Pictures Of Deceit ISBN – 978-1-78723-003-3
The Blurb –
Internationally renowned art dealer, Michael Masters, returns home to Charmsbury with his long awaited ‘Starlight’ exhibition.
What should have been a relaxing evening turns into a nightmare for Alexandra Price, local journalist, when she appears to have been the last person to have seen Michael Masters before he vanished.
The boundaries of friendship will be pushed to the limits during Alex’s foray into the art world. Has she been set up? Or could the body that washes up really be that of the famous art dealer?
Join Alex and her friends on an exciting and perilous chase across the globe to discover the truth.
Prologue
It was Monday morning, she walked into the office a little worse for wear, she’d drunk more than a couple of glasses of red wine the night before and although at the time it was enjoyable, this morning was proving to be an effort. Drinking two nights in a row just didn’t agree with her.
The office was packed with people, she hadn’t realised just how many people actually worked on the paper, most of them she knew but a few of them she’d never seen before and it seemed they were all gathered around the desks at the far end of the room. Alex tried to sneak through unnoticed, she just wanted to make it to her desk and drink a much needed strong coffee to stave off the impending hangover. The low level chatter was already getting under her skin and she hadn’t been in for more than three minutes. Alex tried to slip in as unobtrusively as possible to her desk which she had eventually come to love but would always fondly think of as her grubby little desk. Fiona spotted Alex and beckoned her over to the group, there was no escape, no way she could ignore it and so she walked towards them forcing a smile. They were gathered around a pile of opened newspapers that had been spread across two desks. “You were at the opening night on Saturday weren’t you Alex?” Fiona asked excitedly. The others looked up expectantly. “Yes, it was a great night. Why, what’s up?”
“You’ve not heard the news? Its Masters… he’s gone missing. No-one’s heard from him since he opened the exhibition.”
“Whoa. How? Oh no…” Alex could feel her quiet day slipping away.
“Alex, are you okay?”
“Yes, just a headache Fi.” Alex forced a smile, she didn’t want to show too much of a reaction in the office but she needed to find out what this was all about. She hung around for long enough to have a look through the headlines in the nationals and see what was going on then made her escape as soon as possible without showing any emotion that would betray her. She reached her desk, sat down heavily and turned on the computer. Now what was she going to do?
S C Richmond 