she’d called in.She’d second-guessed herself over and over.Would it have been better to just call him directly?Doubtful.
Although he’d saved her life during the hunt for a serial killer a while back, he didn’t like her.Definitely didn’t approve of her special talents or how she used them in her career.And he’d made it clear a thousand ways that he didn’t want her help with his cases.
She supposed that was fair.She wouldn’t want him involved in her work either.After their first meeting months ago, she’d done her research, learned he had a solid reputation among his peers and with prosecutors.
Maybe he had checked on her tip from a distance.She wouldn’t know the answer to that without doing a search or asking him outright.Neither option held much appeal.She didn’t go to the abyss for frivolous questions anyway.
Her initial hope had been that he’d follow up on the tip and visit the museum, instilling fear into Janice Willoughby before she stole the Sorenson painting.Surely, a visit and a few pointed questions would have been enough to put the museum on high-alert, preventing the current disaster.
But Willoughby had taken the painting and Devyn’s psychic connection was sounding the alarm that soon the painting would be out of reach forever.She couldn’t let that happen.Marlene would be devastated.Devyn too—for failing one of the most important people in her life.
Sipping her coffee, she watched and waited, her patience fraying a bit around the edges.Time was slipping away, taking Paula’s gift and Marlene’s treasure along with it.
No.She had to stay positive.Had to exert whatever forces she had at her disposal to prevent the worst-case scenario.The detectives were here now.They had a name.They’d recover the painting and bring it back to its rightful place.
This might not be the time to be completely passive, but she refused to jump the gun and cause more problems.
In her pocket, her phone hummed.She didn’t have to look to know it was Marlene calling.“How are you feeling?”
“Better,” Marlene replied.“Your chicken soup works miracles.”
“Ha.It was a stubborn cold that had to run its course, that’s all.”
She could almost hear Marlene smile.“Maybe so.Janice is about to run,” she said.“I saw it before I woke up this morning and again about an hour ago.”
A prickly unease lifted the hair along Devyn’s nape, too strong to ignore.“Don’t worry,” she soothed.“Detectives Hoffman and Laurier are in the museum now.”
“The painting isn’t there,” Marlene said, her voice tight as a wire.
“We both know who took it,” Devyn agreed.“And the police will be on our side soon enough.We just need to give them time.”
“They havehadtime.I’ve had another vision, Devyn.She is going to sell that painting tonight.If she succeeds, I’ll never see it again.”
Devyn wanted to chalk it up to paranoia, but what was the point?Discounting Marlene’s extraordinary gifts was pure folly.Her mentor’s psychic gifts for seeing the future were extremely reliable.
“I’m turning on the recorder,” Devyn said.“Tell me everything.”
