Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

Stefan said, watching Judith closely.
    “What could they possibly be looking for beneath the canvas?” Judith asked. “I stretch the canvases myself. They’re just wrapped around the stretcher bar and stapled with oversized stainless steel staples to keep the canvas taut.”
    “Where do you get your stretcher bars?” Frank asked. He cleared his throat, glanced at Stefan and then at Inez. “Remember, Judith, the trouble I got into a few years back.”
    The Russian mob had gotten their hooks into Frank and had run stolen treasures through his art gallery. He’d gone to prison for his part in the smuggling operation.
    Judith shook her head. “The stretcher bars can be picked up anywhere—at any art supply store. There isn’t anything special about them.”
    “The canvases?” Inez asked.
    Judith frowned. “Like most artists, I stretch my own canvas so I purchase rolls of canvas from an art supply store. Sometimes I reuse canvases, but again, there’s nothing special about them.”
    Stefan could feel her mind working, puzzling, trying to figure out why her work was chosen to vandalize while all the other artwork remained intact. On high alert, he felt the twinge of power that seemed to precede Jonas Harrington as he entered the gallery. Keeping his arm around Judith, he observed the sheriff who immediately put his arm around Inez to comfort her, but his sharp gaze went to Stefan and the way he was holding Judith so protectively.
    “Have you heard anything on Levi?” Jonas greeted Judith. “I meant to check on him yesterday, but time got away from me.”
    “He’s back home,” Judith said. “Limping around, but he’s fine.”
    Jonas kept his gaze steadily on Judith. “That storm the other night, Hannah said it wasn’t natural. The surge of power was outrageous and the combination of wind, water and even earthquakes didn’t make sense. Some people reported seeing a tower of flames.”
    Stefan tightened his arm around Judith. Be very careful, angel, he’s fishing.
    He felt the hesitation in her. She didn’t like to lie. She pressed her lips together and then sighed. “You know Rikki has an affinity for water. Levi was in danger. I think emotions were running high and for a good reason. That man had been here before hunting Levi.”
    “We found a mess inside the small house Ivanov had rented,” Jonas said. “Blood everywhere. Too much blood and it was human. Someone died in there and it wasn’t pretty. There were shreds of material from a down jacket, very old jeans and a sleeping bag.”
    “Oh no,” Inez said in horror. “Has anyone been reported missing?”
    Jonas shook his head. “Not so far. And Danny and Trudy Granite’s dog was killed as well the same night. Their son, Davy, was devastated.” His piercing gaze jumped to Stefan. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
    “How would I know?” Stefan countered a little belligerently. He was Thomas Vincent, an American businessman about to buy an art gallery that had been vandalized.
    “Just being thorough,” Jonas said.
    “I’m about to make an offer on this gallery,” Stefan said. “I think it’s fairly common knowledge in this town that I’m here for that purpose. Quite a lot of property is involved. This art gallery and building, but Frank also is thinking of selling the entire next block with those buildings as well. Maybe someone here doesn’t want an outsider to make that purchase.”
    Inez gasped and clutched Frank who leaned into her, his arm circling her waist.
    “I can’t imagine anyone would want to sabotage the deal,” Frank said firmly, more for Inez’s benefit than from conviction.
    “Something like this wouldn’t scare me off,” Stefan assured. “Judith can stretch the canvases again and the paintings will be fine. I intend to make an offer as soon as I’m finished going through the inventory and books.”
    Judith glanced at the two acrylic landscapes. “I need to work on this artwork fast. Jonas, I’ll have to take all the damaged paintings back to my studio with me.”
    “I’ll get to work photographing everything,” Jonas said immediately. “Why don’t you go get some coffee, Inez? This shouldn’t take too long.”
    Stefan had to hand it to the sheriff. Inez was not a young woman and she was truly distressed. He guessed that financially, she and Frank needed the gallery to sell and they were both afraid, in spite of his assurances, he’d back out of the deal.
    “Come