Amanda immediately recognized the piece about her work. “I hoped a lot of people would see that article.”
His forefinger rat-a-tat-tapped a beat on the page. “That piece of glass on the top left is a direct rip-off of my work. You saw my layered blocks on weather moods in the Glass Art Society exhibit two years ago and you duplicated them with different names.”
“That’s from a series I did about five years ago, before the Glass Art Society exhibit.”
“You’re lying. That’s my idea you stole.” He spit the word at her. “People have been commenting on it. You’ve built your career on my back. So you’ll have to compensate me or I’m going to sue you. I came here to warn you.” Turning abruptly, he stomped out the front door.
The students who’d been watching the performance ebbed back toward the classroom, avoiding eye contact with Amanda. Customers carefully examined the coding labels on the sheets of glass as though they’d never seen them before.
Felicia finally broke the silence. “Well, that little meeting worked out nicely, don’t you think?” she said with a wry smile, her blue eyes sparkling behind her Ben Franklin glasses.
“What bug crawled inside him?” Amanda asked.
“Not sure what it is but I’m pretty sure I know where it is,” Felicia said. “Only thing I can’t figure out is why. He can be whiny but he’s usually not obnoxious. Have you heard about this before? I haven’t.”
“This is the first for me, too. I’ve met him once or twice. Saw his work at the Glass Art Society and at The Fairchild.” Amanda shook her head. “He’s on a tear for some reason. This is all I need.” The sound of customers moving around caught her attention. She saw that people were still avoiding her and shook her head again. “Sorry, not your problem. Apologies all around. If you hear any more about this, call me please?”
Returning to her studio, Amanda tried to get back to work but she couldn’t concentrate. She decided to run errands hoping retail therapy might help.
The shopping list for her studio wasn’t long but, preoccupied with Eubie Kane’s accusations, she couldn’t focus, passing by the items she wanted in the office supply store two or three times before picking them up. She did notice a young man with longish dark hair who seemed to be in every aisle she was, making her uneasy. He reminded her of Eubie Kane and she didn’t need to be reminded of him.
She blitzed New Seasons Market for studio snacks and something for dinner with Sam. Then she dropped in at the bank. In both places, she saw a man who looked a lot like the guy from the office supply store. Or else she was imagining Eubie Kane look-alikes behind every rock.
Back at the studio, she parked directly in front of the door. She was closing up the back of her SUV when a beat-up Toyota hatchback parked a few spaces behind her. She swore it was the same car she’d seen at the coffee shop where she’d stopped for a latte and it gave her the creeps.
Running through the big roll-up door that was, as usual, open to ventilate the heat from the glory holes, she called to her studio mates to go with her to check it out. But when they got there, the car was empty. They hung around waiting for the driver’s return but after about five minutes, when no one showed, they went back into the building.
*
It was hidden behind old rhododendron bushes somewhere along the back of the house. Not exactly a precise set of directions but he’d figured it couldn’t be too hard. However, what he found when he got in the backyard wasn’t so simple. A confusion of greenery had grown together in a living wall that blocked access to the foundation.