Ivy Yellan
— Keeping something from me. Says she’s taking photos of the art but is she? Has blueprints of the house including the art and decoration. Says she knows all the house’s secrets. Is “saving up” for college. Seems to resent Mrs. Vanders.
Now she decides she may as well round out the servants.
Mrs. Vanders
— Total control freak. Likes to control what everyone does and doesn’t know, where everyone goes, whom everyone talks to, and what they talk about. She’s Patrick’s boss. Was being cagey about admitting her forgery suspicions to Ravi. Why?
— On the other hand, she’s the one who pointed the forgery out to me, making her an unlikely suspect.
Mr. Vanders
— Seen with a small child yesterday. Seen with blueprints today. Evasive. Currently digging in the garden. (Can a painting be buried safely?)
Cook
— Never around.
Random gala staff
She moves on to the other residents and guests.
Lucy St. George
— Art PI, so she knows a lot about how heists work. Her father, Buckley, is an art dealer (as are her cousin and boyfriend). Recently lost a Rubens. On-again, off-again with Ravi. (Any bad feelings there? Revenge?)
Colin Mack
— Also knows a lot about the art world/art theft. Buckley is his uncle. Kiran doesn’t seem to like him even though they’re dating (but Kiran doesn’t seem to like anyone else either). Was being a jerk to Lucy, his cousin, at breakfast.
Kiran Thrash
— Unhappy. Mad at everyone. Hates the house, hates the art. Would she do something to act out?
Ravi Thrash
— Loves the art. The Vermeer is his favorite, he slept under it as a kid. Loves it enough to steal it? Is he a good actor? Why was Mrs. Vanders being evasive around him—does she suspect him?
Octavian Thrash
— Doesn’t seem to care about the missing Brancusi.
[NOTE TO SELF: The missing Brancusi! Surely this matters more now that the Vermeer is gone too!]
— His wife has disappeared. Seems depressed and antisocial. Mad at Ravi. Keeps vampiric hours. Are the Vermeer and the Brancusi insured? Don’t rich people fake thefts sometimes to collect on insurance?
Charlotte Thrash
— Mother may have been a con artist. Was drawing floor plans of a Vegas casino when Octavian met her—suspicious? Has been missing for a month, which is super-weird. When was the Vermeer forged? Could she have taken it with her? (When was the Brancusi last seen?)
Jane chews the end of her pencil, contemplating her list, trying to decide if anyone in the house is safe for her to talk to. Jasper, droopy-eyed and curious, waddles into the room.
Jane adds:
Jasper Thrash
— The only individual in the house (besides me) who’s definitely innocent.
She turns to a new page. She writes:
What to do?
Possibilities:
— Talk to Mrs. Vanders, who’s got to be innocent. Find out whom she suspects. Ask her probing questions about Ivy.
— Talk to Lucy St. George, who probably has inspirations about what’s going on.
— Confront Ivy.
“What do you think, Jasper?” she says.
He comes closer and leans against her boots, gazing up at her with what Jane decides is resolution.
“Personally,” she says, “I like the first two ideas better than the third.”
Jasper leans harder.
“Ready?” Jane says. “Let’s go.”
*
She heads toward the center of the house, figuring she’ll check the kitchens for Mrs. Vanders.
As she approaches the stairs, she hears voices in the receiving hall, then sees Kiran and Colin standing together. Kiran has her arms crossed tight, as if in self-defense.
Jane starts down toward them.
“I don’t know,” she hears Kiran say. “It sounds like Mrs. Vanders was looking at it and got a funny feeling.”
“Have you seen it?” says Colin. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to tell it’s a fake,” says Kiran. “But the art is Vanny’s thing, after all.”
“Don’t you think it’s interesting that Philip left last night?” says Colin. “I was just pressing Phoebe about it and she told me he’ll be moving to a different remote location every day with some rich patient of his who’s on some trip. Doesn’t that sound convenient?”
“Except that I know plenty of rich people who’d think it was completely reasonable to expect their doctor to fly in to treat their tummyache,” says Kiran. “Imagine the retinue Buckley would bring if he went on some complicated trip.”
“Oh, come on. Buckley’s not that bad.”
“God, you suck up to him,” says Kiran.
Jane has reached the second-story landing, where Jasper blocks her like a short, hotdog-shaped linebacker, growling when she tries to sidestep him.
Sighing, Jane pauses to scribble in her sketchbook, turning to face the wall so it’ll look like she’s taking interested notes on the art rather than on the private conversations of people nearby.
Buckley St. George, she writes. Rich and spoiled. Then she draws an asterisk next to Philip’s name, because Phoebe’s explanation sounds ridiculous to her; then she writes, Why is Colin dating Kiran when she’s so awful to him?
Someone coughs behind her.
It’s Colin, standing a few steps below, looking up at her with raised eyebrows. “Hi,” he says.
“Hi,” says Jane, closing her notebook.
“What are you doing?” asks Colin. “Taking notes on that painting?”
Jane glances at the painting she’s supposedly taking notes on. It’s the tall oil of the room with the drying umbrella. “I was taking notes on the umbrella,” she says reasonably, then remembers that this won’t signify anything to Colin, who doesn’t know she makes umbrellas.
“Sure,” he says. “I’d suspect you of planning a heist, except no one would steal that picture.”
He’s teasing; or at any rate, Jane can tell he’s not seriously accusing her of anything. “Why not?” she says, seeing an opportunity to learn more about heists. “It’s nice.”
“It’s too big to move and it’s not worth anything.”
“Maybe I’m stealing it because I like it.”
“It’s by a painter of unremarkable talent,” Colin says.
“Do you think so?” Jane says, looking closer. “I mean, I guess it’s not amazing—”
“It belongs to no particular school, either,” he says. “Knowing Octavian, I bet it was a flea market purchase.”
“Well, but it has its charms, especially for fans of umbrellas. Why are you so determined to convince me it’s worthless?”
“Because,” says the voice of Lucy, who rounds the corner from somewhere or other, “if Colin sees someone focused on a picture he thinks is worth nothing, he begins to worry that he’s missing something.”
This surprises a grin onto Jane’s face, which makes Lucy laugh. “He’s my cousin,” she says. “I know him.”
“So, Colin,” says Jane, “you’re trying to convince me you’re right because you’re afraid you’re wrong?”
A crash below interrupts whatever indignant thing Colin’s about to say. The crash is followed by a series of yells. Jane, Lucy, and Colin look at one another in astonishment. Then, together, they rush to the railing, Jasper crowding Jane’s feet.
“Octavian!” Ravi screams, standing in the receiving hall and waving something around in his hands. “Octavian!” On the checkerboard floor, beside him, a vase lies shattered. Water and lilacs are strewn about. “Octavian!” he screams again, his voice straining out of his throat, tearing at the ceiling.
“Colin,” says Lucy breathlessly. “Is that the bottom half of the Brancusi sculpture? The pedestal for the fish that always sits in the receiving hall?”
“Yes,” says Colin in wonderment.
“But where’s the top half? Where’s the fish?” says Lucy.
“How should I know?”
“Colin,” Lucy says, in a voice suddenly made of steel. “Where is the fish?”
“I don’t know!” Colin says. “You’re the detective, not me! What do you think, I broke it off?”