The Body in Bodega Bay: A Nora Barnes and Toby Sandler Mystery

Chapter 13

174 13 THE HOUSE PHONE was ringing as we walked in the door. It was Al Miller. “Hi, Al.” “Hi, Nora. I was just talking to George on Skype. He’s finished the cleaning. It looks magnificent. Have you seen it yet? He’s been trying to reach you.” “Not yet. I’ve been out. I just this minute got home.” “Well, wait till you see what it looks like now. I’m sure it’s Rublev. I feel it in my bones.” “Oh, Al, that’s fantastic. And something else just happened, something amazing. I think I may have located the other wing of the triptych.” “No!” “Believe it or not, it’s at the Graton Bakery.” It sounded unreal, even to me. Al was beside himself at this news. “But I have a dilemma.” I didn’t give him all the details, but enough to explain my concerns. 175 “Nora, if you’re right, this is a major discovery for the art world. You can’t just let it drop. It’s too important.” “I know it is, but things are happening so fast. I’m not sure what to do.” “Then you’d better slow down. You’ll talk it over with Toby, won’t you?” “Of course.” As if on cue, my cell phone rang. Caller ID said Toby. I told Al I had to ring off; he understood. “Hi, it’s me.” “Toby, wait till you hear what just happened.” “You can tell me in a minute. Federenco was in again just now, with his son. He wanted to introduce me to him, like he thought I’d be happy to sell them the icon if I had it, just because I met another member of the family. It made me very uncomfortable.” “Oh? What’s he like, the son?” “A bruiser. Didn’t say much, just stood around looking sulky. I felt threatened. They just left a minute ago. I can tell you, I was glad to see the back of them. Okay, so what just happened that you wanted to tell me about?” “Oh, nothing much, I guess, compared with your news.” I played him on my hook. “It’s just that I found a second panel of the triptych.” There was silence on the line. “You did?” Toby finally managed to blurt out. “How? Where?” I reeled him in. “At the angel reader’s. It’s hanging in one of Sophie Redmond’s bedrooms, although she doesn’t realize what she has. It’s the left wing of the triptych, same style and size as ours, with an image of the angel Gabriel on it. Peter Federenco gave it to her around the same time he gave the other one to Rose Cassini. He was sleeping with both of them. How do you like that?” “I can hardly believe it.” “It’s true, though.” “What did you tell her?” 176 “Nothing. At least not yet. Angie is desperate to keep Sophie from finding out about Rose. She’s worried that Sophie will be devastated when she learns that Peter was unfaithful to her, and she wants us to keep it all a secret.” “We can’t do that,” said Toby. “We have to tell her. In fact, it wouldn’t be fair to Sophie not to tell her. First of all, she may own an extremely valuable work of art. It’s in her interest to be aware of that, even if it means finding out about her boyfriend.” I hadn’t considered that. I’d been too locked in to the emotional matrix of the love triangle to give money any thought. “And by the way,” Toby went on, “what about Rose? Does she know about Sophie?” “I don’t think so. She certainly doesn’t know about the other icon, or she would have mentioned it.” “Right. So Rose doesn’t know. Well, she’ll have to find out about it, too.” “I’m afraid so. But Angie will have a fit.” “That can’t be helped.” I told Toby about the two men in the café who could have been eavesdropping on my conversation with Angie, and then we continued talking about Sophie. Finally, Toby said, “Let’s finish this conversation over dinner. Maybe I can bring Angie around.” But Angie was adamant about keeping our discovery a secret, and the discussion during dinner was heated. I...