Chapter 16

Moments later, Casper and Darren sauntered in and exchanged air kisses with Fairuza. They saw me and turned away to say hello to the first person they saw. Fairuza’s janitor.

After a few minutes hobnobbing they wound up in front of A More Modern Olympia. They gave each other a stunned look when they saw my signature on the work. Aunt Lauren’s mood had changed since Casper walked in. Now she sidled up next to them. Casper began to say “Hello, Ms. Blantyre, you’re looking lovely” but she cut him off with a poisonous look.

“How dare you? No, really. How? Because I can’t imagine.” She stormed out of the gallery. Before he could exchange a quizzical look with Darren, Rosalie started in.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what that was about, Casper. I called you at least three months ago asking about Mick Cutshaw works,” she stage-whispered. “You said no one considered him a real artist, and here he is. You know Delia needs to be the first to discover new talent. Now it’s too late.”