Framed Shadows: Shadows Landing #6 Page 18

  “We have a plan. I don’t want to worry about it for the rest of the night,” Tinsley told him before placing her lips on his chest and kissing her way across his muscles.

  “That’s the best plan I’ve heard all night.” Paxton ran his fingers through her long hair and tightened his fingers to a fist so he could gently tug her wandering lips up his chest, over his neck, and to his mouth. “I love you,” he told her a second before taking her lips with his.

  Tonight was about them. About their love. About their future. About their passion. Curtis, stolen art, the Myriad, everything else could all wait until morning. Paxton needed Tinsley to know how much she meant to him. He’d told her he loved her, but those words didn’t seem to be enough. So, instead of telling her, he showed her.

  Paxton flipped Tinsley so he was on top. He stretched her arms toward the headboard and then took his time kissing, licking, and nibbling every inch of her smooth skin.

  Tinsley’s words started coherently, but by the time he reached her center, they were just passionate murmurs. She was lost in the feeling of their bodies becoming one. When Paxton joined with her, his own words failed him. Instead, the two of them fell headfirst into their shared climax.

  Tinsley picked up the phone and took a deep breath. It was Thursday. She’d kept Maurice at bay, but she knew her time was up. He was getting itchy to have some paintings sold. Today was the day she needed to tell him she was on her way to the archives for research. She’d been setting it up in previous conversations with Maurice and hoped she could buy herself the weekend.

  Cy and her uncles were cleaning house in Atlanta. They were busting all the street-level dealers and working their way up the chain of command. Curtis had been missing in action for the past week. Even Maurice and Murray hadn’t been seen. Unfortunately, the art hadn’t been seen either.

  The phone rang, but it didn’t get picked up. The FBI had been trying to trace the calls, but it was no good. Maurice would let the phone ring, then call back using a burner phone. Tinsley hung up and waited. It only took a minute for Maurice to call her back on an unknown number.

  “I hope you have good news,” Maurice said, his voice tight and lacking the fake gentlemanly manners he’d used before.

  “I do,” Tinsley said, adding a little extra sweetness to her voice. “We can start selling the paintings on Monday. I’m leaving today to visit an art library to get the final estimates needed on some of these exquisite pieces with no online sales records.”

  “Monday? Why so long?” Maurice asked.

  “I have a plan to get you the most money possible. I’m preparing a catalog with a picture of each painting or drawing. It includes the sales price and the history of the painting. I’m giving everyone one week to make their bids. By next Friday, the entire collection will be sold and your family will be able to afford any surgery your grandmother will ever need. We’re talking generational wealth here, Maurice. Your grandparents might be cash strapped, but this collection is her ultimate gift to you.”

  “That much?” Maurice asked. Tinsley had fed him one painting a day, not the whole lot. She was saving it for just this time.

  “You said that this is half of her collection, correct?”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Maurice said eagerly. “We were hoping to get five million for half of it.”

  “Five million,” Tinsley laughed. “Just the half I have is valued at over a hundred million, Maurice.”

  Tinsley heard muffled conversation over the phone. Maurice was not alone.

  “Would you and your family like to come see it one last time Monday morning before I start meeting with your private buyers?” Tinsley asked.

  “That’s nice of you, Tinsley. I’ll check with everyone and text you later. We do want the pieces we’re privately selling pulled from the catalog. The public doesn’t need to see them since they are already sold,” Maurice instructed.

  “Of course. I’ll send you a complete list now. You can send me an email with the pieces and purchase prices you want me to aim for with your buyers and I’ll pull them from the catalog. I can also start setting up sales appointments.”

  “I’ll set them all up. It’ll be in the email I send you. I’ll be in touch. Thank you.” Maurice hung up and Tinsley remembered to start breathing again.

  Paxton looked down at his phone and shook his head. “They still weren’t able to get a location on Maurice. You executed the plan perfectly, though. We’ll have undercover agents all through town and arrest every buyer as they come in. We will then quickly whisk them away before the next person comes.”

