Chapter 6 - The Canvas of Madness
Dante drove the armored SUV toward Evanston at ninety miles per hour.
I gripped the passenger door handle, praying we were not too late.
If Clara was alive and trying to destroy Dante, she knew I was the one helping him trace her money.
We arrived at the psychiatric facility and sprinted past the shocked receptionists.
I ran down the sterile white hallway toward Leo's private room.
The door was wide open, and the hospital bed was empty.
I screamed my brother's name in blind panic.
A nurse rushed out of the bathroom, looking completely terrified.
She told me Leo was perfectly fine and was attending his art therapy class in the solarium.
Dante and I ran to the glass-enclosed sunroom at the end of the wing.
Leo was sitting peacefully in a corner, painting on a large canvas.
I threw my arms around him, sobbing with overwhelming relief.
Leo patted my back gently, his mind lost in his own quiet world.
Dante stood by the door, scanning the room for any signs of an assassin.
I pulled back and asked Leo if anyone strange had visited him today.
Leo smiled and said a very beautiful lady with dark hair had come to see him.
He said the lady smelled like vanilla and gave him a brand new set of expensive paints.
My blood turned to ice as I looked at the painting on his easel.
It was a perfectly detailed, hyper-realistic portrait of Clara Marino.
Dante walked over and stared at the painting of his dead wife.
Leo picked up a red brush and added a final stroke to the canvas.
May you like
He looked at Dante with innocent, hollow eyes.
Leo said, "The nice lady told me to tell you that the poison is already in your blood."
