“Of course, you would. I warned him not to put it up. I told him mom was going to roll over in her grave, but he didn’t listen. He claimed he needed something to connect him with home.”
“In his defense, few people would know the church like I do by sight. The violin is my life and that visit to Cremona was memorable in ways it would not be to someone else.”
I frown and settle my hands on my hips. “The painting is tilted. It wasn’t tilted.”
He eyes it and then me. “You think someone was in here and knocked into it?”
“Yes. I mean, it could have been Nancy, but why touch the painting?” I study it where it hangs over a credenza. “Actually, how would anyone even knock into it at all?”
“Maybe they moved the credenza?” he asks. “Is there anything worth inspecting inside?”
“He barely uses it,” I say. “There was nothing worth seeing inside. I’m sure of it. And the safe is a full foot from the painting. It also has nothing to help us inside.”
I glance over at him. “But there are a couple of dark spots on my security feed, as if someone turned it off. I know that could be a tech issue, but the timelines are weird.”
He arches a dark brow. “Meaning?”
“Last night after we came in and this morning before you left.”
“You think someone could have been here while we were in asleep?”
“It’s a creepy thought, but yes. When I came downstairs this morning, I smelled perfume. It wasn’t Nancy’s.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes,” I say, without an inch of hesitation. “There was perfume in the air. I didn’t imagine it. It was a sharp floral scent that lingered but the very fact that I could smell it means the person had been here recently. Clearly, my security system was no help.”
“Which can be hacked but I’m wondering if Gio sent this Sofia person to get something for him.”
“Or she knew the code and snuck in herself. I mean why would Gio send her and not come himself?”
“Maybe he’s not in the city.”
“That would mean he’s outright avoiding me. And the blips on the camera were oddly timed.”
“Walker can check nearby camera feeds. You need to tell them everything. Make a list in advance.”
“I’ve also had a couple of weird hang-up calls. One before your first show I attended. Another last night around three AM. I never get hang-up calls.”
His brows furrow. “Do you think it was Gio?”
“Why call and hang up? And the first call was different than the second. It seemed like someone was there, on the line for a few seconds. I actually thought maybe it was Sofia, but the minute I said her name, the caller hung up.”
“And the second call?”
“Voicemail of just static before it went dead.”
“You need to be with me at my place and Walker needs to be actively involved until we find Gio.” His brows dip and he lifts his chin toward the painting. “Is there a safe behind it?”
“Not that I know of but apparently there’s a lot that was going on with Gio that I didn’t know about.”
“Let’s find out,” he suggests. “If you don’t mind me taking it off the wall.”
“No, of course not. Please do.”
I scoot back and lean on the desk while Kace lifts the side of the painting and rotates to face me. “I don’t have to take it down. There’s nothing there, but the hook is slightly pulled out of the wall. The painting’s too heavy for the frame. That’s probably why it tilted.”
I grip the edge of the desk and nod, a stab of disappointment inside me. For a moment, just a moment, I’d thought we were onto something. I’d thought we were closer to finding Gio.
But I was wrong.
I’m back to Kace’s comment moments before. “You said that if you already suspected that I was Aria Stradivari and you saw this painting, you’d have known you were right.”
“Absolutely. And Aria and Gio aren’t common names. Your mother should have changed your names.”
“I asked her about that when I was old enough to understand the implications.”
He leans on the desk next to me. “And?”
“She said she hit some roadblocks changing our names and didn’t know how to get around them.”
“I imagine she didn’t know who to trust.”
“Considering she trusted no one, I’d agree. She used her middle name. She had her birth certificate and no one she trusted to help her change her name in any other way. She never got a driver’s license.”
“Which is easy to get away with in New York City.”
“Exactly. That’s what she said. That’s one of the reasons she chose New York for us to live. She’s from Texas. She said New York was far from Texas and an easy place to get lost in, but unfortunately not an easier place to be poor.”