Chapter Five

Jimmy smiled as he looked over his latest completed masterpiece; a Van Gough. Wiping the paint off his hands, he threw a sheet over the painting, crept out of his secret study and made his way to his daughter's bedroom. "Haley, would you like the privilege of being the first person to see my newest painting?"

"No," she said sternly.

"But, darling, it's marvelous. If I do say so myself."

"You always say that about your paintings. And I'm sure it is, Daddy, but I will not encourage you to keep doing this. You know that I want you to stop."

"Yes, alright."

"So you will stop?" Haley asked hopefully.

"What? No, of course not. I meant I wouldn't ask you to come see the painting. I'll be putting it in the living room tomorrow anyway, so you can see it then."

Haley sighed heavily, and got back to applying her make-up.

"Are you going out somewhere, Haley?" her father asked when he noticed she was dressed up.

"Yes. I'm going on a date with a man I met at work yesterday. His name is Chris Keller; he works with computers." Haley put her lipstick down and studied her appearance. Haley had returned to work from her lunch break fuming yesterday, after her encounter with Nathan. She decided that the rumours about his playboy antics had to be true, and she was both angry and upset that he had made her a part of it. So, when she bumped into Chris Keller at her office in the evening and he had asked her to dinner tonight she had accepted. He wasn't as…breathtaking to look at as Nathan was, but he seemed an interesting conversationalist and not someone who stole art for kicks.

"Chris Keller?" Jimmy repeated.

"Yes. Have you heard of him?"

"Actually, I have. He's from New York. One of the biggest art collector's in the state. I remember someone pointing him out to me at the unveiling of the Chellini Venus. He's got a bit of a weird hairstyle, hasn't he?"

"What?" Haley looked shocked.

"I'm only joking dear, there's no need to get offended. You've only met him once."

"No, Daddy, it's not that. It's just that he never said anything about his art collection. In fact, he specifically said that he had never heard of you. He even made it seem like he didn't like art at all."

"That is strange." Jimmy sat down on a chair, and started to think.

A possible explanation struck Haley. "Daddy, you don't think…" she said tentatively.

"Think what, my dear?" Jimmy asked, dreading that she might be thinking the same thing he was.

"What if he…" Haley felt unable to speak, much like she did when Nathan was around, only this time it wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.

"What if he's trying to get to me through you because he figured out the Venus was a fake?" Jimmy said the words Haley could not. "It did cross my mind, yes."

"What shall we do? Shall I call him and cancel?"

"No, you can't do that. If that is why he asked you to dinner then it will seem too suspicious for you to cancel. You have to go to that dinner, Haley, and then you can find out the truth."

She nodded in agreement. "Okay."

……………

"Chris?"

"Yes, Haley?" He took a sip of his drink and placed it back on the table.

She inhaled deeply as she went over the plan in her head. "Chris...we need to talk."

"Oh. I thought it was a little too early in the relationship for that," he laughed at his joke and flashed a smirk her way.

Haley remembered how charming Nathan looked when he smirked, and quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. Now was not the time to be thinking about him. "You said that you had never heard of my father, but he's sure he saw you at the unveiling of the Venus on Thursday. Is that true?"

The smirk quickly disappeared from Chris' features and he looked at the table before answering. "Yes, I was there that day. The truth is Haley, I'm -"

"Excuse me, sir, there's a call for you?"

"What?" Chris asked the waiter. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but he insisted on speaking to you. And he said he was calling from New York."

Chris reluctantly excused himself and went to answer the phone. Haley impatiently played with her necklace and didn't notice the tall man who came in from the main entrance until he was standing behind her and whispered, "Haley."

She turned around sharply. "Nathan! What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," he walked round the table and sat in Chris' empty seat.

"You need to go away before he comes back."

"Do you know how hard it was to get that call through?"

"You called him?" Haley exclaimed. "What's wrong with you? Don't you have places to be, things to steal?"

"Will you just agree to talk to me?" Nathan pleaded. "Come see me at my hotel." Haley, however, avoided eye contact, and while Nathan had told himself he wouldn't leave without an answer her date was returning and his presence would just cause too many questions. "I'm staying at Room 501," Nathan told her and left through the back entrance.

Haley watched him leave, her mind in a flurry, but Chris' return forced her to come back to the matter at hand.

"Sorry about that," he apologized as he sat back in his chair opposite her.

"It's okay."

"Well, as I was saying…I'm afraid, Haley, that I asked you to dinner tonight so that I could get to your father."

"And why would you want to do that?" Haley asked as innocently as she could.

"Because of the Chellini Venus. I saw her on Wednesday and I…"

Haley prepared herself for the worst. "Yes?"

"I fell in love with her!"

"What?"

"It's magnificent. I must add it to my collection, but at the opening I heard that your father refuses to sell it, so I thought that through you I might be able to convince him. Do I have a chance?"

Haley found herself laughing she was so relieved. "I'm so sorry, Chris, but it's true he simply won't sell."

"Not even if you ask him?"

"Not even for me," she shook her head with a smile. "I am sorry to disappoint you, but here's your consolation prize!" Haley leaned over and gave him a smacking kiss on the lips.