CHAPTER 12 #3
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Romy believed her.
That did not make the catalogue true.
Late in the afternoon, Ellis found Romy in the Asterleigh kitchen eating half a scone someone had left for the police team.
He held two coffees.
“You brought me one?”
“I brought two.”
“Which is mine?”
“The one you take.”
She accepted the left cup.
“That is dangerously considerate.”
“Do not overinterpret caffeine.”
She bit into the scone.
“Noted.”
Ellis leaned against the counter.
“We checked the notebook timing.”
Romy waited.
He did not make her ask.
That was new too.
“No visible message from Marcus arranging 6:55.”
“But the entry exists.”
“Yes.”
“Could Sebastian have written it earlier?”
“Likely.”
“Same ink?”
“Same pen.”
“Any indication when?”
“No.”
Romy drank.
“Marcus denies it.”
“Yes.”
“You interviewed him.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know about the entry before today?”
“No.”
“What did he do when you showed him?”
Ellis considered.
“Asked whether Sebastian might have been planning to confront him without warning.”
“Reasonable.”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
“Also yes.”
Romy looked at him.
“You are sharing.”
“Limited information.”
“Still.”
“You have become marginally less reckless.”
“Romantic.”
Ellis nearly choked on coffee.
Romy froze.
The word escaped before she examined it.
Neither moved.
Ellis said carefully, “That is not what I meant.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“Obviously.”
“Excellent.”
They drank in silence while mugs, kettle, and tea bags became suddenly fascinating.
The conversational distance between them had narrowed enough for Romy to notice it.
Hostility had been simpler. It created edges.
This did not.
Ellis recovered first.
“We are speaking to Marcus again before he leaves.”
Romy welcomed the subject.
“Can I be there?”
“No.”
She stared.
“You can be present for the provenance portion because I may need technical clarification.”
“Better.”
“Do not celebrate.”
The second interview began at five seventeen.
Marcus sat opposite Ellis while Romy remained to one side with the acquisition file. Ruth and Nell had gone. Leo was downstairs.
Marcus looked tired now. Less polished. More real.
Ellis placed the notebook photograph on the table.
“Read the line.”
Marcus did.
Fenn. Blue Study. 6:55. Full provenance, not sales story.
He looked up.
“I have never seen this.”
“Did Sebastian arrange to meet you at 6:55?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you for full provenance?”
“No.”
“Did he use the phrase sales story?”
“No.”
“Did he speak to you privately that evening?”
“Briefly downstairs.”
“When?”
“Before the main preview crowd settled.”
“About the panel?”
“No.”
“About Celeste?”
“No.”
“What about?”
“Nothing important.”
Ellis waited.
Marcus sighed.
“He asked whether I thought the event would survive the press circus. I said the event wanted the press circus.”
“Nothing else?”
“No.”
Romy said, “He had already recognized the panel.”
Marcus looked at her.
“So?”
“If he saw the man who supplied it, why wouldn’t he ask?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Did he contact you afterward?”
“No.”
“Then why write your name beside 6:55?”
“I cannot answer for a dead man’s notebook.”
Ellis said, “At 6:52, you are photographed carrying the plate-warmer and burgundy felt toward the Blue Study service corridor.”
“Yes.”
“At 6:55, Sebastian expects Fenn at the Blue Study.”
“I do not know that he expects me.”
“Your surname is Fenn.”
“So is my company.”
Romy caught that.
“You think he meant Fenn Found.”
“He could have.”
“Who else from Fenn Found was at Asterleigh?”
“Two installation staff earlier in the day. Neither at that time.”
“So either way, the note points toward you.”
Marcus’s patience broke.
“It points toward a name.”
“A name attached to the panel.”
“Yes.”
“The panel with false provenance.”
“Incomplete provenance.”
“The 1997 photograph makes your catalogue description false.”
Marcus stood.
Ellis said, “Sit.”
Marcus did.
Slowly.
His voice was quieter.
“I did not know about Halden House.”
“Then who wrote the catalogue wording?” Ellis asked.
“My marketing manager drafted from the acquisition summary.”
“Did you approve it?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Ruth had not verified ownership?”
“I knew her brief.”
“Did you know the backing was new?”
“Yes.”
“Who changed it?”
“The estate had already done so before purchase.”
“Proof?”
“Photographs.”
“Who performed the work?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did Sebastian want to ask you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why was he expecting Fenn at 6:55?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus turned toward Romy.
Not Ellis.
Her.
The humor from their first meeting was gone. Only a tired dealer whose objects had become central to a murder remained.
“You believe I met him in that room.”
Romy answered carefully.
“I believe he expected to speak to you.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“You believe because I carried the warmer there, I must have stayed.”
“No.”
“Because my felt was used, I must have packed it.”
“No.”
“Because my provenance was wrong, I must have killed him.”
“No.”
Marcus watched her.
“Then listen carefully.”
The room went still.
He looked Romy in the eye.
“I was never alone with Sebastian that evening.”