Swiped in Savannah: A Made in Savannah Cozy Mystery (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Book 12) by Hope Callaghan (ereader android .TXT) 📗

At the bottom of the list was a picture of a man, Henry Cagle, Caretaker. “Henry Cagle.” Next to the man’s photo was a picture of a gray-haired woman, a solemn expression on her face. “Mabel Cagle. These are the caretakers. I think this is the woman who was standing next to the fence scowling at us.”

“Yes,” Mercedes agreed. “That’s her. I recognize the look on her face. So now what?”

“I’m thinkin’.” Carlita drummed her fingers on the desk. “I’m thinkin’ something fishy is going on at the museum. They hired Elvira and EC Security Services for the exhibit event…and on the busiest day, after everyone leaves, the valuable painting goes missing. Dernice has a criminal record. Even if Elvira ‘fudged’ the information and didn’t mention Dernice, something is off.”

“And it doesn’t help that you were there sneaking in the back with Elvira, not to mention being caught on camera sneaking into the storage area,” Mercedes pointed out.

“Dummy me. It was a stupid move on my part,” Carlita said. “Now look at the mess we’re in.”

“Don’t beat yourself up too badly, Ma.”

“If I get out of this mess, mark my words…it won’t happen again. Back to the missing artwork. Here comes Astrid, hired by Elvira, who knows the woman is lying about her identity. In fact, Elvira meets her after finding her digging around inside the dumpster behind the museum. We follow her back to the museum. She’s scrounging around for something to eat despite me leaving food for her. A man we suspect may be the museum’s curator hands her something.”

“I agree…you may be onto something,” Mercedes said.

Carlita swiveled around. “Astrid isn’t letting her backpack out of her sight. Dernice even made a comment about how when she tried to move it, Astrid flew off the handle and freaked out.”

“How large is the missing artwork?” Mercedes asked.

“About this big.” Carlita held her hands out. “It’s small enough to fit inside a backpack.”

“So you think Astrid has the artwork.” Mercedes began to pace. “What if she stole the artwork for someone working at the museum and is hanging onto it until the heat is off? She turns it over to whoever she’s working for in exchange…”

“…for money,” Carlita and Mercedes said in unison.

“There’s a reason Astrid is hanging around the museum. We need to get our hands on her backpack.”

“But how? You said it never leaves her side,” Mercedes said.

“I’m going to do some thinking on that. If Astrid is responsible for swiping the painting, she has an accomplice - someone who knows the value of the painting and may even have black market connections to sell it once the investigation dies down.”

“An employee, someone who works at the museum.”

Carlita reached for a yellow pad of paper and pen. “We need to make a list of suspects.” She scribbled A Piece of Renaissance Suspects at the top of the page. “At the top of the list is Astrid. She’s lying; she’s hiding something and keeps returning to the museum.”

“Next would be the museum curator…the man we saw handing something to Astrid.”

“Right.” Carlita wrote his name below Astrid’s and consulted the staff list. “This woman, Elizabeth Portsmith, Director of Riverfront Historical Society. The one we met earlier today who coincidentally knows a whole lot about the police investigation.”

“She does,” Mercedes agreed. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

“Yes, it would.” Carlita added her name to the list. “Elvira also mentioned a young woman who was working the front desk, checking bags the day of the big event. She would have access to anyone and everyone’s personal belongings, perhaps even the thief’s belongings.”

“Would you consider her a suspect?” Mercedes asked.

“I would, considering she had access to visitors’ belongings and certain areas of the museum, at least during the daytime hours. Suspect the least suspect.”

“Not to mention motive and opportunity. All four of them had motive and opportunity…Astrid, Gaston Spelling, the Portsmith lady. I guess we should include the clerk, too.”

“And Elvira/Dernice.” Carlita drew a fill-in-the-blank line for the employee’s name and then added the sisters’ names. “They would have to be clever, not to mention lucky, to get the painting off the premises.”

“Which is why the woman who was working that day is also a suspect. She could be an accomplice, returning after hours to help swipe the painting.”

Mercedes tapped her mother’s arm. “What if the painting hasn’t left the premises? What if it’s still there…somewhere?”

“Elvira suggested the same thing.” Carlita shifted her gaze, staring sightlessly out the French doors. “We need someone to go back in, to visit the museum and the grounds. I can’t do it. Autumn is off the list.”

“But I’m not,” Mercedes said. “I could run over there and have a look around.”

“No.” Carlita dismissed the suggestion. “I think it should be someone else.”

“What about Tony and Shelby? We could offer to watch the pawnshop tomorrow for a few hours while they take Violet to the museum. No one would look twice at a couple with a young child if they say…wandered into restricted areas.”

“That’s a great idea, Mercedes. No one would ever suspect a nice little family of snooping around. Now, all we have to do is get Tony onboard.”

Before heading to bed, Carlita sent a text message to Tony’s cell phone to ask if Shelby was going to be home tomorrow. He replied that she was.

Carlita told him she had a special favor to ask in the morning and it involved Shelby and Violet. She ended the text reply by telling him she would see him in the morning.

She switched her cell phone off and set it on the nightstand before turning off her bedroom lamp. It took hours for her to fall asleep. She thought about Astrid, wondering if the woman was involved in the painting’s theft. If she was in it for