CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
(TWELVE MONTHS LATER)
Kevin Taggart stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest watching the small crowd of art lovers admiring his work. Another champagne cork hit the ceiling and Jill Brennan’s shrill laugh bounced off the walls and crossed the room to where he was standing in a corner by himself.
‘Here’s to Kevin,’ Jill raised her champagne flute in his direction and smiled.
Kevin looked down at the floor and studied his feet. He wasn’t enjoying this as much as he thought he would. But he couldn’t disguise the pride he felt as he looked at his art on the broad white walls of the gallery which was located in a busy, tree lined street in a trendy part of the eastern suburbs. The crowd had started arriving half an hour earlier and the response had been more than he and Jill had hoped for.
Suellyn Phillips also raised her glass to Kevin and smiled at him from across the opposite side of the room. The plunging neckline of her above the knee black cocktail dress revealed a round and firm cleavage. She was holding a catalogue in one hand and a glass of bubbly in the other. She stood in front of his painting, The Red Lounge and leaned forward to study the brush strokes in an attempt to unravel the secrets of his techniques.
Rimis had a beer in his hand and walked up behind Kevin and slapped him hard on the back.
‘Congratulations Kevin old son. I hope there aren’t any bad feelings. Just doing my job you know.’
‘No hard feelings, Detective Senior Sergeant. I do realise that you were only doing your job and I hope you now realise that I was only doing what I thought was my job? That was to take care of the elderly people in Eden Street.’
Rimis smiled. He really had thought Kevin had murdered the Blake sisters but there was no evidence to prove it. What quality of life did they have anyway? The younger sister, Edi Blake was practically non compus-mentis. But Kevin did all right out of it. Managed to score another three hundred grand from the sisters and got his painting back. He looked over at North Coast Summers. It held pride of place on an easel in the middle of the room.
When he entered the painting in the Wynne Prize, Kevin never imagined in his wildest dreams that he had a chance of winning the coveted award. North Coast Summers was recognised by a panel of judges to be the best landscape painting of Australian scenery in watercolours by an Australian artist. Winning the prize which had a dollar value of twenty-five thousand dollars attached to it, catapulted Kevin into the heady and exciting art world with all its snobbery and pretension.
Rimis walked up to Jill and planted a kiss on her left cheek. He looked across at Kevin who was discussing a painting with an interested buyer and Jill followed his eyes as Rimis leant into her. Without taking his eye off Kevin, he said in a deep whisper, ‘I might not know much about art Brennan, but I know a villain when I see one.’
Rimis adjusted his tie. ‘Hope you made the right decision. Why you decided to give up the world of crime for this, I never could figure,’ he said a little too loudly. He looked at the people milling around in small groups, sipping champagne and pretending to know what good art looked like.
‘I know I did.’ She winked at him and excused herself when she saw William talking with Ashleigh Taylor.
Rimis looked around the room searching for Suellyn Phillips. He loved the dress. He decided she wasn’t as stuck up and neurotic as he first thought. There was a lot to admire about Suellyn Phillips. She had been brave to take on Tommy Dwyer and Rimis noticed that she was becoming the life of the party. Since he had been watching her, she had thrown back three glasses of French champagne.
As soon as he walked through the front door of the gallery, William searched the crowd for Jill. When he spotted her she was talking with her old boss and he decided he would wait for her to approach him, rather than interrupt her.
He had his back to her now and was looking through the catalogue with Ashleigh Taylor. Jill walked up to him and placed her hand gently on the sleeve of his cashmere jumper and noticed that it brought out the colour of his eyes when he turned around and looked at her. ‘Hello William. I’m glad you could come. It’s been a long time.’
‘Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.’
‘Hello Doctor Taylor. I hope you’re enjoying the exhibition?’ Jill Brennan asked.
‘I am, thanks. Excuse me will you? I want to go and speak to Kevin while he’s free.’
William Phillips stared into Jill’s eyes and felt a stirring of emotion. God, she was beautiful. Now that his divorce from Suellyn was Decree Absolute he was planning to see a lot more of Jill Brennan. Perhaps they even had a future together. He hoped so. They had a lot in common.
Jill brushed her blonde hair back from her face and wondered what he was thinking. William Phillips was an attractive man in so many ways, but he had suffered enough. If he gave her the chance, she would promise him one thing, there would be no more secrets, no more lies.
‘Here’s to Rose Phillips,’ Kevin lifted his glass and threw back the fizzy contents of the champagne flute. He had never tasted champagne before, but he thought he could acquire a taste for it.
‘To Rose Phillips!’ the small crowd chorused as they lifted their glasses in the air even though half the people there had no idea who Rose Phillips was.
‘And here’s to Rhoda and Edi Blake, let's not forget them. May they also rest in eternal peace,’ Kevin raised his glass again.
Kevin had already noticed the small, round red stickers on some of his paintings and Jill Brennan was buzzing around the gallery looking very pleased with herself.
Kevin walked up to William Phillips and looked him straight in the eye. ‘If it wasn’t for your mother, I wouldn’t be here today,’ he said quietly.
‘If it wasn’t for my mother, I wouldn’t be who I am today,’ William replied.
END
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends