“Yeah, and that’s exactly what happened with Kiddy. She had a drug overdose during that epidemic of bad drugs a few years back. She was found on a street corner already too far gone to save.”
“That’s just so sad,” she said.
“And you’re right. We’re still looking for Kenneth Lively. Hopefully he isn’t dead too.”
“I hope not,” she said.
“On the other hand, if he is, you get everything,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb.
She frowned at him. “First of all, I don’t need it. Second, I don’t want anybody thinking that I’m behind this. And it’s not what Elena wanted.”
“Well, the lawyer is still working on all that.”
She shook her head. “Whatever.”
“Are you taking care of the funeral arrangements?”
She nodded slowly. “I didn’t mention it because I was waiting for the release of the body.”
“Which we can’t do yet.”
She nodded. “We’ll do a celebration of life,” she said with a sad smile. “A lot of body-painting artists have contacted me, and I think I’ll host a paint fest, and we’ll have cocktails and invite the art world. I will paint something that I painted on Elena to celebrate her life and her own accomplishments.”
He looked at her in surprise. “That sounds absolutely wonderful,” he said. “Can you do that, or will that tax you too much?”
“I feel like I need to,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s too taxing or not. I need to give her a send-off of some kind. And that feels right. She would have had fun with that.”
He nodded and smiled. “As long as you will too.”
“No,” she said cheerfully. “I will end up bawling my eyes out from one moment to the next. But I can’t bring her back, so it is what it is.”
“Good way to look at it,” he said. “Have you already set it up?”
“Anita has been working on it,” she said. “We’re dealing with it one step at a time, making all the prep in the background until we can set a date.”
“I’ll do what I can,” he said, “but no promises of when that will be.”
“This investigation is more important,” she said, “and we can’t say goodbye to Elena until this part is done.”
“And you need to know that sometimes it doesn’t happen as fast as we want it to.”
“I don’t think it ever does,” she said, “because, if I had a choice, it would already be over with, and we’d have that asshole in jail—or better yet dead,” she said.
He nodded. He finished dressing while she watched.
“I guess I have to go to work too.” She yawned, pulled herself from the bedding, and said, “I really don’t want to.”
“It’s the polar ice one today, isn’t it?”
“Arctic Ice, yes, and I have to be there early.” She rotated her shoulders and neck, walked over and picked up a pair of leggings and a loose T-shirt. With her back turned to him, she quickly dressed. She knew he was watching her with great interest when she turned around, catching him in the act, and tossed her nightie on the bed. “Hey, I made the offer this morning, but you turned me down.”
He snagged her as she slid through the doorway, pulled her up tight, grinding his pelvis against hers, and said, “Hold that thought.” And he kissed her hard. Then he left her limp against the doorjamb as he headed downstairs. “Hurry up,” he said cheerfully. “We need to get some breakfast and get out of here.”
Almost an hour later she walked into the showcase room and studied the Arctic Ice painting now on full display, all the canvas covers removed, and the scaffolding taken away. She studied the corner that she wanted fixed and realized that it had been.
Frankie came up and said, his tone a little different, “Is that okay, or do you want to get up there and do more?”
She looked at it closely, then turned to look at him with a beaming smile, and said, “Thank you. I think that’s pretty good now.”
He looked relieved.
“Obviously you’re getting better,” she said. “I’m really thrilled.”
He gave her that sheepish smile and said, “I keep hoping I’m getting better, but I don’t think so,” he said.
“I’m sure you are,” she said.
“I can’t help but think you probably should have used Naomi for this. Although she might have been difficult and hard to deal with, at least she was a known factor. A new model will be somebody completely different in that aspect.”
“I don’t even know how to get hold of her,” she said. “That’s not my deal at all.”
“Right. I guess Anita calls her, huh?”
“Yes,” she said, “and I have no idea if that’s even an option, but I don’t want it to be an option. I just want to try the new people.”
As she turned, the new model she had chosen for this job walked in. She looked excited and nervous. She waved and came racing over. “This is absolutely stunning,” she said warmly, as she looked up at the huge painting. “I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be when I’m done being painted.”
“You’ll see,” she said. “First, we’ll do the background colors on you, then I’ll line you up with the background art, so I can get an idea what I want to do on you. Then we’ll go from there.”
“Am I the only one?” she asked, staring up at the big painting.
“No, I have another one as well.” She smiled at Frankie, like she had a secret.
“Okay, good,” the new model said. “I’m just a little nervous.”
“You’ve done this before, correct?”
“Yes, I have,” she said, “of course. Just not … for you.”
“I’m the easy part,” Cayce said gently. “It’s the audience that makes it difficult.”
“I really like that part,” she
