Scarlett Red: A Billionaire SEAL Story, Part 2 (In the Shadows) by P.T. Michelle

least fifteen.
    I smile and walk over to sit in the chair next to his easel. “Will this be all right?”
    Nodding, he sets a narrow wooden box on the edge of his easel and pulls out a couple of charcoal pencils, his dark blue eyes already assessing my face. “What did you want to ask me?”
    I watch Bash take up residence behind me and fold his arms, leaning against the festival’s gate, then I turn back to wait until Hank begins sketching to speak. “A few months ago you purchased a voucher from the Hawthorne hotel.”
    When Hank starts to deny my statement, I raise my hand. “You’re not in trouble. I just want to know who sent you to the hotel to buy it for Mr. Sheehan?”
    Hank’s attention strays to Bash as if he doesn’t quite trust him. I get it. Bash can be intimidating when he wants to be. “He’s okay, Hank. I promise.”
    Hank shrugs, then resumes his drawing. “A woman just showed up at my easel one day. She asked me to go to Hawthorne and purchase the voucher in that man’s name. She gave me a piece of paper with typed out instructions.”
    “A woman?” I say, cutting a surprised look to Bash. “Did the paper have a hotel crest or special markings on it in any way? Do you still have those instructions?”
    “No crest, just plain paper. And no, I tossed it,” he says right before he begins to speed through the drawing, a talent that only comes from years of practice. Pausing, he gestures to my hair with his pencil. “She had red hair like you. Though hers was darker, more brownish red. And she was a bit taller.”
    Anxious, I lean forward in my seat. “Did you know her? Or recognize her from somewhere around Edgartown or here in West Tisbury before?”
    He shakes his head. “No. I’ve never seen her before. She came to my easel late in the day when the sun was almost down and asked me to buy the voucher at Hawthorne. She gave me cash to pay for the voucher and promised a couple hundred bucks.” Rubbing his nose with the back of his charcoal-covered hand, he continues, “I got the first hundred for buying the voucher and the second hundred when I delivered it to her.”
    “Where did you meet her to deliver it?” I ask, hoping that location might narrow down the pool of candidates some.
    He swipes his pencil across the page a couple of times as if putting finishing touches on it. “She came back here a few days later to pick it up. I’ve never seen her here before or after that. Honest, I promise.”
    A couple minutes later, he says, “I’m done,” then steps back from his drawing. “I um, kind of switched it up a bit.”
    He didn’t draw me in caricature like I expected. Instead, he’d drawn a lifelike picture of me. Actually, he’d made me far prettier than I really am, but hey, if I’m going to have this as my avatar, it may as well be a supermodel-worthy rendition.
    I take the pencil he offers and scrawl out my fancy T.A. Lone author signature in the corner of his masterpiece. “This is fantastic, Hank. You really are very talented.” Handing him the pencil back, I take a picture with my phone so I can create an avatar later.
    Once I put my phone away, Hank says, “Can I ask you why you’re asking about a voucher I bought for some guy?”
    I nod. “I asked because this mystery woman who came to you sent that man the voucher inside an invitation as if it were from me.”
    His eyes widen and his face pales slightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was going to do that.”
    Bash steps into place beside me, his stance more relaxed. “If someone offers you too-good-to-pass-up money to do something for them, I guarantee you, it’s not for anything good.”
    When Hank grimaces in guilt, I pat his shoulder. “You didn’t know. So what are you going to do with your drawing?”
    “What kind of books do you write?” he asks, eyes lighting up.
    I smile. “I write mystery.”
    A wide grin spreads across his face. “I’m going to hold onto it. I just know you’re going to