18.98: An ONC 2023 Thriller

Chapter 15

THE PRESENT

Despite its location tucked into the Northwest corner of the continental United States, the seaside village of Port Townsend looked at first glance like it could be the setting for a BBC mystery series. Nineteenth century Victorian brick buildings provided gravity for the town's otherwise laid-back granola culture, with a mix of brightly dressed inhabitants keen on breaking from the bleak weather vibe versus tiny top hat wearing steampunk aficionados who embraced their gray environs. One hundred fifty-year-old ornately carved buildings offered colorful storefronts selling anything from home goods to fishing gear to organic spices.

Liv and Graham found parking a few blocks from the gallery, passing several cafés and a yarn shop with a tabby cat lounging in the window before reaching their destination. During the summer, according to Graham, the streets would be inundated with tourists, but now, in late January, it was quiet enough to hear seagulls calling to one another from the beach a block over.

"Here it is." Graham stopped at an art gallery situated on the corner of a row of conjoined buildings. Up an alleyway, Liv glimpsed a tall ship moored to a long dock, rocking gently in the wind.

Entering the gallery, Liv could barely contain a gasp. Several dozen wooden sculptures, some as small as a book and others as large as a small car had been situated around the space in a manner that made you feel like you weren't just walking into a gallery but were instead boarding a boat. Boats seemed to be the theme in general, or at least, the medium utilized here. According to the artist's statement, the show, called Maritime Repurposed, had been conceived of due to Port Townsend's nautical tradition. Ted had taken scrapped wooden boat pieces and transformed them into new structures, partial hulls becoming the nurse logs for a variety of creations, from carved trees to human figures, to more abstract forms.

This was unexpected. Given that Ted Bramblefoot sported a Dungeons & Dragons tavern owner's name and Graham had referred to him as a flake, she'd assumed his art would be self-aggrandizing and overrated—cheesy representations of naked goddesses or something in that vein. Instead, he'd taken the remains of old ships and resurrected them as objects that honored their seafaring history while still being new and strangely moving.

Liv straightened her back and took some deep breaths, not wanting Graham to see how affected she was. "It's nice," she said. "Where is this guy?"

"When I called him, he agreed to meet us here at four."

"It's four-thirty," Liv looked around for someone who seemed like a Ted Bramblefoot but they were the only ones in the gallery besides the curator. "Did we miss him?"

"Not a chance. Ted exists in his own time zone, which runs a half-hour to forty-five minutes behind this one. He'll be here."

Liv circled the gallery two more times, taking in the artwork, especially a large piece that had originally been a ship's bow. Rolling waves had been whittled into it, and inset within the waves was a rectangular metal door, complete with hinges and a tiny brass knob.

The depiction was warm and familiar, but for some reason, it made Liv want to pop a Xanax.

"Liv!" Graham called to her from the front of the gallery. A tall man with long blond hair and a nose ring stood next to him.

"What's up?" he said, pulling Liv into an unsolicited hug. "It's Liv Tandy—the Liv Tandy. I can't believe it."

She pulled away and stumbled back to stand next to Graham. "You know who I am?"

"Of course. Helli talked about you all the time."

Helli rhymes with Kelly. Helina had once told her she'd punched a guy for calling her that, and here this clown was saying it as if it had been endearing to her. Gross.