A Dubious Delivery (A Seagrove Cozy Mystery Book 9) by Leona Fox Read Free Book Online Page A

about them reminded Sadie of Seagrove’s bay.
    “Well not these,” Sam said,” my earlier work.
    He went to a corner and flipped through some canvases pulling out four from the back. “These are the ones he copied.” Sam placed them along the wall.
    She could tell these were of the ocean, but other than that they weren’t significantly more like Roger’s work than the others. She looked at Sam with her eyebrows raised.
    “No. Look”, he said.
    “See the brushstrokes and the color? He’s using the exact same palette. And all those hidden animals… Look here, and here, and here,” He said.
    Sadie bent down to examine paintings. The problem was, they were so impressionistic that it was hard to see detail close-up. She stood up and backed away. If she squinted, it was possible to see that there might be a crab or a Piper secreted somewhere in the painting. But there was so little detail, so little resemblance to the painting she bought, that she was having trouble understanding where Sam was coming from.
    “You’re going to have to help me out here Sam,” she said glancing over at Betty and Lucy, who were shaking their heads.
    “What I bought, was a whimsical, almost folk art painting of what is clearly Seagrove Harbor Beach. The crab is holding an ice cream cone for heaven sake. What you have here,” she waved her hand to indicate his paintings, “is clearly abstract, barely makes reference to the ocean and the hidden animals you say are there could be crabs or birds were seaweed or just variations in color. I see nothing in your style that makes me believe Roger copied your work.”
    “Well, of course, I had to go in a different direction,” Sam said, “once Roger started copying my work. Otherwise, people would say I was copying him. Wouldn’t they?” He stood back, crossed his arms over his chest and surveyed his paintings with a critical eye.
    “So instead of pursuing realism I went for the abstract. If I didn’t, I ran the risk of having my work be identical to Roger’s.” He flipped his head causing his dreads to swing around and flop in his face.
    Betty was trying hard not to giggle, and Sadie wasn’t sure if she was laughing because of the head toss or if it was what Sam had said. It was all pretty giggle-worthy as far as Sadie was concerned.
    “I’m sorry Sam,” she said, “abstract art really isn’t my taste. Had it been more like Roger’s work, I might’ve bought one.”
    She looked at the paintings and shook her head. “I’ll tell you what, though, I have a friend who likes abstract art and the ocean, I’ll tell him about you.”
    “I’m telling you,” Sam’s voice raised as they walked from the room, “he copied my work. I could bring some older stuff from home and prove it to you.”
    Sadie turned back around. “I’m sorry if you feel your career has suffered, but I really don’t see the connection between your work and Roger’s work. Maybe you should spend more time on your craft and less time worrying about spying Roger’s paintings. Just a thought.”
    Sadie turned and the three women made their way back to the shop where Sadie picked up her painting.
    “That was truly bizarre,” she said to Mary Marconi.
    “How did Sam even know I was buying one of Roger’s paintings?”
    The young man who’d been tending shop, or rather talking on the phone and not tending shop, looked sheepish. Well, there’s that mystery solved, she thought.
    Mary caught her looking, “oh don’t blame this young man,” she said.
    “Sam pays them to call when a customer’s buying. And not just Roger’s work, he’s got fifty reasons why none of these artists are any good. I can’t kick him out, he has every right to come in here, and he seems positively determined to make a fool out of himself.”
    “Has anyone ever not bought a painting because of what Sam said?” Sadie asked.
    “Not as far as I know,” Mary said, “and I think I’d know if he had, but he has sold a painting