The hidden painting chapter 14

As Cindy sits on the toilet, wiping the fresh vomit from the corner of her mouth, she feels horrible, both physically and mentally!

‘Did I really tell him everything?’ she asks herself, unable to comprehend the power of tequila. ‘He’s going to hate me!’ she decides.

Cindy quickly stands up and vomits again, the thought of her being homeless, jobless, and penniless hitting her like a ten-ton weight in her stomach. Once she has it all up, she turns on the shower, not knowing where her next one will be!

It has to be the longest shower of her life! She stands under the water, letting it travel down her body like a waterfall, for as long as she dares.

‘I can’t go down and face him!’ she says to the mirror, her reflection showing both devastation and, surprisingly, relief. She brushes her teeth, trying hard to get the taste of vomit from her mouth. She brushes, and brushes, putting off the inevitable…intending to pack her life up and move once more!

After she gets dressed, Cindy takes out the duffle bag from the stylish, old fashioned wardrobe and throws everything she can find that belongs to her into it. Just as she arrived at, what then was a mansion in her eyes, she manages to only fill the piece of luggage halfway, the other half simply filled with hopes and dreams. The worst thing about it is that she enjoys working on the biography, and is good at it to boot!

As she descends the stairs, for what she thinks to be the last time, she places her bag under the coat rack, ready to make a quick getaway! She could never leave without saying goodbye to Jasper, no matter how much she yearns to! She makes her way through the myriad of corridors, nostalgia hitting when she passes her office, the room she spent most of the first three years of her life in, and stops. She opens the door, the key, looking at the Minnie Mouse keychain Jasper gave her all those weeks ago, and sighs. She picks up the two notebooks, that are bound together by an elastic band, and brings ‘the bible’ with her to the kitchen. Cindy’s plan is to hand it to Jasper as she gives both sets of keys, one given, one stolen, back before she pulls out of the driveway for what she believes to be the last time.

‘I thought you’d be late!’ Jasper smiles. It’s a smile that makes Cindy think whether or not he could remember her confession from the night before!

Jasper is working at the stove, flipping over pancake after pancake, until, eventually, a nice big stack is formed. He puts it in the middle of the heavy wooden dining table. There are two places set and Jasper pats the chair of the one he wants Cindy to sit in. She looks at him with a furrowed brow, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

‘Is this the last supper?’ she asks, to which Jasper laughs and encourages her to sit and eat the beautiful pancakes he has just prepared. As she plants her ass down on the soft beige cushion that is built into all of the dining room chairs, she notices that Jasper is smiling.

‘Why the long face?’ he asks as he helps himself, leaving a dint in the pancakes. Cindy shrugs, leaving another dint, as Jasper pours syrup over every visible inch of his. He hands Cindy the syrup and she follows his lead.

Just as she cuts into the pancakes, which are as light as butter, he begins the conversation about the elephant in the room and informs her that he’s going to aid her search for the painting. Cindy, who is in the middle of masticating her first mouthful of food, fells her jaw drop. She can’t believe her ears! Jasper, upon seeing her reaction, says, ‘no need to look so surprised!’ She continues to stare at him as he dives in for a second helping, leaving two fluffy pancakes behind for Cindy!

‘When I was moving in, I had a young fellow, Doug, who helped me carry my boxes up to the attic,’ Jasper begins, ‘I have already rung him, and he’s going to meet with us this afternoon!’ Cindy’s jaw remains open, her eyes as wide as a full moon! Jasper simply asks, ‘did you think I was going to ask you to leave?’ It has been the only thing on her mind all morning. She continues to chew on the beautiful pancakes, nodding her head in disbelief at his nonchalant reaction.

Jasper, who puts his cutlery down, shakes his head, his pancakes gone. ‘How could I ever ask you, the one constant in my life who understands Arthur Waldron as much as I do, better even, and who’s only intension is to carry out her mothers dying wish, to vacate the building?’ He looks deep into her eyes, ‘Cindy, I think of this place as being your home! I wish you would think that too!’

Cindy stares back at him, attacking her first lot of syrup covered pancakes for the second time. When she swallows the mouthful down with a gulp, she reminds him, ‘I deceived you!’

‘Yea,’ Jasper says looking serious, ‘but I would have done the exact same thing in your shoes!’

They lock eyes again, the news of Cindy being permitted to stay in the ‘big house’ finally sinking in. ‘I have all of my belongings in the duffle bag in the hall ready to go!’ she announces.

‘Well, I’m just going to have to ask you to unpack them then, aren’t I?’ he says with gusto, getting up quickly, making her jump, ‘in fact, I’ll bring them up myself as you finish your breakfast!’ and leaves the room.

Cindy hears him climb the stairs two steps at a time and smiles. ‘He is such a stand up guy, isn’t he?’ she asks herself, nodding the answer to her own question. She reaches for the last of what are the most delicious pancakes she has ever tasted, still trying to comprehend his response as he returns!

