Clay Richardson is a well-known artist who owns his own gallery. Quint Hawk, a police detective, makes contact with Clay when he sees a portrait Clay has painted in the window of the gallery -- a portrait of a homeless young man who was murdered just days before. Unfortunately, Clay has no idea who the subject was. Several months later, Quint contacts Clay to again ask about one of Clay's paintings. The subject has been murdered, as has a third man in another of his paintings. The reclusive artist and the handsome detective are drawn to each other as they try to determine what is happening and why. They come up with a plan to catch the killer -- a plan that could end up in their deaths before they can decide if there is more to their feelings than a couple of very good nights in Clay's bed.

The Element Case

The furnishings were older, Clay noted, so he asked, “Did some of these belong to your family?”


“Yeah, the dining room set did. The things in the living room are pieces I’ve accumulated over the years. The same with what’s upstairs.”


“Which you’re going to show me as well?”


There were stairs in a hallway off to the left of the dining room. When they got to the top, Clay saw three doors. They opened onto a well-appointed bathroom, a small room that was Quint’s office, and a fairly large bedroom they entered last.


“Not bad,” Clay commented, looking around. There was a queen-sized bed, a maple dresser and matching nightstand, and a small table under the window. A book sat open, facedown, on the nightstand. Curious, Clay checked it out. “Not quite my idea of bedtime reading,” he said with a laugh, since the title was Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation


With a grin, Quint replied, “I outgrew The Hardy Boysyears ago.”


Chapter 37