A quick text message to Dixie helped me realize that not only did I not need to attempt to make a casserole in the middle of the night, but that Mrs. Huntington had us both covered. So I was able to sleep.
On Wednesday, I was so excited to go to work, I didn’t need my alarm clock or my poodle to wake me up. In fact, Aggie gave me a sideways glance when I scooped her and Rex up to go outside. Even Lucky took a few extra stretches before he trotted outside too. Once the four-legged creatures had tended to the call of nature, I was able to grab a cup of coffee and tend to my own needs.
I took extra care getting dressed and even took extra time to curl my hair and apply makeup. When I was dressed, I found David and Stephanie sitting outside drinking coffee. Both had gone out after our meeting and come home in the early hours of the morning, so neither were looking exactly chipper.
“Good morning,” I sang.
David grunted and Stephanie gave me a look that implied my happy disposition wasn’t appreciated at this hour of the morning. Nevertheless, I was bound and determined to enjoy this day and merely sipped my coffee in the beauty of the morning.
Stephanie glared. “Who are you and what have you done with our mother?”
“Very funny.”
David grinned. “I was just about to check the back of your neck for pods.”
“Ha ha. Who knew I had such amusing offspring?”
“You do seem to be in surprisingly good humor this morning,” Stephanie said. “What’s up?”
“It’s my first day at work as a real employee.”
“I completely forgot.” Stephanie hugged me. “Congratulations, Mom.”
“Thank you. It’s my first real job in”—I glanced at David—“over twenty years.” I had given up my job as a CPA when he was born and worked in my husband’s used-car dealership. When his business started doing well, he hired someone to do the bookkeeping so I could stay home and focus on raising our children. I had kept my CPA license over the years but rarely got to use it. “I feel . . . independent.” I smiled. “I had no idea how important it was to me to know that I could take care of myself.” I took a deep breath. “Moving wasn’t easy. In fact, it was rather scary, but I wanted . . . needed a fresh start, and this confirms that I made the right decision.” I choked up.
“Mom, we’re both so proud of you,” Stephanie said, and she leaned over and hugged me.
After a few moments, I pulled away. “I’m going to need to redo my makeup if I don’t stop blubbering like a baby.”
“You deserve a little blubber,” David said. “However, if you don’t want to be late on your first day, we’d better get a move on.”
David drove me to work, and I was pleasantly surprised that in addition to the two vases of flowers I’d received yesterday, there was also a lovely plaque outside my door with my name and title. I almost teared up again but avoided making a fool of myself in front of Jacob and Linda Kay, who were standing there to welcome me.
After I put away my purse, I joined my coworkers for pastries and coffee in Linda Kay’s office.
I wasn’t surprised when Linda Kay said, “We’ll get your paperwork signed and sent to Human Resources, but first we’re hoping you can fill us in on the dirt about Dixon Vannover’s murder.”
“I hate to disappoint you, but all I know is that Red got a call last night that Vannover had been strangled.”
“Just like Naomi Keller?” Jacob asked.
“As far as I know, but he didn’t say how it was done.”
“Maybe it was June?”
I stared. “What makes you say that?”
“I’ve just been imagining what happened between her and Dixon when he got home yesterday and found out she was planning to leave him.”
I spewed my coffee. “She what?”
Jacob grabbed a few napkins and helped me wipe up the mess from the table, although my carefully planned first-day-as-a-permanent-employee outfit was ruined. “I thought you knew.”
I shook my head. “She didn’t mention anything about leaving her husband when I was there.”
“I bought three of her paintings,” Linda Kay said and pointed to several canvases in a corner that I had missed while distracted by pastries.
“I bought two, and then we took about twenty on consignment,” Jacob said. He finished cleaning, sat down.
“Consignment?” I asked.
Linda Kay nodded. “Sara Jane Hopewell was a huge patron of the arts and she often sponsored art showings to promote local artists. We have an arrangement with several of the local art galleries and occasionally host exhibits for new artists.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever thought about the museum selling art. Do you do that?”
“Do we do that.” Linda Kay’s smile reminded me that I was now part of the museum. “It’s not something we do often. The AAMD has traditionally frowned on museums selling art from their permanent collections.”
“What’s the AAMD?” I asked.
“It’s the Association of Art Museum Directors.”
Jacob held his head in the air and pushed his nose up with his finger. “Snobs who would rather see a museum place buckets on the floor to catch rain dripping through a leaky roof than allow a museum to sell a few paintings to pay to get the roof repaired.”
Linda Kay tsked. “That’s not fair. The AAMD has reasons for their actions, but given the declining revenue that museums have had in recent years, it’s really forced change.” She looked as though she were remembering a different time, but quickly shook herself and returned to the present. “Regardless, June Vannover’s paintings weren’t part of our permanent collection. It’s no different than selling a reproduction of the Mona Lisa in the gift shop, except the museum will get a commission.”
Jacob pulled out a pen and wrote on a napkin. “You paid two hundred for your painting. I paid five hundred for the two I bought.”
“My total was eight hundred,” Linda Kay said.
“That’s fifteen hundred just from the three of us. Plus, we’re going to arrange a showing at the museum, and she could easily make six figures if we display the art properly and invite the right buyers.”
Thankfully, I had put my cup down, so I only dropped a pastry this time. “Six figures? Are you serious?”
“Oh, yes,” Linda Kay said. “She’s very talented. When you sent me those photos, I got chills. That’s why I sent Jacob over there immediately to snatch up those paintings.” She looked sheepish. “I have to confess I was anxious to get there before she signed with an agent because the price would be triple what we paid.”
“Now I feel so guilty for only giving her two hundred dollars,” I said. “I like a bargain just like everyone, but I certainly don’t want to take advantage of her.”
Linda Kay patted my knee. “Didn’t you say she was only going to charge you fifty dollars?”
I nodded.
“Then you weren’t taking advantage of her. Besides, you’re an accountant, not an art valuation expert, so stop worrying.”
I turned to Jacob. “Did she really say she planned to leave her husband?”
“Yeah. She was shocked that we were interested in her art. She said Dixon told her she didn’t have any talent and that no one would ever pay more than two dollars for it.”
“But what were her exact words?”
He thought for a moment. “Well, she was stunned by the checks and not really talking to me. In fact, she was talking to herself, but she said, ‘Maybe Lilly was right. It’s not too late. I can support myself without Dixon. I can start over. Have children. Find my happy place.’” He shrugged. “I’m not sure those were her exact words, but that was it more or less.”
I tried to think of something else, but June Vannover’s words kept coming back to me. Just because she wanted to start over without her husband didn’t mean she had killed him. Chances were good she meant divorce, not murder. Jacob obviously thought that’s what she meant. However, I wasn’t sure that the police would feel the same way. In fact, I was pretty sure there was at least one TBI officer who might interpret those words differently.