Page 28 of Artful Deceit
“I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said weakly, though that was exactly what she’d intended.
“Anyway.” Gideon pulled the door closed behind them, leaving them in the bright and calm studio. “I wouldn’t usually show these to anyone, but you seem to appreciate my style of art, so I’ll let you have a look. They are a little different from my usual style. I’ll warn you of that.”
She drew in a steady breath as he turned the paintings to show her. To be fair, they differed from the other paintings, but as far as Lily could tell, only in the colour scheme. What with these being black and grey rather than the brighter colours.
“It gives the sense of a storm,” Lily said.
“Precisely. I knew you’d get it. Not a storm in the literal sense, though.”
“Of course not,” Lily chimed, as though she had a clue what on earth they were talking about.
“I knew you’d like these.” He held one up and gazed at it. “That’s partly why I was hesitant to show you. I’m not sure I can part with them, you see.”
“I can understand that.” Lily really didn’t want him to part with them either.
“I’m sorry if I got your hopes up, but I don’t think I could even put a price on them. What about the one of Porthcressa Beach? I’d do you a little discount on that one. The online price is six thousand pounds, but I could knock off a couple of hundred for you.”
Her throat spasmed, and it was an effort not to choke.
“I’ll have to think it over. I’d need to measure the walls too.”
“It’s because you’ve seen these, isn’t it?” He sighed as he looked lovingly at the paintings in his hands.
“Gideon!” a female voice called before Saffron appeared at the top of the stairs. “We’re all downstairs waiting for you.”
“Whatever for?” he sniped.
“The charcoal workshop.”
“That’s not until four o’clock.”
“It’s four now.” Saffron thrust her watch out as proof.
“Well, I’ll be down shortly. I’m just in the middle of a meeting.”
Saffron smiled. “Hi, Lily.”
“Hi. Have you had a good day?”
“Excellent, thank you. I’m just excited to learn about working with charcoal now. Roland tells me it’s his speciality.” Her smile vanished. “I mean… I’m sure he’s not as good as Gideon, but it’s his favourite type of art, so he’s got me all excited.”
“I was just going anyway, so I’ll leave you to get on with it.”
If only there were a way for her to sneak into the guest accommodation while they were all busy with their charcoal lesson. The fact that every wall downstairs was comprised mostly of glass would make that fairly difficult.
She waved to the group as she exited through the French doors and only then noticed that the retired schoolteacher wassitting on a large log by the unlit fire pit. Lily fought to remember her name as she approached from behind her.
Martha.
She only realised she was on the phone at the last minute, and Martha was so focused on the conversation that she didn’t register Lily.
“I can’t figure out how to switch it to a video call,” she was saying, with the phone pressed to her ear. “I’m trying, but I can’t get it to work. I don’t know what’s wrong with it.”
“Need some help?” Lily asked.
Martha’s fierce gaze whipped around to Lily, but she only clutched the phone more tightly as she stalked away.
“I’ll take that as a no then,” Lily muttered.
