Page 86 of Dragon Charmed

Ben reached into his pocket and pulled it out and unfolded it. “You’re not the only one.”

Tessa took the paper from him. “You reached out to John before the painting was sent to Megan at the museum, so it had to be someone who knew about it before then. We know it wasn’t John, and he wouldn’t have told anyone about it.”

Megan nodded. “And it’s not a well-known painting. It had never been shown in public before the museum exhibited it, so it wouldn’t have been through the art world.”

Eric sat forward. “Maybe it was someone Connor told. As an art appraiser and broker, who would he tell about the painting?”

“Prospective buyers, of course,” Megan volunteered. “But John didn’t agree to sell it.”

“Doesn’t mean Connor didn’t tell people. Maybe he thought he could convince John to sell after he finished the appraisal. And one of those people told Ben,” Tessa said.

Sienna held out her hand, and Tessa gave the note to her. She stared at it for a moment. “Someone didn’t tell him the address.”

“What do you mean?” Eric asked.

“The sentence ‘find Mia White’ is in Ben’s handwriting, but the rest of the note about John isn’t.”

“Are you sure?” Ben said.

“Positive. Marcus?”

Marcus studied the note. “She’s right. That’s not your handwriting.”

Tessa frowned. “So someone wrote it for you. Which means you met with them in person. I can’t imagine someone slipping this in the mail, but maybe I’m wrong. And we can’t forget about the money. Where did it come from?”

Tessa nodded. “Right. Is it money from the company or the clan? Or if someone gave it to Ben, then why?”

“Sienna and I can dig into our financials to see if we can find any large withdrawals around that time frame,” Eric said.

Megan spoke up. “I can call Connor and ask him if he told anyone about John’s painting.”

Tessa shook her head. “I can’t get over the feeling that this mystery hinges on something Connor knows. I think we should visit him and ask several questions. We need to look him in the face while doing so. You can do your art-geek speech with him.”

Megan blew out a breath. “You know I’m not a good liar, Tessa.”

“It’s a good thing I am then. We can both visit him this morning. Surprise is good for interrogations.”

“Did you learn that in imaginary PI school?” Marcus said.

Tessa laughed. “On-the-job training from surrounding myself with dragons, witches, and curses…oh my.”

Eric frowned. “I don’t want you or Megan alone with him.”

Tessa sighed. “He’s an art appraiser, not a Navy SEAL. I think we can handle him. If he acts aggressive at all, I’ll go for his junk and apologize later…maybe.”

Eric flinched. “Jesus. Are you telling me I got off easy when you threatened me with the golf club?”

“I wasn’t sure if Megan would want to keep you. I didn’t want to negatively impact any future swimmers.”

Megan groaned. “Tessa! Stay on point. I think she’s right—not about the junk and the swimmers.” Megan’s face blushed a dark red. “But about the two of us talking to Connor. You don’t need to be in the room growling at him. You can stay in the car while we talk to him.”

Tessa pointed at Ben. “And you are still considered dead, so we don’t need you waltzing in there either. You can keep Eric company in the car if you insist on coming.”

Before either he or Eric could respond, Sienna piped up. “I think that’s a good plan.” Sienna grabbed the laptop off the desk and sat down. “I’ll start checking the clan funds. Any large withdrawals are flagged by our software. I don’t remember seeing anything from back then, but it doesn’t hurt to check again.” She started typing.

“While you’re gone, do you want me to check the company’s financials?” Jonas said. “I can put in the same software I have for the clan’s balance sheets to find any withdrawals as well.”

“That would be helpful.” Eric sighed. “I guess I’ve been outvoted. Ben?”