‘So you’ll stay?’ he asks, to which she nods. With his dimple showing, she feels a sense of relief overcome her! Finally after dousing the last of his cooking with syrup, she enjoys every bite, with Jasper sitting beside her!

 

Even though it’s a Sunday, they begin the day in the same manner as always, with a meeting about Arthur! At the end of it, Jasper announces, ‘I have never had the privilege of working with someone so dedicated before!’ to which she smiles, her face feeling hot at the compliment.

The debrief as to where they both are at, both in relation to Arthur, and life, Cindy asks, ‘is Melina is back yet?’

‘I haven’t heard a word!’ Jasper simply answers, his bottom jaw protruding.

Trying to steer the conversation away from what, to Cindy, seems like a point of tension, she asks, ‘so who’s this Doug character?’

Relief washing over Jasper’s face, he begins to explain, ‘I hired Doug when I moved into the house as an assistant to help me with all of the heavy artifacts and to aid my transition from my parent’s place. I found his advert in the paper offering to be, well, basically a dogsbody! We ended up having words and I sacked him not three weeks after I moved in. He is the reason the place is littered with books. I was intending to ask him to help me put them on shelves I expected him to help me make, but I caught him steeling money from my wallet…twice! The first time I thought a warning would suffice, but when it happened a second time, me actually watching the indiscretion, I kicked him to the curb and told him never to return! He has no idea why he is coming back this afternoon, but I, for one, think it plausible that he might know something about your painting. After all, he spent most of his time in the attic! I would be the first to admit that, had I found a painting in a secret compartment, I would have taken it, presuming it to be valuable!’

‘So why would he return?’ Cindy asks confusion sweeping over her.

‘I asked him back on the pretence that he would be helping me display my books!’ Jasper smiles, ‘a job he was adamant he would complete with ease over a two-week period!’ his smile growing wider.

‘So, you deceived him?’ Cindy giggles, thinking that this situation could turn into a good book!

Jasper shrugs his shoulders, ‘basically!’ he says, and giggles with her!

Cindy can’t help herself, but she needs to know, ‘so how does what I did and what he did differ?’

‘Have you ever done anything, other that steal my keys, and break into my attic, to prove you untrustworthy?’ Jasper quickly shakes his head as he sees Cindy hang her head in shame, ‘scratch that! I said that without thinking!’ he admits and moves into the seat beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder making her feel fireworks in her belly. ‘What I am trying to say is that you are more a help than a hindrance and, if I’m not mistaken, have never taken anything off me that you didn’t intend on giving back!’ to which she nods.

Cindy can’t help but feel guilty and, whilst she understands what Jasper is trying to say, she still feels like she stole from him, even though she came clean in the end…tequila giving her the courage!

She is unable to hide the cogs in her mind, which are moving with haste, delight passing over her when Jasper steers the conversation in a different direction!

‘Have you heard from Julius lately?’ he asks, his dimple showing. ‘You seem to have an admirer in him!’ his grin growing towards the cheeky end of his personality.

Cindy swats him away with her hand, ‘we’re merely work colleagues!’ she informs him, her cheeks growing hot, her smile wide.

‘Oh right!’ Jasper lifts his head wondering, ‘have you moved on from Mike yet?’

‘Oh god yeah!’ Cindy says with such certainty that leaves Jasper nodding.

‘So,’ he grins, ‘who is he?’

Cindy feigns her understanding of the question!

‘C’mon!’ his grin widens, ‘there is someone, isn’t there?’ he says looking surprised, gently hitting her right upper arm.

By the way he words the question, he obviously doesn’t realise that its him she likes, him she wakes up to the thought of…him! She replays their almost kiss, suddenly regretting pulling away.

‘So,’ she returns to their talk of Melina, ‘marriage! Wow!’

‘Yeah,’ Jasper says looking disappointed!

‘What?’ Cindy probes for confirmation in her own mind that he is still taken, rather than sparing his feelings, ‘are you regretting buying her that ring?’

‘No!’ Jasper answers a little too quickly, his shoulders stoop and he sighs, ‘I just wish she hadn’t stayed with that creep Franco last night!’

‘So, you found him creepy as well? Cindy wonders aloud.

‘He was touching her every chance he got! Like I wasn’t in the room! Like I was oblivious!’ Jasper answers.

Cindy breaks and brings the conversation back to her little, ‘omission,’ and asks, ‘what time is Doug coming at?’

She feels Jasper exhale, thankful for steering his mind away from Melina, and what she might have done with Franco the previous night! ‘Two o’clock!’ he answers, looking at her gratefully.

‘I’ve a bit of work to do before then!’ Cindy announces, ‘so I’m going to head into the office and ring Julius!’

Jasper’s eyebrows rise expectantly.

‘He said he would try and find Arthur’s siblings phone numbers; you sex craving creep!’ Cindy laughs and leaves the room.

 

Back in her office, just as she is about to pick up the phone, it begins to ring. Her hand automatically picks it up immediately. ‘Cindy here!’ she says into it. Its Julius!

