Chapter 35 Chapter 35
Richard appeared in the doorway of the studio, having followed after giving his wife and daughter a few minutes alone. He froze at the threshold, stunned to see Dianne standing amid her uncovered sculptures, actually discussing the possibility of creating again.
"I think it would be meaningful," Iris said, her practical mind already calculating the logistics even as her heart responded to the profound connection forming between them. "The Lawson Design Competition was created to honour your lost daughter. Now that my daughter has been found, and she's a designer herself. There's a symmetry to it."
In the sitting room, Theodore was already on the phone with the family's head of security, his voice low but urgent. "I need you to pull every record we have on the art world circa 2000. Focus on sculptors who might have felt threatened by Mother's rise, particularly those with exhibitions scheduled around the same time as hers."
Victor listened intently, his military-trained mind mapping potential suspects and motives. Tony's suggestion had ignited a new investigative angle that none of them had fully explored, too focused on business rivals and ransom schemes to consider professional artistic jealousy.
"Kennedy might be onto something," Victor murmured to Bryce. "Mother's withdrawal from the art world created opportunities for several emerging sculptors who subsequently rose to prominence."
Bryce nodded enthusiastically, already pulling up biographical information on his tablet. "Including Helene Verlaine, whose breakthrough exhibition happened just two months after Mother's was cancelled. She took over the same gallery space."
Tony observed the Lawson brothers' rapid mobilisation with a mixture of admiration and concern. Their efficiency spoke of years spent searching for answers, never truly abandoning hope of finding their sister. Yet he worried about how Iris would handle the investigation into her kidnapping now that she was at the centre of it.
In the studio, Dianne was carefully re-covering her sculptures, her movements more purposeful now, less like a farewell and more like preservation for future work. "An exhibition," she repeated, the idea taking root. "Mother and daughter. Lost and found."
Richard stepped fully into the studio, his presence immediately noticed by both women. "That sounds like a wonderful idea," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "If you're both open to it."
Dianne turned to her husband, a light in her eyes that he hadn't seen in twenty years. "Richard, she wants to exhibit with me. She's suggested we show our work together."
Richard crossed the room to stand beside his wife, one arm slipping naturally around her waist in a gesture of support. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
“I was thinking we show these as they are showing the raw truth from the loss, I could show all of my work from before, my adoptive parents have kept everything, every drawing, awards and so on. I’m sure we could even have copies from my recent competition win. I have an interview for that soon, then my entries for this one, which was meant to be for me. Including my new works. And maybe we could work on some pieces together?”
Dianne's eyes filled with tears, not of grief this time but of possibility. The suggestion her daughter had made, to create art together, to bridge the twenty-year void through creative collaboration, resonated with her in ways she couldn't fully articulate.
"Together," she repeated, testing the word like a sculptor testing the weight of new clay. "I haven't created anything in so long. But with you..."
Richard watched the transformation happening in his wife, witnessing the rekindling of a fire he had thought permanently extinguished. The woman who had moved through their home like a ghost for two decades was suddenly animated, her artistic mind engaging with possibilities again.
"It would be remarkable," he said. "A statement about resilience, about connection that transcends time and circumstance."
Iris nodded, her analytical mind already mapping out the exhibition. "We could organise it chronologically, your work before my birth, the unfinished pieces from when I disappeared, then the gap, then my earliest childhood drawings leading up to my current designs. A visual timeline of separation and reconnection."
In the sitting room, Theodore ended his call and turned to his brothers. "Security is pulling the files now. We're focusing on three sculptors who had the most to gain from Mother's withdrawal from the art world."
"Helene Verlaine tops that list," Bryce said, showing his tablet to the others. "She took over Mother's exhibition slot at the Westmore Gallery and launched her career on the publicity. She's now worth millions, with permanent collections in major museums worldwide."
Victor's expression darkened. "Where is she now?"
"Splits her time between Paris and a villa in the south of France," Bryce replied. "But she was in New York last month for a retrospective of her work."
Tony listened to their conversation with growing unease. The investigation was moving quickly, perhaps too quickly for Iris to process alongside everything else she was discovering about herself.
"Maybe we should focus on helping Iris adjust to her new reality before diving into the investigation," he suggested carefully. "This is a lot for anyone to handle in one day."
Theodore glanced at Tony with newfound respect. The Kennedy heir was showing genuine concern for Iris's well-being rather than calculating advantage, something Theodore hadn't expected from Julius and Helga's son.
"You're right," he conceded. "The investigation can proceed quietly while we give Iris time to adjust."
In the studio, Dianne had moved to a dust-covered drafting table, her fingers trailing over the surface as if reconnecting with an old friend. "I haven't designed anything in twenty years," she admitted, vulnerability clear in her voice. "I'm not sure I remember how."
"It's like riding a bicycle," Richard assured her gently. "The talent doesn't disappear, just waits to be reclaimed."
Iris approached the drafting table, setting her portfolio case on its surface. "Maybe we could start by looking at my designs together? A conversation between our aesthetic approaches."
Dianne nodded eagerly, her artistic instincts awakening after their long dormancy. She carefully opened Iris's portfolio, her breath catching as she examined each design with growing wonder. The technical precision, the innovative use of materials, and the balance between form and function all spoke of extraordinary talent that echoed her own aesthetic while establishing something uniquely original.