Nick met Sean's eyes. "What's going on here?"

"Octavia says that the painting Old Man Thurgarton left to A.Z. and Nash and the Heralds has disappeared." Sean rubbed the back of his neck. "Kind of a mystery how it happened. Apparently it was locked up in the back room and the security alarm was set as usual."

Arizona loomed in the doorway. "Getting past a standard security system would be child's play for that gang up at the institute. No offense, Carson."

"Okay," Carson said, clearly not offended.

Sean heaved a deep sigh. "I don't think we can blame anyone at the institute, A.Z. I know you're convinced that those folks up there are bent on subverting the government and running the world from their secret headquarters here in Eclipse Bay, but there's just no good motive for them to steal a painting."

"You want motive?" Arizona stalked toward the counter. "I'll give you motive. They know me and the Heralds plan to use our share of the profits from the sale of that picture to help finance our investigations. The last thing that crowd wants is for us to be able to expand the scope of our operations. If that ain't motive, I don't know what is."

Virgil Nash came through the doorway and nodded politely at everyone. He turned to Octavia. "Was the Upsall the only painting that was stolen?"

"Yes," Octavia said. "It was far and away the single most valuable picture here. Whoever took it must have known what he was doing."

Nick studied the paintings hanging on the wall and then shook his head. "I don't think you can assume that."

They all stared at him.

"What do you mean?" Octavia demanded. "The average person would probably have been more attracted to some of the scenes of the bay. Or that one." She swept out a hand to indicate the painting hanging behind her. "The watercolor with the gulls. To the untrained eye the Upsall looks dark and rather depressing."

"Probably because it is dark and depressing," Nick said.

She gave him a superior smile. "Which only goes to show how much you know about art, but that is neither here nor there."

Sean raised his brows a little at her crisp tone, but he made no comment. Instead he looked at Nick with some curiosity. "What makes you say that whoever took the picture didn't have to be an art expert?"

"The rumor that Thurgarton had left a valuable painting behind and that Octavia was going to get a second opinion on it was all over town by yesterday afternoon," Nick said mildly. "It wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out that she had it stored in the back room, and it would have been easy to recognize. Everyone was talking about how ugly it was."

Octavia did not look pleased with that quick summary. She glared. "How do you explain the thief having a key and knowing the security code?"

Nick glanced at the door. "There are usually several duplicates of a key floating around. And when was the last time the code was changed?"

She drummed her crimson nails on the counter. "It hasn't been changed since I had the Willis brothers install the system when I first opened the gallery."

Virgil frowned. "You had an assistant working here for several months. She would have had the code and the key."

"Of course," Octavia said. "But I don't think we can pin this theft on Noreen. She left town with her artist boyfriend last month, remember?"

Sean looked thoughtful. "Does anyone know where Noreen and the boyfriend are now?"

Octavia shook her head. "She just phoned in her resignation and took off. But now that you mention it, there's, uh, something else."

They all looked at her.

She grimaced. "A few days ago I came across a piece of paper with the code written on it taped inside one of the counter drawers. Noreen had trouble remembering it."

"Which means a lot of people might have had access to that code," Sean said. "Including the artist boyfriend."

Arizona snorted. "Wastin' your time, Valentine. This has the fingerprints of that bunch up at the institute all over it, I tell you."

Sean flipped his notebook shut. "One thing's for certain, Eclipse Bay isn't exactly crawling with experienced, high-end art thieves, and we don't have what you'd call a big market for stolen art, either. Whoever snatched the painting has probably already taken off for Portland or Seattle to try to unload it."

"True." Octavia slouched against the counter, looking very unhappy. "It would be the logical thing to do."

"Our best hope is that the guy trips himself up when he goes to sell the Upsall," Sean continued. "I'll call some people I know in the Seattle and Portland police departments and tell them to keep a lookout for our missing picture."

"That's an excellent idea." Octavia brightened. "I'll contact a few friends in the art world, too, and make them aware that there's a previously unknown Upsall floating around."

"Good thought," Sean said. He started toward the door. "I think that's about all for now. I'll check back later."

"All right," Octavia said. "Thanks, Sean."

"Sure. See you, folks."

A short chorus of goodbyes followed Sean out onto the sidewalk. So did Nick.

They walked together toward Sean's vehicle.

"Something I can do for you, Harte?" Sean asked mildly.

"Just wanted to ask what you think really happened to that painting."

Sean opened the door on the driver's side and paused. "You want my best guess?"

"That would probably be the most helpful under the circumstances, yeah."

"Past experience tells me that whoever stole the painting was probably closely connected to the situation. He knew the picture was valuable, he knew where it was stored, and he knew how to disarm the security system."

"Which means he had access to the code and a key."

"As you just pointed out, how hard would that be? Might not have even needed the key and code. That system the Willis brothers installed for Octavia is good enough for Eclipse Bay, but it isn't exactly state-of-the-art." Sean looked at the window of Bright Visions. "Wouldn't take a rocket scientist to disarm it, especially in the middle of the night during a major storm when no one was around."

Nick followed his gaze and shook his head in a flat negative. "Not A.Z. or Virgil."

"No. Although I gotta tell you that in this situation, any out-of-town cop would be looking real hard at both of 'em. They both have motive. Why split the profits from the painting three ways when you can have the whole pie?"

Nick shrugged. "Guess I'd have to agree that to an outsider they'd both look a little mysterious."

"Try damned suspicious. No one knows anything about either of them before they arrived in Eclipse Bay. I got curious a couple of years ago and did some digging, myself."

Nick looked at him. "Learn anything?"

"Zilch. It's like neither one of them existed before they came to this town."

"For what it's worth, there are some old rumors about them," Nick said. "My grandfather told me once that he thinks Nash may have done some government intelligence work at one time, which could explain why his past has been wiped out of the records. And most folks assume that A.Z. assumed a new identity somewhere along the way because she's so deep into her conspiracy theories. But neither of them are thieves. Rock-solid, upstanding citizens in their own weird ways."

"I'm inclined to agree."

"That leaves Photon and his happy little crew of bakers."

"Yeah. And between you and me, that bunch is right at the top of my very short list." Sean got behind the wheel and closed the door. He squinted a little against the morning sun. "I'm going to run some background checks on some of those Heralds. But keep that to yourself. I want to handle it quietly. If word gets out that the group is under suspicion, some of the locals might turn on 'em real fast."