The hidden painting chapter 9

As they pull out of the driveway, Cindy is still chanting, ‘road trip!’ It takes Jasper a minute to join in, but when he does, she stops to see how many she can get out of him. He doesn’t realise until the third one that she is no longer saying it, but is looking at him sporting a massive smile instead.

They both begin to laugh, a laugh Jasper breaks by asking ‘what are we going to ask in this interview?’ having never conducted one before.

‘Who is it?’ she asks in a bubbly tone.

‘His nephew,’ Jasper answers. ‘I was told that when his parents died in a horrific road traffic accident, that Arthur took him in and treated him like a son!’

‘Really?’ Cindy asks, her pen and paper out. ‘And what do we call this nephew?’

‘His name is Julius,’ jasper looks blankly into space for a second, ‘yeah, Julius, and when Arthur got sick, he was the one who looked after him!’ Jasper enlightens Cindy on the situation for the first time.

‘Was he sick for long?’

‘No,’ Jasper says scratching his head, ‘at least I don’t think so!’

‘So this Julius guy looked after Arthur on his deathbed, and you have no idea how long he was sick for?’ she says with a furrowed brow.

‘Well that’s why were interviewing him…to get these answers!’ Jasper looks at her apologetically.

‘What’s that look for?’ she enquires curiously, thinking Jasper is holding back.

‘Ok,’ he begins, taking in a deep breath. ‘I only took this biography gig so people could see that I had the capacity to make my own money! I never thought it would be such hard work!’ he admits.

‘That’s why you hired me!’ she deduces.

‘Well, I need someone to help me read his books and brainstorm with me!’

‘But in my interview I quoted the wrong book!’ she laughs sarcastically.

‘And then, you put me on the right path!’ he laughs nervously, ‘you’ve proven your worth already!’

‘Were you actually going to write about the other Arthur Waldron?’ she smiles a smile full of genuine surprise.

Jasper is silent for a minute, his mouth moving, but no words coming out.

‘You were, weren’t you!’ she asks, her laughter disappearing and concern beginning to set in.

‘The day I met you was the day my publisher told me I had started to investigate the life of the wrong man!’ he winces, pain hitting all of his extremities as he admits that he had been looking into the Arthur Waldron who didn’t even step foot in the town of Wakerley. ‘The man I was investigating was from Philadelphia!’

Without thought, Cindy gives him a tap on the arm, her bottom jaw protruding. Jasper knew he deserved that, and as he has become more comfortable around Cindy over the past week, he says ‘ouch!’ with jest.

‘So that’s why you only had two lines written on him?’ Cindy both asks him and accuses him at the same time.

‘Yup!’

‘So you’re sure you have the right man now?’ she smiles, a smile Jasper mirrors with one eye closed.

‘What?’ she asks, bracing herself for a confession she thought was coming.

‘I think so!’ Jasper answers with almost certainty.

‘Really?’ Cindy turns in her seat to see if he’s being genuine with her.

‘All I know is that the man we are about to interview is indeed the nephew of a Arthur Waldron!’ he braces himself for another tap.

Cindy looks at him and cant help but smile at his unprofessionalism. If it were anyone else, she would be pissed, but Jasper earned the benefit of the doubt on this one. After all, he does make the worlds greatest sandwich, and it gives her the opportunity to try and retrieve her mothers famous painting. She’s along for the ride, especially after loving the series of books she just read.

‘Was he an author?’ she asks.

Jasper looks at her like someone who, for the first time, was actually enjoying his work. ‘This dude is definitely the nephew of the author of those books!’ he nods.

‘Dude?’ Cindy mocks him.

‘Ok then…’ he pauses as he tries to find the proper word, ‘gentleman!’ he says and snaps his fingers.

‘What’s his name again?’ Cindy goes back to her notebook and pen.

‘I think it’s Julian, or maybe Julius!’ Jasper answers as he pulls onto the freeway.

Noisily, Cindy closes her notebook, the pen still inside. ‘You think?’ she asks with surprise. ‘How are you going to confirm you’re at the right address with, ‘I think’, in your head?’

‘I was planning on calling him Mr Waldron!’ Jasper answers, and for the first time Cindy believes he has thought something through.

Because his answer satisfies her, she opens the notebook again. ‘And what would you like to ask this, ‘dude’?’

For the first time since entering the vehicle, Jasper is starting to make sense. ‘I was going to ask about his uncles upbringing and what kind of man he was!’

‘Finally!’ she hits the dashboard before writing a heading on the top of two pages, with two pages for answers separating them.

