Chapter 993: Running Into Lindsay Again
Looking at Elena’s conflicted expression, Luke rubbed her head and said, “I’ll go along with what you want. I was going to skip work today anyway.”
Elena smiled happily and patted his chest before she moved her hand away to talk to Margaret.
After the call, she gave him an address.
Luke got into the car with her and set off with a strange expression. Ten minutes later, they arrived at a building.
Luke took the elevator up to the 32nd floor and looked at a familiar sign. He didn’t feel anything, and even felt like laughing.
Desperation — Monroe Peterson Exhibition.
The tall blonde, Margaret, was standing next to the sign, wearing a simple and elegant white dress.
When she saw Luke and Elena, a bright smile as pure as a child’s appeared on her beautiful face.
Alright, she was far purer than most American middle-schoolers.
The two girls smiled and exchanged greetings. Thanks to Elena, Luke received the same treatment.
Elena smiled apologetically at Luke before she was dragged away by Margaret.
This pure young widow was already talking non-stop about the artworks that were worth looking at in this exhibition.
Luke smiled at Elena, who was still looking at him, and indicated that she could go ahead.
The pet.i.te Margaret dragged Elena deep into the exhibition hall, where the masterpieces were.
Luke wasn’t interested in the paintings here.
If they were cla.s.sic works of writing… Fine, he couldn’t be bothered to understand, nor could he pick out the differences.
Even the “abstract expressionism” which Monroe’s works belonged to was something he only knew from the cover of the exhibition brochure.
He simply walked to the French windows and looked out at New York, planning to wait quietly on his own.
The sound of high heels approached, and a young woman’s voice rang out not far behind him. “Detective Coulson?”
Luke turned around and smiled formally. “h.e.l.lo, Miss Soderberg.”
It was Lindsay.
She extended her hand with a sincere smile. “Just call me Lindsay. Also, thank you for helping me and Monroe.”
Luke shook her hand. “Then please call me Luke. Also, that’s just my job.”
Lindsay let go and gestured. “Can I talk to you in private?”
Luke looked over and saw Margaret and Elena absorbed in a discussion in front of a painting not far away.
Lindsay also looked over and said with a smile, “Margaret and I are friends. She said that she had a friend here. I didn’t expect it to be you.”
Luke chuckled. “I didn’t expect you to still be here.”
Lindsay sighed. “That’s why I want to talk to you.”
Luke raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. He simply nodded, and they walked to the rest area in the corner.
After they sat down, Lindsay had the staff bring over two cups of coffee. She took a sip and adjusted her mood before she said, “Although I just said it, I still have to thank you again. Luke, thank you for everything you did for me and Monroe.”
Luke didn’t stand on ceremony this time. He simply nodded and was ready to listen.
She definitely had a request.
It seemed that Lindsay hadn’t brought him here just to thank him.
Without any hesitation, Lindsay got straight to the point and talked about her family’s conflict with Monroe.
After listening for a moment, Luke had a strange expression on his face.
He was practically a human polygraph, and could confirm that what Lindsay was saying was basically true. Most importantly, she wasn’t lying.
If he didn’t have this ability, he might have deemed this a case of the Rash.o.m.on effect[1].
He could only conclude that this was a cla.s.sic case of a communication breakdown in the family.
Lindsay and Monroe weren’t a couple. She just admired Monroe’s work.
She was young and not as experienced as her father, Jeffrey. On a whim, she went from “chasing paintings” to “pus.h.i.+ng people,” and became an investor for Monroe. She could also be considered an opportunist.
She funded and promoted Monroe’s work to increase his popularity, mostly because she wanted to reap huge profits from him, not because of love.
In fact, 50% of the profits would belong to her if these paintings were sold.
Also, during this process, Monroe could only give suggestions, and didn’t have the power to make decisions.
It was up to Lindsay to decide who his works would be sold to and for how much.
It wasn’t hard for Monroe to accept such a contract.
Monroe was the typical artist.
He didn’t care about money at all. What he wanted now was recognition.
Perhaps after he received widespread recognition, he wouldn’t even need that anymore.
And without Lindsay’s help, he didn’t have the ability to show his work to the world, and there would be no point in him continuing to draw.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Lindsay was still too green and did genuinely appreciate his work, he would even sign a 90-10 contract if it was handed to him, without even looking at it.
This was nothing more than a typical cooperation between a rich heiress and an artist.
If Monroe became successful in the future, this story would spread like wildfire.
But after a few of Aurora’s “enemies” mocked her behind her back, things got out of hand.
After she investigated Monroe’s background, she tried to persuade her daughter to give up on her plan to promote Monroe, but she already had doubts about the relations.h.i.+p between her daughter and Monroe.
Monroe, who was in his thirties, was really too young as an artist, and being young meant that he most likely had a long life ahead of him.
It was common knowledge that an artist’s work was only more valuable after he died.
The plan sounded like a financial sinkhole.
Lindsay, who had always been outstanding since she was young, and who had grown up to be even more calm and rational, suddenly started throwing her own money at an artist, and even said that it was just because she liked his work. Of course, Aurora didn’t believe it.
This misunderstanding led to an even bigger one, which turned into a family dispute.
It wasn’t until Luke appeared that the two warring parties were finally pulled apart.
Was this a miraculous result? Not at all.
He had only used Elementary Pheromone’s control, and performed a little experiment with his own abilities, so that the two of them would remember each other’s good points whenever they quarreled.
Resolving this conflict and experimenting with his abilities was killing two birds with one stone.
The mother and daughter, who had been very emotional before, didn’t argue anymore. They soon reached an agreement and took a step back.
As long as Lindsay didn’t have any more “brain spasms,” this would only be a minor episode in her growth.
Today, she was here to wrap things up.
When she heard Luke’s name from Margaret, her heart had moved, and she stepped forward herself to greet him.
When Luke was mentioned before this, she rarely thought of this gentle young detective.
But when she heard his name just now, she immediately wanted to meet him and say thank you.
From the moment she started talking to him, she couldn’t help but pour out secrets that she couldn’t tell her friends and family.
[1] When eyewitnesses to the same event give contradictory interpretations of it