‘I found them!’ he simply says, Cindy knowing he’s talking about Arthur’s sibling’s numbers. ‘I looked in the attic all night!’ Julius announces, bringing her back to the night she spent in Jasper’s attic! ‘They were in the very last box I looked in!’ he sounds proud of himself.

As Cindy picks up a pen to transcribe what Julius calls out to her into ‘the bible’, he sounds as though he’s either really happy to hear her voice, or ecstatic over finding his long lost relatives. She chooses to believe the latter. Encouraging him to contact them, not for the sake of the biography, as she will do that, but for the sake of his own peace of mind! She would be glad to hear from her nephew, no matter whether he was conceived illegitimately or not! She yearns for there to be a day an illegitimate sibling rings her, of who she thinks to be at least one out there!

When the call to Julius ends, Cindy lays on the couch in her office, playing what few memories, she has of her father over and over in her head. She toys with the idea of hiring a private investigator, just on the off chance she does have a sibling she knows nothing about, but realises they cost money…money she doesn’t have!

 

After three hours on the couch, two and a half of them she was asleep for, she quickly gets up and runs into through the long hallway, towards the front door, having been woken by the sound of the doorbell.

Her first glimpse of Doug gives her the impression that he is a hardcore weed user. He uses the word ‘dude’ a lot as he greets Jasper. His clothes are dishevelled, as though he hasn’t changed them in days, but what really tips the scale, however, is the smell! Even from ten feet away she can pick up the unmistakable scent of the drug!

‘So,’ he starts, ‘you have some shelves for me to put up or something dude?’

‘Firstly, I want to chat!’ Jasper smiles leading him towards the kitchen.

Doug sits without indication, pulling the seat beside him away from the table on which he rests his right leg upon. Jasper looks at Doug, then Cindy, and rolls his eyes in her direction, as if saying, ‘here we go again!’

Jasper sits in the seat opposite, signalling Cindy to take the seat beside him, and once the pair of them are seated, he rolls out the questions.

‘Do you remember when you helped me move in?’ he begins with.

‘Yea dude, how could I ever forget this place! It’s the biggest house I’ve ever been in! You’ve decorated it nice!’

Cindy cringes at his misuse of the word but tries not to show it. She imagines that Doug would be considered for her literary program that she yearns to honour Mr Godfree with…someday!

‘Do you remember being up in the attic?’ Jasper continues.

‘Surely!’

Cindy bites her tongue!

‘Did you happen to come across a piece of furniture with a false panel on the side?’

Doug thinks for a second, ‘nope man! Should I have?’

The man sitting opposite the pair, who both desperately want to find the painting, is obviously high!

‘So, you didn’t find a painting then?’ Jasper moves on regardless!

‘What painting?’ Doug sits bolt upright. ‘Is it worth something?’

Jasper and Cindy look at each other with surprise at Doug’s question.

‘If you have it,’ Jasper says, quickly followed by, ‘and I’m not accusing you of anything, but if you did, I would be willing to buy it from you for $5,000’.

‘Wow! Dude!’ Doug says slowly, ‘those are some serious Benjie’s!’ he is of course referring to Benjamin Franklin, who is on the $100 bill!

‘So…’ Jasper asks slowly, certain that if Doug had the painting, he would gladly sell it, ‘do you have it?’

‘Nope!’ Doug says sitting back into the chair. ‘I wish I had, but…well…what did it look like?’ he asks eagerly!

Cindy knew then that Jasper was wasting his time and gets up from the table, upset that their only lead is a stoner who would undoubtably rob a painting and try to sell it to Jasper for, what to him, is pennies! As she looks at Jasper, standing behind Doug’s back, the tears beginning to fall from her eyes, running down her cheeks and landing on her $20 shirt.

She sees Jasper nod at her and leaves the room to retreat back to her office where she leaves the door open a crack.

Minutes pass before the unmistakeable sound of the front door closing comes, Jasper knocking gently on the office door seconds later!

‘Well, it doesn’t seem like it was him!’ he announces and sits in couch with Cindy, lifting her legs as she lays there, placing them gently on his lap.

Cindy can see the cogs in Jasper’s mind turn. ‘What are you thinking?’ she asks.

‘I’m just pondering whether there is someone else, someone who knew about the painting, who could have somehow gotten their hands on it before I moved in! There was a gap of four months after your father died before I moved in, rendering the property empty!’ he says with an unfixed gaze.

‘Do you think someone other than my father took it?’ Cindy ponders aloud.

‘Yes!’ Jasper answers honestly and, to his merit, she thinks so too. Cindy, going by how Lois described her father’s wealth, doesn’t think he took it either.

‘We’re just going to have to investigate all angles!’ Jasper looks at her apologetically.

‘Just like Julius and Arthur!’ Cindy sighs.

‘Exactly!’ Jasper nods, adding, ‘but something tells me it hasn’t travelled far!’

Cindy smiles at him appreciatively.