‘What would you ask him about his books?’ she enquires some more.

‘That area is all you!’ he smiles.

Cindy is touched that Jasper is leaving her with such an important task. Annoyance also creeps in. If she had known that in advance, she wouldn’t feel like a deer in headlights at the honour.

‘You’re really going to leave that down to me?’ she asks, putting her empty hand on her chest.

‘You are the only one here who grasps what he wrote about!’ he admits. ‘Hell, I wouldn’t have known Dane and Skyler got together had you not told me!’

This is exactly the type of situation Cindy is glad to have an eidetic memory. She still begins to write question after question in her notebook to save time during the interview and to try to not forget anything! Her biggest question being, ‘did Arthur initially intend on writing a fifth book?’

Cindy is still scribbling down notes when Jasper announces that they are at the house. She looks up at what looks to be a modest dwelling. She notices that its surrounded by a lot of land and has two of what she considers ‘expensive’ cars parked on the gravel in front of it.

Both Jasper and Cindy walk up to the house together, neither knowing what they are about to encounter, and ring the doorbell. A handsome, youthful man answers.

‘Mr Waldron?’ Jasper enquires.

‘Please, call me Julius!’ the man answers and welcomes them into his home.

 

Two and a half hours later, after three iced teas, Cindy and Jasper return to the car. They look at each other and begin to ‘whoop!’ in unison, high fiving a job well done. They learnt so much from Julius, information that they didn’t even think of asking until the questions were out there!

Cindy begins to flip through her notebook and knew, had they asked for any additional information, it would have been full to the gills. As it is, there are numerous arrows going from one page to another at the back of the eighty paged book which they will eternally call ‘the bible’.

Jasper notices a curtain twitch in the front of the house as they celebrate, and knows they cant deliberate with each other there!

‘Would you like to join me for dinner?’ he asks Cindy, who looks up from her notes, elation consuming her from the interview.

‘I would love to!’ she answers, her stomach grumbling.

‘I think we passed by a place in the village, or would you prefer me to cook?’ he offers.

‘The village please,’ she answers a bit too quickly.

Jasper smiles at her enthusiasm, ‘the village it is!’

 

As they meander down the windy country roads, they talk about Julius. When they finally reach civilisation again, Jasper points out a thatched roofed English pub. ‘Is here ok?’

Cindy, oblivious to her surroundings as she has her nose stuck in the notebook answers, ‘what?’ absentmindedly.

Jasper pulls into a nice little spot in front of the establishment and gets out of the car, Cindy close on his heels.

When she looks up from her notes, Cindy notices the red, country cottage, wooden door, peeping out from beneath the thick, deep green, illustrious climbing plants that cover all of the walls of the building. It reminds her of some of the shows they broadcast on BBC America that are based in villages. She measures with her hands that the door was about a foot away from the outermost leaf. This gets her excitement bubbling as she believes the chances of them serving English style fish and chunky fries is high.

Jasper opens the door for her and she can see a ‘specials’ chalk board on the wall in direct sight from the threshold. She nods and licks her lips as she reads that the first item on the list is fish and fries. It’s written as, fish ‘n’ chips. As Jasper sees it, he nudges her and nods his head in its direction. Cindy nods back. The pair have been talking for several hours solid about work. Both their brains and vocal chords are tired and they only know each other a week, but they are getting good at reading each other’s signals and movements.

As it is an old English pub, they take a seat in the back of the room, where they have more space to talk about Julius’s answers to some of their questions. The old, creaky benches they choose can do with a varnish. As they sit opposite each other, Cindy still holding her notes close to her chest, the hostess, who introduces herself as Alice, didn’t get the chance to regurgitate the items on the specials board, or give them a menu for that matter, as they said ‘fish and fries and a coke!’ in unison. Cindy adds, ‘a pitcher of water as well please!’

Alice looks at them and smiles saying, ‘good choice!’ before asking, ‘anything else?’ as she finishes writing down their order. Jasper looks at Cindy who shrugs. ‘We’ll have onion rings and some mozzarella sticks too please,’ smiling up at Alice as though he knew the menu off by heart.

Jasper grabs Cindys hands and shakes them excitedly, grinning as he clenches his perfect teeth. ‘That was brilliant!’ he says in a high-pitched tone, his eyes as wide as saucers.

When he lets go of Cindy’s hands, he raises his, palms up, and looks towards the ceiling. He returns back to earth a minute later as Alice serves the beverages. They thank her, and as soon as she leaves, he gulps down a half glass of water before saying ‘I’d bet you have enough information in that notebook to write a killer biography!’

