A muscular man in his fifties came into the room. According to everyone I talked to, Robert Valentine looked good for his age.
He was just an inch over six-feet tall and that was when he was barefoot. The top of his head was a silver color but no one could really tell unless they were standing on a chair, but the sides of his hair maintained their natural color and because they did, he felt he had no reason to dye his hair.
He was physically fit with six-pack abs and a chest that matched well with them. His biceps showed the one-hundred some pushups he did each day and his calves showed off all the squats he did. The only negative that anyone could say about his appearance was that he tanned way too much and it showed because his skin was covered in spots from all the damage the sun had done to him. Other than that, he was everything I wanted to look like when I turned fifty. Uncle Merton may have been everything I wanted to be, but Robert Valentine was everything I wanted to look like.
After all of us gave the multi-millionaire a good look, Miss Hansen tried to make a break for it, but she tripped and landed in the arms of the surprised millionaire.
"Why, Miss Hansen," Mister Valentine said with a smile through the thick black beard of his, "what are you doing in my house?"
"They were going to murder me!" She screamed. "You need to call the police right away."
She broke free from his grasp, but he yelled for his maid, Penny, to stop her and boy, did she.
Penny was a two-hundred ten-pound woman who was almost as tall as Mister Valentine. She used to be a professional wrestler but gave it up after a career-ending injury when she landed on her neck when another female wrestler messed up while performing a brain-buster. She told me it hurt like Hell. Penny did enjoy working for Mister Valentine, but she did miss the business. Wrestling Miss Hansen to the ground gave her a small moment to relive it and when she brought Miss Hansen back into the library. I could tell the second I saw her face.
Mister Valentine wanted an explanation of everything that was going on and John Genoa gave it to him.
"My name is John Genoa. I am a private investigator, who has been hired by the late Merton Blink's nephew, Simon, whom I believe you already know. This is Miss Teresa Cross, a reporter for The Daily Herald as well as my assistant. We are here because a secret passageway led us here."
I told Mister Valentine about how the painting was missing and how Mister Genoa suspected it was Miss Hansen because she had keys to the house and she was the only one who could have entered it.
"When did the painting go missing?" He asked me.
I told him I didn't know, but I did tell him that it wasn't there when the three of us entered the library. I then told him about how I discovered the secret passageway that led us to his library.
His whole face lifted up. "You honestly don't think it was me who stole the painting?"
Genoa's face fell down. "With the secret passageway leading straight to your library, you are our next suspect."
He let out a small giggle before inviting us all into his kitchen for something to eat. He suggested to Miss Hansen that she stick around because she might find what he had to say interesting.
She agreed but only under the condition that no one else would continue to hassle her.
YOU ARE READING
The Case of The Perplexed Painting
Mystery / Thriller17-year-old Simon Blink hires a private eye to help him find who murdered his uncle. It is soon discovered that his death was linked to a mysterious painting.
