Page 62 of Insidious Threats

“I don’t know …” Sasha pretended to waffle. “When will he be back? Perhaps we’ll wait for him.”

Poppy looked trapped. Like a rat. Or a painting ferret.

“Well, to be completely honest, I’m not sure when he’ll be back,” she confessed with a tight expression.

“Oh, this won’t do at all. He’s checked out? Jonathan will be apoplectic.” Sasha raised her voice an octave.

“No, no. He didn’t check out. He’s just … gone for a few days. He’s rented the cabin through the end of March. He’ll definitely be back. Please, you can leave the papers with me.”

Ellie shook her head and sighed deeply. “That won’t work. We need to drop off the contractandpick up a painting that Mr. Prescott promised to Jonathan. Oh, this is no good.”

Poppy dithered. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Perhaps you could call Charles,” Sasha suggested. “If he gives you permission, you could let us into his cabin. We’ll leave the agreement and take the painting.”

Sasha watched the reception manager consider the idea. Then she watched her work through what would happen if she tried to call him and he didn’t answer.

“Why don’t I just lend you ladies a key? I would accompany you, but I can’t leave the desk unattended.”

“That should be fine, don’t you think, Sasha?” Ellie asked, barely containing her glee.

Sasha sighed heavily. “I suppose.”

She held out her hand for the key to Cabin Number 6, The Frederic Edwin Church Cabin, as if she were doing Poppy a favor.

As Poppy pressed it into her palm, Sasha heard her murmur to herself, “And here I thought his sketches were rubbish.”

Sasha and Ellie rushed out of the farmhouse before their giggles overtook them. Once they were safely out of earshot, Sasha fixed Ellie with a look. “Faux-Semblant,really? You named our fake art gallery ‘pretense’ in French?”

“A woman who uses her ferret’s tail as a paintbrush?” Ellie shot back.

“It could happen. Didn’t Andy Warhol have his assistants pee on the canvases?”

“Among other bodily fluids,” Ellie told her. “How do you know that?”

“Took my nieces and nephews to the Warhol Museum on a snow day. It was an adventure. We got kicked out after an incident in the mylar balloon room.”

“Andy would be proud,” Ellie declared.

They were still giggling when they reached the cabin Cinco had rented.

Sasha knocked on the oak door—two heavy raps—and waited for a beat before she inserted the key into the lock.Please, please, don’t let us find Cinco’s dead body.

They did not find Cinco’s dead body. What they did find was Cinco, very much alive and cowering in the closet under a pile of blankets.

32

It was after nine p.m. by the time Leith finally called Stasia back. She’d showered, eaten dinner, and taken a refreshing nap in the comfortable bed in the rear cabin of Leith’s plane. The mattress was a touch too soft for her liking, but otherwise, she had no complaints about the accommodations.

“Where’s your pilot?” Leith asked when she grabbed the phone from the nightstand.

“He went to try his luck at the casino.”

“Get him back. It turns out I do need you.”

He sounded agitated. She sat up and grabbed her dress from the hanger she’d placed it on. She pulled it over her head and wriggled into it.

“I’ll text him when we hang up,” she told Leith.