Knockoff Rembrandt - Chapter Six mystery thriller

CHAPTER SIX

She knocked on the open door and called his name through the screen.

Jake stepped out a moment later, two brand new flashlights still in the package and passed one to her.

“Maggie coming?” Amanda asked as she popped open a flip blade knife and tore off the plastic from one light.

Jake handed her the other to do the same.

“I invited her.”

“Good.”

He stuck the flashlight in the back pocket of his pants and reached through the door to get a yellow stand with two wok lamps on a bar. He wrestled with it and a coiled extension cord for a moment, until Amanda took the bundle from him.

He led her into the house and gave her the ten cent tour of the first and second floor.

She made comments on the detail work, which he expected and her notes matched the ones he wrote down, along with a couple of suggestions for color schemes.

“I thought you’d say black,” he told her.

“Because of the bar?”

He nodded.

“Do you know how easy it is to clean black?” she didn’t need to explain more.

He led her to the large room on the back side of the house, plugged the long orange extension cord into a wall outlet and hauled the work lamp up the narrow attic staircase.

“I’m going to expand the staircase on the outside wall,” he told her.

He set the tripod on the floor, adjusted the lights and clicked it on.

“Wow,” said Amanda.

“Right?”

The light coming through the windows was bright, but the work lamps cast two golden halos that washed away the shadows.

“Wow,” Amanda said again.

She trailed her fingers along the rafters as she wandered toward the windows.

“Wonder what this view was like before they put in the tracks?” she asked.

“I had a dumb idea,” said Jake. “Deonte’s cousin is putting up a webcam to livecast from Main street. I thought I could put a camera in the window and do the same thing with the trains.”

She turned and looked at him over her shoulder.

“Trains?”

He shrugged.

“Ever heard of this internet thing?” he joked. “I hear it’s going to take the world by storm.”

“Slow your roll, grandpa,” she teased back. “What’s that?”

She pointed to the boxes and frames.

“One of the reasons we’re up here. Want to go treasure hunting?”

The grin he got back told him hell yeah she did.