“I thought the last owner caught his wife fooling around – how could Moisey be behind that?” 

“I don’t know,” said Fred.  “I wasn’t able to find out much about him. The fact remains that Moisey has killed a man in his past, however justified, and that it happened in your home.  That, along with the portrait of you, makes him a pretty good suspect.  For now, I’m holding him.  I put in a call to the state deaf and blind school, a couple hours’ drive from here.  They are sending someone to help me talk to him.  I’ve also gotten him a lawyer.  Katy is coming down, too.  She should be here in the morning.  I’d like her there when I go through Moisey’s house again.”

After Fred left, Thomas sat next to Amanda and took her hand.  “I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you went through all this by yourself,” he said.  “But Matthews is still here, you know, and he’s still on retainer.  I want to go out to the house and look around.  I think I’m going to get him to go with me, if you don’t mind me being gone awhile.”

“No, go ahead.  I’ve been thinking the same thing, actually.”  Amanda smiled and kissed him.  “I’m going to follow doctor’s orders and get some rest.  I feel like I haven’t slept in a week, and that medicine he gave me makes me groggy.”

I’m bringing back some clothes and my shower kit.  Want me to bring you anything?”

“Something comfortable to wear, I guess, and my hairbrush and toothbrush.  It looks like we’ll be here awhile.  And some fudge – there’s a plate of it in the fridge.”

“Sounds good, I’ll bring it all.”

Fred got his lunch, and spent the next few hours on the telephone trying to locate the other suspect he had in mind.  There was still more to this story, he thought.  For one thing, Moisey didn’t smoke.  For another, he didn’t look like the man in the painting.  Of course, he had painted them and maybe he just dreamed up the figure for shock value.  But Fred had a queasy feeling in his gut, and normally his gut was a pretty good indicator when he was on the wrong track.  The only other unknown in this bizarre scenario was the former owner, Harvey Blackwell; a jilted husband who chased his wife and her lover through the woods and then disappeared.  It was time to find out what had happened to him.

(To read the beginning, go to The Artist, Chapter 1)

(To continue, go to The Artist – Chapter 8)