  Tinsley nodded. Paxton had come up with the plan and Ryker’s contact had worked hard trying to identify all the art. Unfortunately, they weren’t listed in the Stolen Art Database of the United States. They had all come from Argentina, stolen from who knows where. Now they were in a holding pattern until the thieves were arrested and the other half of the art was found. Only then could they risk digging deeper into the true owners of the artwork. Until then, everyone would be arrested for the fraudulent provenances.

  Paxton’s phone rang and Tinsley went back to work on the catalog as he went to answer it. When he came back into her office, he had a smile on his face.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “The money was finally moved from the shell account. My guys were able to dig into the account and found it belonged to an art dealer, but the owner of the account is dead. They have him set up as a real person, but he died forty years ago. After the money left the dead art dealer’s account, it was transferred multiple times. Once through another shell company to make it look legit and then it was divided. Half went to a bank account in Buenos Aires and the other half to a company in Atlanta.” Paxton smiled wider and she knew he wasn’t done. “We are requesting CIA operatives to look into the bank account in Buenos Aires. But the account here in Atlanta is for a money services business, a cash-for-paychecks type place. When we dug into the company and through all the protective layers to hide the owner, we discovered that Curtis Engle owns the company.”

  “That’s enough to get him on the stolen Castille, right?” Tinsley asked.

  “It’s a good start. He could still claim he didn’t know it was stolen and this was a repayment of a loan or they were just wiring it for a customer. My agents are still digging into it, but it’ll be a slam-dunk case if we can link Engle to the dead dealer’s account.”

  Tinsley’s email alert sounded and she pulled up an email that looked like spam. However, the subject line was Art Buyers. The email listed ten works of art. Next to the title of each painting listed was a time, not a name.

  Vermeer. Monday 9:00

  Degas. Monday 10:00

  And so on until ten paintings with ten appointments were listed.

  “Paxton, look.” Tinsley pointed to her computer.

  Paxton came over and read the email and clenched his jaw. “He was smart. His name isn’t anywhere on the email and neither are the names of the buyers. I’ll tell tech and see if they can find out where the email came from. What’s your email and password?”

  Tinsley gave them to him and then waited as he talked to someone over the phone. She saw a slight smile and Paxton give a small fist pump before hanging up. “It was from a public library in Atlanta. We’re working on getting a subpoena for any security cameras, and Connor is going to reach out to traffic to see if we can find out who it was and where they were going.”

  “So what now?” Tinsley asked.

  “We go home and spend the weekend making love when I’m not working.”

  “What about me?”

  “You know the deal I made with Ryker. For us to move back to your house, you have to be with me at all times. So, do you think you can train Bubba to be your attack gator while I work?” Paxton asked with such a serious face that Tinsley laughed.

  “I don’t know. Your high-pitched screaming might draw too much attention.” Tinsley sent him a wink and walked past him. She heard h
im chuckling as she began to close down the art gallery.

  23

  Paxton followed his plan to the letter. He worked, made love to her, and then went back to work. Tinsley had woken up at three in the morning and found Paxton in the kitchen, working on his laptop.

  She’d kissed the top of his head before he wordlessly pulled her onto his lap and made slow love to her. Tinsley was still breathing hard when he escorted her back to bed and tucked her in.

  When she woke up again at seven, he was gone from bed once again. Tinsley poured a cup of coffee and took a seat on her back patio while Paxton finished a phone call. The smell of the coffee and the hint of hazelnut from the creamer put a smile on her face as she watched the birds fly and the little animals scamper in the woods behind her house.

  The screen door opened and Tinsley looked up to see Paxton take the seat next to her. He leaned over and kissed her. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning. Did you sleep at all?” Tinsley asked.

  “I got a couple of hours. They made progress on the art dealer’s account. Cy called too and said last night they had a huge drug bust with Connor. Curtis is going to be livid. What’s interesting is Mark Trevino showed up on the scene and cursed out Connor for not including them in the plans. He claimed they had surveillance on the warehouse and were getting ready for their own bust. All lies, but now we know he has some skin in this game. Connor is trying to get a search warrant for Mark’s financials.”

