The Blackhope Enigma by Teresa Flavin Read Free Book Online Page A

information card about the painting, did they not?”
    “How do you know that?”
    “A news snippet I found. You were asked to help write all the information cards about the paintings in Blackhope Tower, weren’t you?”
    “So?” Lorimer shot back.
    “Tell me what you wrote for
The Mariner’s Return
.” Angus looked slyly at his cousin.
    “I can’t remember. It was three years ago.” The art teacher stood up. “Leave this alone, Angus. It has nothing to do with you.”
    “On the contrary, it has everything to do with me. And with you.” Angus rose, eye to eye with his cousin. “Fausto Corvo
did
make magical paintings. You and I wanted to believe it. We spent all that time trawling through dusty old books on magic and astrology but found nothing. Now your little darlings have come along and proved us right. Just think of the possibilities, Lor. For a start, a certain customer of mine would pay the earth for a painting he could disappear into whenever necessary.”
    “You haven’t changed a bit, have you? Even after cooling off in prison,” said Lorimer in a flat voice.
    “Why should I change? I’m pretty marvelous as I am. Always was more marvelous than you, anyway. Better at drawing, more popular with girls.”
    “I’m not interested in helping you. Never again,” Lorimer said.
    “Even if there’s a chance that Corvo’s lost paintings are hidden inside
The Mariner’s Return to Arcadia
?” Angus smiled.
    “That’s a bit of a leap, isn’t it?”
    “No one’s ever found those paintings, so why shouldn’t they be hidden in there? Just think what they’d be worth!”
    “You’re just as greedy as ever, Angus,” Lorimer said. “I’ve heard enough. You can leave when you’ve finished eating.”
    “With pleasure. After you tell me what you wrote for
The
Mariner’s Return
information card. It’s a shame, though. I was hoping we could work together again. We were a good team.”
    “In your dreams. And if you want to know what I wrote about the painting, you can go over there and read the card yourself,” Lorimer said. “Oh, but I forgot: that’s not possible now because the police have closed the Mariner’s Chamber off. You’re too late.”
    Angus’s face twisted in anger. He grabbed Lorimer by the front of his bathrobe. “You’re not going to stand in my way.”
    The art teacher grappled with his cousin, but Angus managed to flip him around and pin his arms behind his back. He pulled Lorimer into the dark front room and flicked on the light with his elbow. In front of them was a makeshift studio with shelves of art supplies and a few paintings propped against the wall. On the desk sat a computer.
    “Turn it on.” Angus pushed Lorimer into the chair at the desk and held him firmly by the shoulders. “And find what you wrote for Blackhope Tower. I know you. You’ll have kept it all.”
    Teeth gritted, Lorimer searched through his computer folders, hoping he might have deleted the one Angus wanted. But there it was, efficiently marked “Blackhope Tower Visitor Information.” He slowly found the right file and opened it, scrolling to the text for
The Mariner’s Return to Arcadia
.
    Angus read the paragraph hungrily. “This must contain a password that the kids found by chance. It was the only piece of information they could have seen in that room. And it would be a word in Italian since that was Corvo’s language. The only thing it could be is
chiaroscuro
. Yes, that must be it!” Angus started laughing. “Right under your nose, Lor, all this time.”
    “I wasn’t looking for it anymore!” Lorimer shouted. “It was exciting at the time, trying to see if we could get into the painting. But that was twenty years ago.”
    Angus released his grip and swiveled his cousin’s chair around so they were face-to-face. “I’d given up on finding the secret, too. But now it’s been served up on a silver platter.”
    Lorimer cut him off. “Well, I’m finished with the dark side