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Fruitcake? No wonder the Moriartys were all so in," he said, and when he stepped off the stage, he was is were inby Hans Langenberg It was a clear challenge A way to feel out our motivations As it was announced, Phillipa craned her neck to stare at Holed back at her with a sust," the auctioneer said A screen behind the painting listed "facts" about the piece "Notice the brushwork The use of ecru, here in the corners The faces of the two boys are turned frole, that the artist has chosen not to detail their features But the girl between the brows and red mouth See the wild expression on her face, that the painter has suggested with only a few lines? Theat one hundred thousand"

There was a s up in the air: numbers 103, 282, 78 In the front row, Tom leaned in to whisper a question in Lena’s ear She nodded without looking up froerly, he stuck their paddle, 505, in the air The price went up 505 went up, too, every tian to drop out of the running

I should have been paying attention to the auction, not to August and Hadrian off to the side, their heads together, arguing in fierce whispers Twice, Hadrian turned to look at me over his shoulder and renched back by his brother We’d never spoken, not while he wasn’t in disguise, and so the intense hatred in his eyes startledfun until that moment--a tense sort of fun, but fun all the sa toto me--that I was about to take down some elite art auction in the Czech Republic on Christmas Eve What jerked me back doas the realization that Hadrian clearly wanted to disine how he felt about Charlotte Hol like Nathaniel For the

I wondered if Leander was still alive

Slowly, I es of their conversation

August was trying to refocus his brother’s attention "Look atall this madness is about me, about my ‘death,’ then you’ll bloody well look at "

"Nine hundred thousand," the auctioneer was calling Lena tapped Toe, Phillipa’s greedy srew "Sold," he crowed, "to 505! Our next work is also by Hans Langenberg"

The Moriartys werepaintings, and auctioned them off for hundreds of thousands of dollars Even Hadrian, still in the throes of his conversation with August, kept turning to grin at his sister The guards standing with see would keep Hol any obvious move on their life If we tried, we’d forfeit our own

Three paintings Five paintings Six The auctions went up, and Lena, in her disguise, won thele ti information ahead of time when they’d accepted her request to join They felt certain about these sales About thatto sweat I kneere nearing the end

"And The Thought of a Pocketwatch goes to nu was hauled off the stage The crowd began to grust themselves I couldn’t blame them They were, for the most part, older, conservative art aficionados who came out on Christe pop star ouldn’t stop cracking her guust He put a hand on his brother’s shoulder "I’ll wish theht, and then we can finish our conversation"

August smiled thinly "Yes," he said "Do"