  “So Curtis is going to be very anxious for Monday?”

  “Definitely. Lucky for us, anxious and desperate people do stupid things. We’re hoping he slips up and we can put the final nail in his coffin.”

  Tinsley’s phone buzzed and she looked down at it. “It’s a message from my Aunt Annie. They caught a military flight and just landed at the Charleston Air Force Base. They’re already on their way here.”

  “I don’t know what to expect after meeting Cy.”

  They both paused as they heard a knock at the front door. Paxton had a gun in his hand and was moving back into the house before Tinsley could stand up. She followed behind him and saw him tuck the gun away before opening the door.

  “Good morning, Miss Ruby, Miss Winnie,” Paxton said, stepping back to let the two ladies inside.

  “I told you we should have come earlier,” Miss Winnie scolded Miss Ruby.

  “You’re right, Win. Maybe if we ask, he’ll take his shirt off and just pretend we caught him getting dressed for the day.”

  Tinsley smiled and hid her laughter as Paxton winked at the ladies. “I could make that happen if you tell me what smells so good.”

  “Backup plan for the win,” Miss Ruby said, digging into her basket and pulling out a fresh-baked apple pie.

  “I have a feeling you’re not going to just give that to me, are you?” Paxton asked skeptically.

  “You’re a smart one,” Miss Winnie said with mischief in her eyes as she patted his cheek.

  “You see, Trent’s poster with our pie got us a lot of attention the other week. The fall festival is up next. We can’t just reuse the same sign,” Miss Ruby said matter-of-factly. “That would be bad branding.”

  Tinsley clamped her mouth shut to stop the laugh from escaping as Paxton raised an eyebrow and tried to appear intimidating.

  Miss Winnie rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t bother with that look, young man. We could stare the devil in the face and still not hand over our apple pie until he stripped for it.”

  “If I’m reading this situation correctly, you want me to strip for the next banner and in return I’d get this apple pie?” Paxton asked.

  “You’d get this one, and one pie a month for one year. That’s what we’re doing for Trent,” Miss Ruby said with a look that implied she knew she had Paxton hook, line, and sinker. To seal the deal, she moved the pie slowly under Paxton’s nose. Tinsley couldn’t be sure, but she thought Paxton was drooling.

  “Deal,” Paxton said, yanking his T-shirt off as he reached for the pie.

  “You got the camera, Win?” Ruby asked, walking by Paxton as she held the pie up.

  “Sure do. You’re thinking nature shots?” Winnie asked as Paxton followed as if he were tethered to the pie.

  “Yes. I think he’d look real nice leaning against a tree.”

  Tinsley just shook her head as she followed the group outside. Paxton had stripped along the way. There were shoes, socks, and a pair of pants strewn about on the way out the back door.

  Tinsley followed behind, letting Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie instruct Paxton on how to lean against the tree.

  “Now lose your drawers,” Miss Winnie instructed and Tinsley saw Paxton pause.

  “What? Can’t I just hold the pie down here?” Paxton asked.

  Miss Ruby replied by sticking the pie under Paxton’s nose again. Paxton stepped behind the tree and shucked his boxers. Then he leaned out and held out his hands for the pie.

  “Sneaky devil,” Miss Winnie muttered.

  Miss Ruby handed the pie over and Tinsley was treated to the show of a lifetime. She didn’t know if it were funnier to watch Paxton trying to keep the pie in front of him or Miss Ruby and Miss Winnie trying to get the pie to slip to the side a bit so they could sneak a peek.

  Tinsley was still snickering when three blurs of color shot by. One was tan, one black, and the other one was red. They streaked past her and right toward Paxton. Paxton jumped back behind the tree, but it was too late. The three dogs had zeroed in on the pie.

  “No!” Paxton yelled as he ran around and around the tree with the three dogs chasing him. The red dog made a leap for the pie and Paxton was forced to hold it up over his head.

