Patience, Carrick. You have time...
“What’s up?”
Finn dropped his lanky body into one of his visitor’s chairs and gave a detailed but succinct progress report on where they stood on cataloging Isabel’s collection. Interesting, but a topic that could’ve waited until tomorrow.
“We are down to the last floor of Mounton House, which was where the servants lived.”
Carrick resisted the urge to look at his watch and forced the question out. “And the attic?”
“We still need to get into the attic, but I don’t hold much hope of finding anything of value up there. I think we’ve got everything of value already.”
“But you’re going to check, right?”
Finn gave him a look. “Of course I am.”
Okay, good. Carrick sent a longing look at his open door.
Finn rested his ankle on his opposite knee and rested his bottle on his thigh. “Isabel was the proud owner of a Manet, a Rothko and many Georgia O’Keeffes. There are some negatives by Ansel Adams and a rare jade bird from the Shang dynasty.”
Carrick could never remember the Chinese dynasties. “Which was when?”
“We estimate it to be from fifteen hundred years before Christ.”
Carrick whistled. Even in his business that was old.
“I’ve sent you an updated list of what we are selling,” Finn told him.
Carrick nodded his thanks and deliberately looked at his watch, knowing that Finn would take the hint. When Finn didn’t move, Carrick frowned. “Anything else, Finn? I’m trying to get out of here.”
“Are you seeing Sadie tonight?” Finn looked uncomfortable, and Carrick felt his heart thud, and not in a good way. His youngest brother was intensely private, a bit of a loner, and he hated people prying into his life. As a result, he never ever interfered in anyone else’s, and Carrick could count the times on one hand that Finn poked his nose where it didn’t belong.
“I am,” Carrick said.
Finn nodded, still looking unsure, another hint that he wasn’t happy with the direction of the conversation. “Okay. How goes the search for provenance on the potential Homer?”
“Sadie is on her way back from Richmond, and I’m hoping she has news.” Carrick rested his forearms on the back of his office chair and gave his brother a hard look. “Stop beating around the bush and ask me what you really want to ask me, Finn.”
“I was just wondering how you and Sadie are going to make it work, raising a child together when you are living on two different continents.”
Carrick frowned at him, not understanding his comment. “I’m not sure what you are getting at. While Sadie and I haven’t nailed down the details of how we are going to raise our kid, I did understand that we would be doing it together.”
“In Boston?”
“That’s where we live, Finn.”
“But she’s going back to Paris.”
Carrick swallowed the urge to laugh. He grinned and shook his head. “Nope, she has an apartment in Montparnasse but she’s relocating to Boston.”
Finn leaned forward, his expression radiating concern. “Did she tell you that or did you just assume that?”
He’d assumed that.
Carrick felt a hard, cold ball settle in his stomach. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his pants so Finn wouldn’t see them shaking. “Again, it’s not like you to beat around the bush, Finn.”
Finn rubbed the back of his neck, and Carrick saw that his discomfort was sky-high. “I feel like I am snitching, but the conversation took place in front of me. Nobody was trying to hide anything. But maybe I should go...it has nothing to do with me.”
God help him. “Spit it out, Finn.”