The Stroke of Winter(56)

“Okay,” he said. “And you wanted it open now because . . . ?”

“Because I’m renovating the house into a bed-and-breakfast,” she said. “And I thought of turning that area into an owner’s suite. A sort of living room–bedroom–bathroom arrangement, even eventually putting in back stairs going outside, so I could stay out of the guests’ way.”

Nick nodded. “Got it. Then what?”

Wyatt picked up the ball from there. “I had two of my buddies, Grant and Hunter, help me open up the door.”

Nick nodded. “I know those two clowns,” he said, grinning. “They’re good folk. Help a lot of people here in town.”

“Hunter was included, actually, because Tess had heard some . . .” Wyatt’s words evaporated.

“Some what?”

Tess picked up where he left off. “I had been hearing noises coming from that room,” she said. “Loud scratching. At night. I thought an animal had somehow gotten in there.”

“What kind of scratching?” Nick asked.

Tess shrugged. “I don’t know. But it was really loud. As though something was trying to claw its way out. So that’s why Wyatt called Hunter. He specializes in getting animals out of houses, I guess.”

“Did he find one?”

“No,” Tess said. “There was no animal. And no place for it to have gotten in or out.”

“So, what was causing the scratching?” Nick asked.

“We don’t know,” Tess said. “We haven’t been able to figure that out. But according to Hunter, it wasn’t an animal.”

“Okay, this just keeps getting weirder,” Nick said. “Not that I haven’t done ‘Wharton weird’ before. Trust me. I have.”

Tess raised her eyebrows. With all these old houses and the town’s long history, she didn’t doubt it.

“But let’s get back to some more real-world stuff,” he continued. “Let’s talk about today. When did you leave the house?”

“About eleven,” Tess said. “We went to Salmon Bay, had lunch with Wyatt’s grandfather, brought him back here for a bit, and then took him home. We were walking back to the house with Wyatt’s dogs when we saw the person in the window.”

“Okay, so from about eleven to what time were you out of the house?”

“From eleven until about two,” Tess said, trying to remember exactly. “Then from about three until now.”

Nick turned to Wyatt. “And you were with her the whole time?”

“Yes,” he said.

Nick took a deep breath. “Did Grant or Hunter have any reason to want to get back into the house? Did they leave any tools or . . . anything?”

“If they had left any tools—which they didn’t—they’d have called me or Tess,” Wyatt said. “Neither of them has keys to the house. I know people sometimes give them to workmen, but not this time.”

“So, to your knowledge, there was no reason for either of them to come back to the house.”

Tess caught Wyatt’s eye. Neither knew quite what to say, but they both knew what the other was thinking. Tess’s father had made it abundantly clear to her that she was to keep quiet about the paintings. But now things had changed. In a frightening way. First the paintings being arranged like a storyboard the day before, and now this.

It might be best to let the police in on it.

“Okay,” Nick said, “you know that when people are looking at each other with guilty, secretive glances, the police know something is up, right? I mean, come on, guys. What’s going on?”

Tess managed a weak smile and took a deep breath. “I’m not sure,” she said, finally. “But we discovered something when they opened up that room.”

Nick leaned forward. “What was that?”

“Paintings by my grandfather. Previously unknown paintings.”

Nick’s mouth dropped open. “Wow, I really lost my poker face on that one,” he said, giving a small smile. “Why don’t you tell me a little more about that?”

“I’m under strict orders from my dad to keep this quiet,” Tess said. “It can’t be getting out all over town that I’ve got some undiscovered Sebastian Bell paintings here.”

“Understood,” Nick said. “It could be dangerous for you. And, if those two clowns know about the existence of the paintings—”

Tess held up her hand. “I don’t think they do,” she said. “I found them after they were done getting the door open. The paintings were in the small bathroom in the studio. To my knowledge, Hunter and Grant hadn’t been in there.”

“But you said Hunter was checking around for animals,” Nick said. “Why wouldn’t he have looked in there?”

Now it was Tess’s turn to gape. She went cold, as though she were outside in the snow. Of course he would have.

But Wyatt shook his head. “There’s no way either of them would have done anything like that. I’ve known them for decades.”

Tess didn’t want to suspect Grant or Hunter, but it very well could be they had seen the paintings and had something to do with it all. You can know someone for decades, but when millions of dollars are at stake, people can surprise you.