Cindy lets out a laugh at the description Jasper makes about his new book. ‘Killer biography indeed!’ she nods.

‘I couldn’t have done that without you!’ Jasper admits, as it was Cindy who asked most of the really important questions.

‘It’s sad though,’ Cindy frowns.

‘How so?’

‘I thought you said he died of cancer!’ she says with a look of confusion. ‘Who knew it was actually a stroke that got him?’ she stays quiet for a second, paying homage to poor Arthur. ‘To only find out by accident you have a massive brain tumour is crazy! I would nearly faint and hit my own head off a table to get a CT scan whilst getting bloods done the next time to rule one out!’

‘Yea,’ jasper nods. ‘How he didn’t show any symptoms amazes me!’ He leans in close. ‘What I found most interesting, is the fact that he dictated the last two chapters to Julius when he was on his death bed so as not to keep the fans wondering!’

‘And to have the bones of book five laid out, ready to write…wow!’ Cindy shakes her head in sorrow.

‘I’m glad he got to finish what he started though. As Julius said, he loved his fans!’

‘You were right in thinking he changed the ending because he was sick, but to dictate the final two chapters and die before the book was edited and tweaked in its entirety must have been so frustrating!’ Cindy sympathises.

‘Julius is a good nephew to make sure his uncles dream of the whole series being printed was decent!’

‘I got the impression he enjoyed it!’ Cindy smiles.

‘He did seem very grateful to Arthur for taking him in when his parents died!’ Jasper adds. ‘Who would have willingly done a kind act like that? I mean, taking in your father’s illegitimate daughter’s son, a teenager you never met before, and giving him a loving and supporting home?’ he takes another sup of water before continuing, ‘and to know by doing so he would be excommunicated from the family he knew all his life…wow! Noble is the only word I can put on it!’

‘I have to admit, I would have done the exact same thing in his shoes!’ Cindy stares into the distance.

‘You would?’ Jasper asks.

‘What fourteen-year-old boy is going to get adopted?’ she says realistically, bringing her focus back to the table. ‘He would have bounced from foster home to foster home until he was eighteen and on his own, with no family to speak of, for the rest of his life! That’s why some kids in the system end up in gangs, to find that sense of family they yearn for!’

Jasper nods as Alice approaches the table with two plates of food, each holding an enormous piece of battered fish, covered by a high pile of chunky fries.

They each nod their heads unbeknownst to each other, Cindy licking her lips as they both reach for the vinegar. As their hands touch, Jasper is the one who pulls away and gesticulates to Cindy to use it first. She pours the condiment over the entire plate, followed by salt. Jasper doesn’t use quite as much, but does the same regardless.

With a fry in Cindy’s hand, she gazes at the thickness and crispiness of it before taking a bite. She can’t help but make yummy sounds. Jasper does the same, only he is eating it off a fork.

The pair eat their meal in silence, enjoying every morsel as though it to be their last.

 

Jasper offers to drop Cindy off at her place as by the time they left the pub, after deliberating the structure of the biography for the first time, it was dark and he, being ever the gentleman, decides he’d like to see her enter what he thinks must be an apartment. She is adamant that he brings her back to the mansion so she can drive herself. He keeps reiterating the offer until she folds and tells him she is staying at a motel. Jasper is in shock. He knew she was passionate about her work, and often wondered why she stayed at the mansion most nights over the past week, going ‘home’ only to get a shower and a change of clothes.

‘I’d really prefer driving myself!’ she insists. ‘I have to get back to the mansion in the morning and its too far to walk!’

Jasper caves and, as Cindy gets into her car, she waits a minute before turning over the engine. She smiles and plays the day over in her head. ‘He took all of my ideas on board!’ she says to herself as if surprised. ‘He trusts me! He trusts me so much that he allowed me to fully participate in the interview! And he loves pub food! What an amazing man!’

Suddenly Cindy puts her head on the wheel of the car and thinks back to how she deceived him over the keys she, in all tense and purposes, stole from him in order to retrieve the painting, another digression as it resides in his house. Her conscience kicks in. ‘It will always be my mothers painting!’ she reassures herself, trying to convince herself that what she is about to do is far from stealing, that it’s purely repossession of something that was always intended to be hers! That she is just fulfilling her mother’s dying wish!

 

Back in the motel, Cindy watches the TV absentmindedly. She lays there with no interest in any of the shows that are on, so she turns the tv off without lifting her head off the pillow. She feels her eyes starting to droop, and when sleep catches up with her, she is left smiling over the lovely day she had with Jasper!