Page 102 of The Edge of Always

‘Look,’ I interrupt as Gabriel and Louis continue to throw dark looks at each other. I direct my plea to Gabriel – he seems to be the one I need to convince here. ‘I’m not well.’ (I’m not proud about pulling out the dying card here, but tell me that you wouldn’t do the same). ‘I don’t know how long I have. Before the worst happens, I just want to know who has a painting of me. This person obviously knew Gregor, and Earl, and I’d like to talk to them while I have the chance, that’s all.’

‘Oft, she is dying. This is a tragedy.’ That’s Louis.

‘Non, she is too old for it to be a tragedy. Only sad.’

My heart rate is going berserk and it goes dark for a second, just at the corner of my eyes.

‘Mademoiselle?’ Louis asks.

I shake my head. ‘Sorry, I’m fine. But is there anything that you can tell me? Anything at all?’

Louis and Gabriel exchange a look and then Gabriel lights another cigarette.

‘Gregor swore us to secrecy,’ Louis starts. ‘Insufferable man, bragging about his new Spencer.’

‘Did he tell you where he got it from?’

‘Yes.’ Louis does a chef’s kiss. ‘He had a name, but I forget it too.’

Gabriel puffs out a plume of smoke and mutters something in French.

I’ve started to sweat, claustrophobic in this cupboard. I’ll take anything that they can tell me. I don’t think I realised, until now, just how much I want to know.

‘I would want to know, Gabriel, if someone had painted me,’ Louis says.

‘Who would paint you, you overblown…’

Gabriel starts swearing up a storm.

‘Please,’ I interrupt. ‘Anything you can tell me.’

‘All we know is this.’ I’m looking directly at Louis now, urging him on. ‘The owner of the painting was not French. He is like you, English. Gregor says it was someone who knew Earl well, like a grandfather to him. That’s what Gregor said.’ He laughs. ‘Apparently, he has this painting for a long time. And to think that there was another Spencer and none of us knew.’

‘Wait, what, the owner of the painting knew Earl?’

‘Yes, Spencer left it to him, after he died.’

The rest of Earl’s estate, not that there was much back then, went to TB research, which makes sense now. But I can’t get my brain to compute what Louis is saying. It really sounds like he’s saying that Emmett had the painting all these years. But that can’t be the case. Because he would have told me, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t have pretended like he had no clue where the painting came from when he had it the whole time. He wouldn’t lie to me like that, would he?

I leave the gallery in a haze, messaging Emmett and telling him to meet me back at the hotel.

I don’t know what I’ll say to him. I don’t even know how I feel about being lied to. All I know is that, finally, I might get some answers about The Edge of Always.