Love, Art, and Murder – Mystery Romance

I’m going to kill him.

The guard hung his head low. “We tried our best.”

I held up my hand. “I understand. Just go outside and wait for the cops.”

I headed outside of the studio to where Detective White and Grandma studied the mini model of the castle we’d discovered inside Hex’s private room. “Have you come up with anything?”

“I already touched the room and the model. The spirits say Hex and Elle are under the floor, but we already knew that.” Grandma trailed her fingers across the area where her garden lay. “Elle has to be safe with him. Hex didn’t kill these women. Not my grandson. I know what’s in his heart. It’s good things, except when his art takes him over, and then he turns into a madman, but there’s no evil in him. If he did it, then it’s something to do with his art. Something foul inspired him and he went with it.”

“Do you believe that art really had something to do with these murders?” Detective White kneeled down by the first set of tiny trees with numbers on them. “What type of art did your brother do?”

“He did anything that came to him. Anything that inspired him, he went with it,” I said.

“What was his collection about this summer?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. All I know is that recently he was obsessed with. . .” I paused and stared at the model again. “Video art and interactive installations.”

Fuck. Why hadn’t I realized it the first time I looked at this little model? This is just like the models applicants submitted when they tried to get Hex’s and my approval to showcase their work in X-lab.

“This is his model for an installation art piece.” I glanced at the numbered trees. There were twenty that surrounded the garden, separated it from the studio, and also lined the castle.

There are way more around the real castle. So why did he choose to only number twenty of them?

I looked up. “Detective White, do me a favor and count the trees near the studio right now.”

He did. “Five.”

“Run over to the garden and tell me how many are on the west side of it.”

Detective White scurried away. Being such a short man, he still had a serious speed about him. When he returned, he barely huffed and puffed as he held up five more fingers.

“This model doesn’t show the exact number of trees, but the few he chose to show exactly match the real ones. There are five in front of the studio in the model and there are five out here.” I pointed to the big ones that Hex loved to climb. “Fuck. Hex climbs these trees all the time. These are the ones he’s always in.”

“He climbs trees?” Detective White raised one eyebrow. “That’s why he’s always disappearing in the night recordings. I see him leave the studio and disappear off in the trees. He’s traveling above ground.”

“Yes.”

“But Hex didn’t kill those girls.” Grandma shook her head and picked up one of the figurines. “My grandson would never do that.”

“But he had something to do with them dying, and it involves this installation art piece. And if he hid Elle and himself away then it means he didn’t want her to tell me what was going on. And that means that whatever it is, I not only wouldn’t like it, but I had a chance to stop it.”

“So more girls are going to die just like my visions?” Grandma sighed.

“Yes.” I gestured for one of grandma’s guards to come over to me. “See if you can get any of the men to climb these trees. I thought all this time he would just climb up and sing, but I was wrong. He’s doing something up there or there would be no reason why he’s numbering these trees. In fact, run inside the castle and have the staff bring out some ladders and volunteers to check these trees out.”

It took close to twenty minutes to get enough volunteers to stand by each tree numbered on the model and go up. Most said they didn’t see anything. It was Detective White who took the longest in his tree, snapping pictures with his phone, touching the bark, branches, and leaves, until finally he whistled and pulled something away. We all gathered around the ladder in anticipation of what he found.

“Your brother has cameras in the trees.” Detective White held a circular ball in his hand as he climbed down. It was barely the size of a tangerine. “There is a tiny camera in here. He’s taping everywhere near the garden.”

The damn garden, and everything around it, is the installation piece.

“The deaths are part of his collection.” I rubbed my eyes with shaking hands.

“And now we know what project the artists he invited to his property were working on.” Detective White handed me the ball.