Veiled Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

that was an old joke between them.
    â€œ
You’re
Ricky?” Donata exclaimed. “Mr. Farmingham kept mentioning a Ricky, but when I asked his boss, Mr. Turnbull, he didn’t know anyone by that name.”
    The Kobold executed a surprisingly elegant and old-fashioned bow. “Adalrik, actually. It means ‘noble friend,’” he said proudly. “But my pal Clive here kept mispronouncing it, so I told him to just call me Ricky.”
    Donata turned to the older man in surprise. “You knew about him? I mean, you’d actually talked to him?” She’d figured the “friendship” had only gone one way.
    â€œOh, my, yes,” Farmingham said, light warming his dead eyes. “I discovered Ricky’s existence many years ago, soon after taking the job at the museum. He’s been a great help to me.”
    The Kobold blushed, much to Donata’s amusement. She hadn’t even known Kobolds
could
blush. Live and learn.
    â€œOf course,” the restorer added, “his biggest gift to me has been in getting you to listen to me. Otherwise, I would have had to resort to haunting you, and I’m not sure I would have been very good at it.” He looked at the ground. “I’m a bit shy, you know.”
    Donata felt guilty from her hair down to her toes. “I am sorry, Mr. Farmingham. I couldn’t understand you, but I should have realized you had something important to say to me. I should have been more patient.” Privately, she still suspected it was likely to be one of those things that seemed overwhelmingly crucial to the dead person, but in reality was only a trivial bit of unfinished business to the living. “Why don’t you just tell me now, and then you’ll be able to move on the way you’re supposed to.”
    â€œIt’s about the painting,” Farmingham started to say.
    Donata gritted her teeth. Not that damned painting again.
    â€œSir, I tried to tell you before. The painting is perfectly safe. It’s in a police evidence locker, all wrapped up and tucked away until the case comes up to trial.”
    The restorer shook his head to and fro. “No, you don’t understand. It won’t be safe there. If they found out it was at the museum, they can find out it’s at the police station. And it can’t be allowed to fall into the wrong hands—that painting is like a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off!” He wrung his hands and the Kobold took a step closer, as near as he could get without disrupting the circle, and glared at Donata.
    Donata gestured at the ghost to calm down. “I’m sorry, Mr. Farmingham, but I don’t understand what’s so special about this painting. I researched the painter, and he wasn’t terribly famous. The painting itself is valuable, but not unusually so. Why would anyone want it?” She didn’t add that the thing was ugly as sin. She figured he’d seen the damn painting, so he knew that. Of course, there had been that weird vision she’d seen when she touched it . . .
    â€œThe painting is not what it seems.” Farmingham made a visible effort to compose himself. “It is one of the lost Pentacle Pentimentos. And either the Council or the Cabal would kill to get their hands on it.”
    Donata could feel herself turn pale.
Dear goddess.
Nobody wanted to get mixed up in Council business, not if they could help it. The Council was the ruling body for the Paranormal Alliance—each major race had one representative on the Council, and the minor races were all represented by a Protector, who was designated by the Council itself. And then there were other lesser members who acted as administrative or policing personnel. Either a Dragon or a Witch always led the Council, since none of the other races wanted the position of Adjudicator Supreme. As purebred Witches, Donata’s own family had often held high positions in the