Scotch on the Rocks

Chapter 2: In the Game Room

Ellington Mansion. Friday, May 18, 2007.

"Did Klaus come through?" Mozzie asked eagerly.

Neal nodded. "He provided a name of a mobster that Rolf had done business with for Ydrus. His name is Kyle Woodman. He used to be in charge of organized crime in Edinburgh—mainly drugs, loan sharking, and protection rackets."

After dinner, he and Mozzie had gathered with their co-conspirators June and Sara in the game room. It used to be the music room. After June acquired a poker table, games co-existed with the piano for over a year with Mozzie's collection of board and video games stored in a bookcase.

Last month, they moved the piano into the living room where the acoustics were much better. The game room was now one of the most popular rooms in the mansion. Mozzie wrote there while Janet worked on her costume designs. She and June met there regularly to discuss their pet project, the Uptown Girls Club.

Much of the wall space was lined with bookshelves and cabinets, but Neal had ensured that there would be ample space for maps, drawings, and project concepts. Designs for Red Sands were currently displayed. The video game had been commissioned by Stefano Prestini, the head of Space Horizons, a private company dedicated to sending a manned mission to Mars. Prestini had attended their group's presentation on Yellowface at the sci-fi convention in February and was so impressed with the way they'd taken the plight of the yellow-faced bee and turned it into a marketing juggernaut that he wanted them to do the same with Mars. Scima Gameworks, the company Richard and Aidan worked for, was overseeing the project.

For the moment, Mars had been shoved aside by Scotland. Neal was glad he could include June in the discussion. The strict confidentiality demanded by the Bureau was no longer needed, and June was a welcome participant whenever she wished.

"Are there any other likely suspects?" Sara asked.

"Not who have a connection to art," Neal said. "I spoke with John Hobhouse about Woodman. He ruled Edinburgh's underworld for over thirty years and is well known to Scotland Yard. For the past decade, his son managed his business for him. Two years ago, the son died from a drug overdose. Reportedly, Woodman hasn't recovered from his passing. He's now supposedly retired and living on his country estate near Fort William. His granddaughter is the only relative he has left. John sent me the files on him. Woodman's personal history is what I find most fascinating. Look at this photo. Here's a copy of the Renoir painting for comparison."

Neal placed them side by side and waited for the verdict. The Renoir painting showed a woman with dark brunette hair breast-feeding a baby.

"The woman in the photo could have been the model!" Sara exclaimed.

"That's what I thought too," Neal said. "The photo is of Woodman's wife. She was killed during an attack by a rival gang when she was forty-two. Woodman was devastated."

"Has he ever demonstrated any interest in art?" June asked.

Neal smiled at her. "He's appeared on the list of donors to the Scottish National Gallery."

"As a partial act of atonement?" Mozzie speculated. "Woodman thinks of the painting as a portrait of his wife."

Neal nodded. "This combined with Klaus's information makes him my lead candidate. John provided some enlightening details on Woodman's estate. He lives in a historical manor on a loch close to Fort William. The baronial house dates to the nineteenth century and originally belonged to the chief of a clan. Hobhouse speculates that Woodman bought it as an investment, but given his interest in art, it would make a fitting venue to display his acquisitions."

"Surely he wouldn't be so brazen as to display stolen paintings on the walls," June challenged.

Sara shrugged. "If anyone asked, he could claim they were reproductions."