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Photon sht of your kindness" Chapter 6

The row of shops that lined the street across from the pier was dark and silent at this hour The last rays of the su layer of clouds Whitecaps danced on the slate-gray waters of the bay

Nick parked in the small lot When he clied at his wind-breaker Storht Summer squalls were not unusual for this time of year here on the coast

Octavia was already out of the passenger seat The bouncy hipped her hair into a froth and caused her long, full skirts to billow around her legs She laughed a little as she grabbed a handful of her skirts to keep theht He got the feeling that she was savoring the raw energy of the approaching stor Seeical

"We'd better hurry," she said "The rain will hit any ht"

With an effort he wrenched his attention away fro hair and skirts and opened the rear door of the BMW He reached inside and hoisted the painting Octavia had wrapped the picture in old newspapers before leaving Thurgarton's cabin

Carrying the painting under one arht Visions

"You really think this thing is worth a quarter million?" he asked

"Between you and me? Yes But we'll all feel more secure once we've had a second opinion"

She continued to struggle with her skirts with one hand while she withdrew her keys fro She opened the front door and stepped quickly into the darkened interior of the shop to punch in the code that deactivated the alarhts

"Who'd have believed that old Thurgarton would have possessed a valuable work of art?" He carried the painting into the shop "He was no collector You sa he lived How the heck do you suppose he got hold of it?"

"I haven't got a clue" She led the way across the showroo counter "As I told you, there isn't a lot of Upsall's work around It's a out here on the coast all these years"

"Who says we're not a bunch of real sophisticated art lovers here in Eclipse Bay?"

"Certainly not hts "You can put it there with that stack of paintings leaning against the far wall"

He surveyed the crowded back rooainst every wall Empty frames of all shapes and sizes were propped in the corner The workbench was littered with tools anddown the painting, "but this place looks alarton's cabin"

"Gallery back roo of a previously unknown Upsall should azines"

She se Cult Leader and Porn Shop Proprietor Inherit Lost Upsall"