The Perfect Marriage(65)
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good. So I think that’s the first order for every living species on this planet. There’s something inside that’s constantly telling you, Don’t die. Avoid pain. But then you have a child, and all of a sudden, it’s like a switch is flipped. Now that voice says something different. It says, Don’t let that child die. Don’t let that child suffer any pain.”
“Okay.”
“And the things that you’ll do to make sure that doesn’t happen, they may be things you never thought yourself capable of doing. People who run into burning buildings. Or those stories of fathers who know they can’t swim but still dive into the pool to rescue a child, which almost always leads to both of them drowning.”
“I’m not sure why you’re telling me this, Dad. Are you going to die for me?”
Owen said this with a chuckle, but Wayne could tell his son understood that it was not a laughing matter. In fact, he was reasonably sure his son understood exactly what he was saying to him.
Taxi TV is the service that plays in the back of New York City taxicabs. It’s annoying as can be, with its Jimmy Kimmel segments and easy Jeopardy! questions. Haley always muted it as soon as she got in a cab.
She followed that pattern for today’s ride as well. First, she told the driver where she was going; then she pressed the button to turn off the sound. As she did, however, a photograph of Reid popped up on the screen. In it, Reid looked tanned and slightly drunk. In other words, like Reid.
Haley turned the sound back on. The coverage was from NY1, the city’s local news station. A woman’s voice was providing the narrative.
“FBI agents said that Mr. Warwick, shown here, was selling stolen Jackson Pollock paintings. Jackson Pollock holds the record for highest sale price of an American artist’s work. In 2015, his painting titled Number 17A was sold for a whopping $200 million in a private sale. The US Attorney said that Mr. Warwick faces up to fifty-seven years in prison.”
The story lasted all of fifteen seconds before the screen morphed into an advertisement for a local steak house. By then, Haley was trying to find more information about Reid’s arrest on her phone.
She searched “Reid Warwick.” Too many hits. Then she filtered it to the last twenty-four hours.
The top hit was the website of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. A press release told the story in a bit more detail:
Press Releases
Department of Justice
US Attorney’s Office
Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Art Dealer Charged with Trafficking in Stolen Art, Money Laundering
Abby Freedman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the arrest today of REID WARWICK on charges of grand larceny, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering. Specifically, WARWICK has been charged with the attempted sale of several Jackson Pollock works stolen more than 40 years ago from the home of Lee Krasner, Pollock’s widow.
Freedman said, “Reid Warwick, an art dealer, claimed that he was representing a client who had lawfully acquired numerous Jackson Pollock drawings, each worth approximately $1 million. In fact, Mr. Warwick was well aware that these works had been stolen.”
Freedman praised the outstanding investigative work of Assistant US Attorney Parker Henderson and FBI special agent Allison Lashley.
The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Haley found it gratifying that she had been right all along. James’s deal with Reid was illegal. If he hadn’t been murdered, James would be in handcuffs now too.
Reid hadn’t been charged with murder, though. That meant they were still investigating. Which left open the terrifying possibility that they still could be coming for her.
21
Once Reid Warwick was in a talking mood, the man let loose like an open spigot. Information flowed out of him. Unfortunately, Gabriel already knew all of it.
Nonetheless, Warwick confirmed Gabriel’s suspicions about the Sommerses’ money problems. Warwick also told them that the reason James Sommers had agreed to sell the Pollocks in the first place was to pay for his stepson’s treatment. “Without the money from those sales, James knew that boy was fucked,” was Warwick’s eloquent summation of the situation.
Warwick was most forceful in pointing the finger at Haley, however. He admitted that they sometimes slept together and that he thought she was angry enough at her ex-husband to kill him.
“There’s something not right about that girl,” he said. “She could go on and on about how much she wanted to kill James. If I were you, I’d focus my attention on her.”
Gabriel hardly needed the advice of a felon. But he did appreciate being able to cross Reid Warwick off his list of suspects. Warwick’s DNA didn’t match the blood left at the scene. And, of course, the man had an alibi courtesy of Agent Lashley, who’d confirmed that when Reid left James’s office, she remained behind to talk to James, and the victim was very much alive.
“It’s beginning to feel a little like that board game Clue,” Asra said. “We’re not any closer to finding out who did it, but at least we’re eliminating suspects.”