Murder at the Art Gallery Page 11

  “So, what are you two doing here?”

  “Well Charles,” I said, “it's just that I had bought something for my new cat Roger,” I pointed down to Roger who was just sitting on the carpet cool as could be, “and I left it behind. Jill and I were in the neighborhood and decided to pick it up.

  “Well, I saw some lights and activity coming from here and the door open and I thought I would investigate. Just between you and me, we had a robbery here recently in one of the other offices, and we have to be on the lookout for unusual activity.”

  “Oh no, we were just leaving, as a matter of fact, I found Roger's toy.”

  We moved toward the door while Jill continued her conversation with Charles.

  “So Charles, I'm going to be around the mall tomorrow to get some lunch. I'll check to see if you're free, maybe you can join me?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Charles said.

  Jill had been a lifesaver. I would have totally lost it.

  We left the mall and got in the car. Jill asked, “Did you upload the file?”

  “Yes, but it took forever, I didn't know what was happening. I keep hoping that Katie won't see that this file is much bigger and won't pay too much attention to it. To tell the truth, she really doesn't care about the memorial, she's only helping because she knows that this means a lot to me. I think if it had been anybody else, she probably wouldn't go. So I lucked out on that.”

  We went to Joanie's for a night cap.

  “Jill, let's talk about something else cause I'm so nervous that if we start to talk about this, I think I'm going to faint.”

  “I know what you mean, I was pretty shaken up too by what I saw, so yeah, I'm not too keen on any repeats. Tomorrow will be another day and you can plan how you're going to do this at the show.”

  We sat at Joanie's having coffee and pastries and Joanie brought a saucer of milk for Roger. It was great to see him drink like he hadn't had milk in weeks.

  “You know, after talking to Charles, I definitely think I'm going to ask him for lunch tomorrow.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, I know he likes me, but he's shy and he's actually a nice guy. I haven't been on a date for a while now, so maybe, socialize with Charles a little and see how that goes.”

  “I didn't know you liked him.”

  “I don't dislike him, it's just that I haven't had anybody for a while now, and in the past, I thought that he was too straight, but now I realize, he's just shy and probably just lives in his own head most of the time. Plus, it's been a couple of years now, so maybe we have both changed to the point where we can make a go of this.”

  “Well, I'm glad that tonight's escapade opened up a romantic opportunity for you.”

  “It's just one of those things. You don't think about somebody and then he just shows up out of nowhere and you start seeing him in a different light. It's like an opportunity that comes out of nowhere.”

  “Well, I'm just glad that at least part one of this operation is over.”

  “You know I'm going take a video of this, don't you?”

  “Yes, I figured with your social media infatuation and the cataloguing of your daily life, somehow, someway you were going to catalog this event.”

  “Well, it's not just a social media event. This will act as all the substantive evidence you need to press charges against this guy, and this video will be a complete record of everything that happens that evening.”

  “That's true the video will be the proof. If it turns into one of these he said, she said, the video will also be proof of what was done.”

  “Great, so at least we have a plan. I won't put it online right away, and I'll definitely edit the gory parts. But eventually it will appear online.”

  “Unless Fred objects to putting the video online.”

  “Fred may not know about it till its' too late” Jill said, smiling.

  “I hope he doesn't get angry, or worse yet, it turns the tables in favor of our killer”

  “Nah, I'll be careful. If Fred says we can't upload the video, I'll work with him. I want this guy caught too, you know.”

  Joanie came back to pick up Roger's milk bowl and to play with Roger.

  Joanie said, “You know Mandy, you've had Roger for less about a week and he seems so attached to you. He sits and plays as though he's been doing this for years with you. A very relaxed cat.”

  “Yes, you should see him at home when he plays with his toys. He really didn't take long to adapt to his new living quarters. I think with his old owner, he was just lonely and wanted attention. With me, of course, he gets all the attention he could ever want and more. Actually, while she's here, we have to thank Jill here, cause this was her plan all along. She has been trying for the longest time now for me to get a new cat. And her plan finally worked. So, I'm grateful to her that it turned out to be Roger.”

  “I even let her in early so she could have her pick of cats without competition from others.”

  “Well, however he came to you, he is one great cat” Joanie said. “He's always welcome here. You know I love cats as much as you do.”

  “Well, I'll think that Roger is going to have a lot of admirer's at Joanie's.”

  We all laughed. Roger looked at us with an expression as if to say: “What?, What's so funny?”

  After getting home, I sat on the sofa with Roger on my lap. His contented purrs calmed me. I thought about the events of tomorrow and I grew nervous, questioning if I would be able to pull this off. People would be coming to see an art show. I was going to expose a murderer. Well, I'd gone this far, I was just going to have to finish it. I've uncovered so much this week, that the David I knew seemed like a stranger. But he still was my friend.

  I had to view what I was about to do as an exercise. I had to detach myself emotionally. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to do it. At least, not well. A big part of me wanted to go to the police and tell Fred everything. Let the police handle it.

