Framed and Burning (Dreamslippers Book 2) by Lisa Brunette Read Free Book Online Page B

yard art. But I’ll never be a real artist. I’ll never be recognized. That’s Mick. He took it from me.”
    Grace felt her temperature rising and worked to control her response. “And how did he do that?”
    Candace laughed haughtily. “I can see Mick’s his usual uncommunicative self. He hasn’t told you a damn thing, has he? Listen, you want something to drink? It’s a long story, and you’ve had a long drive.”
    As much as Grace wanted this woman to spill whatever sordid story she had roiling around inside her, the thought of liquor on her empty stomach made her blanche.  
    “I’ll do you one better,” Grace said. “I’ll take you to dinner. Earn your story that way.”
    Candace was delighted. She popped to her feet. “Let’s go to the Orange Spot. It just opened up. They have a vintage Wurlitzer. You’ll love it.”
    The Orange Spot indeed featured a vintage Wurlitzer in its dining room, along with a collection of other old-fashioned musical machines, including a group of mechanized monkey musicians. Grace polished off her halibut, which had been cooked in a brown paper bag with shallots and hazelnuts, and let Candace do the talking.
    The woman’s list of grievances against Mick was long. According to Candace, it was she, and not Mick, who first had the idea for Mick’s now legendary Sea Series, inspired by the turquoise waters in the Florida Keys. Grace let Candace prattle on about this even though it was fairly obvious that Mick had in fact been down in Key Largo searching for inspiration. He’d clearly found it, but he’d also picked up this leg biter and brought her home as well.  
    “I’m also the one who introduced Mick to the New York art scene,” Candace informed Grace, emphasizing the point by shoving an olive from her martini into her purple-lipstick-ringed mouth.
    “Come again?” Grace countered. “Mick met the gallery owner Peter Swanson at an opening, and the man loved his work. Everyone knows that story.”
    “I introduced him to Peter! You know how shy Mick can be. A real introvert, that one. He wouldn’t have approached Peter on his own!”
    The woman did have a point, but the facts flew in the face of things. “But Mick had already established himself in New York well before you say the two of you met.”
    “I did it!” Candace insisted. “Mick owes his success to me.”
    Grace switched gears, sensing an alcohol-fueled opportunity. “That must make you really angry, Candace,” she said. “If someone I cared about used me like that, I’d want to kill him.”
    Candace downshifted her anger. “But I didn’t torch his studio, if that’s what you’re driving at.”
    “Oh, a little fire…happens all the time!” Grace said. “Maybe you only wanted to destroy his art. Maybe you didn’t think anyone would be there. How would you know that? You haven’t seen Mick in years!”
    “Oh, I’ve seen him….”
    “You have?”
    “He didn’t even recognize me! At his showing in West Palm Beach. I drove over there to get a look at those big monstrosities he’s making now. And there he was. Bastard didn’t even recognize me.”
    “Well, did you talk to him?”
    “No. He didn’t recognize me….”
    Candace sort of shut down after that. She quit talking and eating, though she continued to drink. Grace paid the exorbitant bill and helped the woman home. As she tucked her into a living-room chair, Grace turned around and said, “Candace, you live in paradise. A lot of people would be jealous of you , but you waste your energy being jealous of my brother. Why don’t you let that go? Enjoy life. Collect a few seashells.”
    Grace thought she heard Candace call her a bitch once she shut the door.
    Grace spent the night in a simple but clean motel, thinking it best to drive fresh in the morning. She’d prefer a nice B&B on the beach, but after the splurge on dinner with Candace, she needed to reel in the spending.  
    The next morning she stopped into one of the