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In the middle of this uitar pieces, was Uncle Carl With a pink shirt, dark tie, and ave him an air of authority No wonder he dressed as Santa each year when I was a kid All he needed was a herd of reindeer

Carl never budged fro to see hi, but Bea called out first "Carl! Look who’s here"

"Hold on a ht with you" He didn’t even look up froive hih the clutter and made it to the table "Oh, for God sakes," Carl muttered as he set down his screwdriver "I said I’d only"

When his eyes landed on me, he ilasses and blinked a few times "My God, it’s you, Dee!"

"Hi, Uncle Carl" I ran around the table to give hiht you out of hiding? Wait, let uess" He pulled away and stared at us for a few seconds "You’re helping Bea with her guitar swindle" He leaned back in his chair with the barest of sether So what can I do for you ladies? You said you needed a guitar, but you didn’t say anything else Who are you selling it to?"

Bea stood straight, proud of her cleverness "Alejandro"

Carl whistled as he slowly shook his head "Big collector And he’s hard to fool Uses one of the best authentication specialists"

Bea waved away his concerns "How ed "That depends on what you want Alejandro tends to favor guitars that were owned by fae Rawson, collects stolen guitars, but I don’t know if I believe it Rawson’s collection’s never been seen"

"Screson" Bea got right to the point "We’re targeting Alejandro What do you recommend?"

Carl leaned back and stroked his chin "Stevie Ray Vaughan had an old ’65 Fender Stratocaster that nobody’s seen since he died in the 90s I’ve studied that guitar quite a bit, and I even ot up and ruuitar case and setting it on the table Inside was a dark wood electric guitar with the letters "SRV" on it, big and sparkling "I’ve heard people offering six hundred grand for this particular guitar" He paused and laughed "Well, for the real one, that is Anyway, you should be able to get a half et it past his expert Just don’t let him take it away for more advanced tests, because then he’ll notice the flaws"