  But I couldn’t risk getting into legal trouble- though I knew it was a possibility anyway. I didn’t care much at that point. As long as the criminal who killed David wouldn’t walk freely.

  The more I thought about it, if David had lived, I'm sure he would have eventually made amends on the business end. He would have found another company to outsource the painting of the portraits, or even to do the portraits himself and eventually delivered the pictures for those people. I just felt I knew David well enough that although he may disappoint, he eventually would make good on his promises.

  Maybe he would have gotten out of this phase where he had become a pothead. It just seemed that he was sabotaging and self destructing his life. Except that it didn't end because of him, it was somebody else's decision that ended his life for him.

  I had calmed down enough that I decided to give the Tarot cards one more try and see what they showed as possibilities for tomorrow. I did it a couple of times, and each time, it showed negativity, it showed violence. Great, that's just what I didn't need. Maybe the cards were wrong. I told myself that about Roger, but the cards had been right about Roger. I’d have to brace myself for the possibility of everything and anything going wrong.

  I calmed myself down a little bit by telling myself that I wouldn’t be alone. It wouldn’t be the murderer and me alone in a room. It would be a room full of people, and once the video was shown, and the people saw what it was, if he tried anything, somebody would stop him, if not out of a desire to protect me, then it would be out of outrage at what they had seen. And Jill said that she was going to film the whole thing. So, there would be plenty of evidence.

  I went to bed and I finally fell asleep at around six in the morning. All night long I kept imagining what might happen tomorrow. I got up shortly after that to get to work. Not a good way to start the day.

  Chapter Twelve

  Thankfully, the day involved a lot of moving around the gallery, cleaning things up, making sure that tables were set up for hors d'oeuvres and wine, looking at the guest l
ist, setting up the area where both Bernard and myself were going to talk. It was a makeshift stage with a screen behind us for the images from the projector.

  Bernard would be the first to speak and introduce the gallery, the exhibit and the significance of it all. My original presentation was going to be short and sweet and that would have been the end of it. In light of recent developments, there would be nothing sweet about my new presentation.

  I had a big checklist of things to do in the gallery and was checking off the things that had been done and what we had yet to get done for the exhibit. Most of the people we invited were going to come, as well as David's friends and acquaintances that I had gathered for the funeral. And Harold. He was going to be there.

  It was a good thing I kept busy. Running around completing tasks didn’t exactly leave time for me to panic.

  I met Jill on my coffee break and she explained how she had prepared her phone that day’s filming. One way or another she believed that the film would constitute complete evidence when the hammer came down. Charles came to our table, to talk to Jill under the pretense of saying hi.

  Jill said “Charles, are you going to be around later? Maybe we could get lunch?”

  He was acted like he was taken aback but he finally said “Sure”.

  At some point I was going to be able to go home, change and feed Roger. But for now, I seemed to be falling down this vortex in which every hour brought me closer to doing one of the strangest things I've ever done in my entire life.

  I went back to the office, and again was caught up in the whirlwind of putting the show together. There is a lot of preparation that goes into an art show.

  Finally, I managed to go home, take a shower and try to do another reading with the cards. I wanted to see if I anything had changed. Like the night before, the cards did not point to a favorable outcome. They said there was danger ahead. Now this could also just have been my whole state of mind. I was not exactly the most cool, calm and collected.

  The time came to go to back to the gallery. I took Roger with me to make it look like everything was normal. Jill would look after him while I was doing my thing. Besides he was usually very good in public spaces. This should be no different. Apparently, everybody we invited had decided to attend. Everybody was there. The light of the projector was on the screen, ready for the presentation. I saw Katie fidgeting in the back.

  I had to warn her, I had to at least give her a chance to get away. I owed her at least that much. No telling how she might react if she saw this.

  I pulled her aside and said, “Can I talk to you? Listen, last night I changed the presentation I'm going to give now. I can't tell you what it's about, but when it comes time for me to do my presentation, after you press the play button when I say go, just walk away. Things are going to get very ugly and there's no reason that you need to stick around. I'm just warning you so it doesn't come as a surprise.”

  “You found something?”

  “Katie, I found something humongous and things are going to get very crazy when it comes out tonight.”

  I felt much better getting that off my chest. I hated lying to people or dragging them into something that they were not responsible for. She didn't seem fazed by the news, but at least I felt I had done the right thing. People continued to pour into the gallery Margot was there, Harold was there. Everybody that needed to be there was there so that when I unmasked the killer, he would be in the audience where he couldn't escape.

  The moment I had dreaded so much had come. Bernard got up to do his presentation.

  “Thank you all for coming tonight. As always, it gives me great pleasure to do another show of outstanding paintings by one of our local artists. However it is with great sadness that I make this presentation this evening. Our present artist, David Towsky, has recently passed away. Nevertheless, his art is here and that is what we're celebrating tonight, the artwork of a talented artist whose vision will inspire all those that experience his work.”

  There was light clapping and Bernard went on.