  Miss Winnie gasped and then turned to Tinsley with a smile. “Lucky girl.”

  “I know,” Tinsley said with a wink.

  “Well, this is certainly a different kind of welcome than I expected. Can’t say I’m disappointed, though.”

  “Aunt Annie! Miss Bridget!” Tinsley jumped out of her chair and hurried off the porch. The two ladies watched as Paxton reached up with one hand and began to pull himself up into the tree while still holding the pie with his other hand. They got a nice clear view of Paxton and his not-so-little Paxton.

  “Does he regularly climb trees naked?” Annie asked.

  “No. He got naked to get twelve apple pies from Miss Winnie and Miss Ruby.”

  “Heck, I’d get naked for that,” Annie said, and Bridget nodded her agreement.

  “You think I should tell him Robyn can climb trees?” Bridget asked Annie.

  “Nah, let him experience that surprise on his own,” Annie said before turning back to Tinsley. “So, this is the guy?”

  “That’s him. All of him.”

  Bridget leaned forward and lifted up her hand for a high five.

  “Help!” Paxton yelled from where he now sat halfway down the first branch in the tree. “I will not lose this pie after stripping down for it. And you two better delete any picture of me being chased by these dogs!” The last word was yelled in surprise as the red Vizsla ran straight for the tree, leaped up, bounced off the trunk and up onto the thick branch Paxton currently occupied. “Oh no. I don’t care how cool that was. You’re not getting my pie!” he yelled at Robyn.

  “He’s braver than your husband,” Annie said to Bridget who nodded.

  “Ahmed gets nightmares if he sees Robyn in trees. He loves her to death, but he says it’s just not natural for a dog to be able to climb a tree. Robyn’s father, Bob, did that and it freaked him out.”

  “He has a good point. It’s a strange sight,” Tinsley said as she watched the dog walk carefully forward and then sit. She cocked her head to the side and reached out with her paw to place it on Paxton’s arm.

  “Ahmed can’t resist that. Paxton’s a goner,” Bridget whispered to them as Miss Winnie snapped pictures.

  “One bite and that’s it,” Paxton tried to say sternly as Robyn’s short tail thumped with victory.

  Paxton
fed her a bit with his fork and then Robyn licked him and Paxton was lost forever to the rust-colored dog.

  “Tinsley, you think you could help this sweetie down? I don’t want her hurt,” Paxton called out.

  “Told you. Point for Robyn. Though your guy also gets a point for treating her well,” Bridget said before she walked over to the tree. She patted her chest and Robyn leaped instantly from the branch and into Bridget’s arms. She caught the forty-plus-pound dog and set her down before looking up at Paxton. “Do you need help down?”

  “Are you going to catch me, too?” Paxton asked.

  “I was going to offer to take the pie,” Bridget said with a grin.

  “No thanks. I feel as if I’ve fought a battle for this and I’m not letting it out of my grasp until the pie tin is empty and licked clean.”

  Bridget gave a command and all three dogs raced to her to side and sat perfectly in a row. “You’re good. They won’t move until I tell them to.”

  Bridget turned around and left the three dogs staring up at Paxton. Sure enough, they didn’t move even as he climbed down and got dressed.

  “Now, where are these paintings?” Annie asked Tinsley as Paxton collected his clothes.

  “They’re at the church,” Tinsley told her. “Do you really think the dogs will be able to track them in Atlanta?”

  “I’d like to know that, too,” Paxton said as he joined them, finally fully clothed.

  “We got the addresses for all of the properties used by Curtis Engle. We plan to search them all,” Bridget said.

  “And beat my husband and his brothers to the punch,” Annie said with a smirk.

  “They think you wives don’t know what they do on their guys’ trips, do they?” Tinsley asked.

  “That’s right. They think we actually believe the texts Pierce sends of them fishing,” Annie said with amusement.

  “My husband joined them last night. He tried to play it off as the Davies brothers were having so much fun fishing, he just had to join them. Fishing for drug dealers, that is.” Bridget rolled her eyes.