  “I originally met David thanks to the efforts of one my talented employees, Mandy Cummings, who is standing over there.”

  As he pointed at me I did a half-hearted wave and as much of a smile as I could muster and there was light clapping in the room.

  “And after seeing David's paintings, I knew they would be an invaluable asset to the gallery and to our mutual benefit. So, I hope that you enjoy them and that some of you may be inspired enough to take one of them home with you tonight. You are all welcome to visit the gallery at any time, since we have regular shows of local artists and artists that deserve more recognition both locally and globally. I truly hope this place can become a hub and meeting place for the artistic community. Again, thank you for coming. I think Mandy has some words she would like to say shortly.”

  There was clapping all around and towards the end there was a picture of David on the screen and people clapped at that as well. Bernard stepped away to talk to different people.

  Then came my turn to speak. Pull yourself together, I told myself. This will be over before you know it.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming tonight for David's art show. I have known David since my college days and I really wanted to give a brief presentation of David's past as an artist. Unfortunately, that's is not what I'm doing tonight.”

  Big “ooohhh” around the audience.

  “It has been said that David Towsky committed suicide. Unfortunately, that is not the truth.”

  More “oooooohs” and “what?” From the audience

  “The truth is that he was murdered. And the murderer is Bernard Jacovski, David's secret lover, Katie play the presentation.”

  “What's” and all kinds of murmurs filled the room. Bernard was in the other room mingling. He must not have heard because he did nothing to stop me.

  I pointed at the screen where parts of David’s video was displayed in full view of everyone.

  “In this video, as you can see, that is a naked David in his bedroom walking away from the camera. Now thirty seconds later, who should walk into his bedroom but Bernard, naked and bringing David some water.”

  People were talking, shushing, saying “wow”, and there was all kind of murmuring. A lot of people were taking out their cell phones and were taping my presentation.. I looked at Jill and she just gave me a thumbs-up. Margot stood like she was made of stone. I continued.

  “You can see David drinking and Bernard standing there.”

  Bernard had walked back into the room and started to scream, “stop this video!, stop this right now!” He was heading for me, but Harold and others held him.

  “Now, unbeknownst to most, David had an allergy to opioid pain killers. Notice how David is choking and Bernard is not offering any help. He is standing there passively while David is clearly reaching out to him for help. David continues to choke and is now gasping for air. Eventually as you can see, David collapses onto the bed.”

  “Stop this video right now, I demand this video be stopped!” Bernard was still trying to lunge at me but Harold and some others held him back. Harold told Bernard to shut up and allow me to finish. Katie was still by the laptop and she gave him the one finger salute. The anger in Margot's face was immense, and she stood there glaring at Bernard.

  I continued.

  “Notice how Bernard finally raises David's arm and lets it drop, to make sure that David is completely unconscious. Bernard disappears for a while and now comes back dressed. See how he cleans the glass with a sheet for his prints. Now he takes David's hand and puts it around the glass so that only David's prints appear on the glass. And then he walks away.”

  At this point, Bernard broke free from Harold and the others that were holding him and he pulled out a gun. He yelled,

  “Everybody just stay away!”

  Then he ran towards me and I thought this is the end, he’s going to shoot me. Instead he grabbed me by the neck with his arm, put the gun
to my head and he was screaming

  “You had to go around snooping, didn't you, you just couldn't let it rest that your little friend didn't commit suicide. You meddling idiot! You ruined everything!”

  “But why Bernard, why did you kill him?”

  “Cause he was going to expose me, he was going to tell the world that I was gay!”

  I couldn't believe what I had just heard.

  “Bernard, people are coming out every day, what made you think that this was going to be something terrible? If anything, you didn't have to hide anymore. You could live in the truth.”

  Still screaming, with the gun pointed at my head he said, “Because you idiot, in case you haven't noticed, I'm an orthodox Jew and my wife would have divorced me. She's a very religious woman and she's the one with the money. You think I'd marry a fat ugly broad if she wasn't rich? I would have lost everything, I would have had no money.”

  “Wait, you mean to tell me that you killed David because you didn't want to lose your meal ticket? Bernard, you're despicable! You destroyed a human life so you could continue to enjoy living a life of luxury and all David was trying to do was help you.”

  “He wasn't helping me out, he wanted to ruin my life!”

  “Answer this Bernard, how did you know he was allergic to opioid painkillers?”

  “Cause I've been addicted to them for years, ever since my car accident. I was started on them to relieve the pain of broken bones and eventually I couldn't stop using them all the time. I told him this and he told me about his allergy. In the end, I knew exactly how to eliminate David. You see, I'm very clever when I want to be!”

  He was sounded crazier and crazier as he spoke. I was afraid at some point he was just going to shoot. He continued

  “Anyway, enough talking, I'm getting the hell out of here before the police come and you're going to be my hostage.”

  All this while, his mike was still on, so he sounded loud and insane.

  “If anybody tries to stop me, I'll kill her. She ruined my life, I have a good mind to kill her anyway. But right now, I'm getting out of here.”