The Painters Death Wish

I need a reference

It was a typical art class. Dona hadn't arrived and Crystal was worried.

"Dona, I'm going to start the class. Please get back to me when you can." She dropped the phone. Her tiny students were at their stations, each at their own easel. Her apron was marked with paint already, and she hadn't even started. She clapped her hands to get their attention.

"Ok class, today's topic is abstract expressionism."She looked around and found many puzzled faces. The only one without a question mark on their head was her top student.

"The only thing you need to understand is, what does abstract mean?"

A blonde boy with freckles put up his hand. "Yes Will?"

"It means funny." He smiled.

Crystal was so amused by their understanding of art. They just needed to know the basics of course.

"Explain 'funny' Will?"

He held his face. "Funny like your face can be squished."

She smiled and nodded. "Oh yes, you remember that other picture I showed you."

His eyes perked up and he nodded so hard his head looked like it would fall off.

"Anyone else has any idea?" They were all puzzled and so she turned to the screen. "Let's see the differences shall we." The projector switched on.

There were three images, one of a naturalistic landscape, the other was an abstraction of an object and the last was a detailed realism portrait.

"What are the differences between these?" She turned to them. " Which would be the abstract picture?"

A small voice from the front spoke. " The second one."

 It was Emily, sitting quietly with her black curls surrounding her face. Crystal smiled." Well done Emily. How could you tell?"

"The other pictures didn't mean anything."

Crystal walked towards the front and bent to be in eye-level with Penelope.

"All art has meaning Penelope. What do you mean ?"

 Penelope looked up at her, with wide eyes." Oh yes sorry, I didn't mean to say that." She merrily went about her painting. She was using a lot of red, meshed with ink. It looked like a flower of some kind.

 " Is that a flower?" Crystal caught her attention.

 "Yes it's like something my dad made."  she smiled.

"Does your dad paint?"

She nodded." But he loves to make stuff with his hands."

Crystal smiled. "Does he make your flowers?"

"No." She tilted her head."He makes them for other people."

Crystal nodded."That's sweet." And with that, she went back to her lesson regarding Jason Pollock. Dona hadn't shown up at all and she left her many messages. She didn't have Harry's number but would try to message him via Facebook later.

Her class ended and parents came about to fetch their children. Penelope was the last to leave, which was quite unusual. Her father had a tendency to disappear at first notice. In fact, Crystal couldn't really remember his face. Until the door opened, and he showed up in a tailored suit that made her suck in a breath.

He bent down to pick up his daughter and snuggled her with kisses. Crystals heart warmed at the sight and she noticed that she was staring and looked to the floor. She had never been intimidated by men, but for some reason, this mans presence was dominating.

" Sorry, I'm so late." His voice was husky.

"It's no problem, Penelope did great-as always."

He nodded and she noticed his jaw flinch. " You're miss Campbell I presume? My apologies for never having a proper consultation. I usually leave her with the other women at the front desk. Rose."

She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. " Yes, that's no problem. Rose is my usual assistant."

"I noticed she wasn't in today. Is she ok?"

"Yes, she just caught the flu. It is the rainy season after all." He looked disappointed, and she wanted to change that quick.

"Did you need anything from Rose? I can give you her details, I'll just have to check with her first."

He looked at her with amusement. " Well Rose is usually my model."

Crystals eyebrow flinched.

He smiled at her confusion." As a reference for my art."

His smile almost made her a loss for words. " Oh." She laughed.

"Are you an artist?" She wanted to know more about him.

He looked around her studio. " I dabble".What caught his eye was the missing person poster pinned on the small board behind her. The little girl resembled his little bird. He murmured under his breath. With Emily still at his side, with his other hand, he pulled a card from his blazer pocket. "Have you ever looked into Modeling Ms Campbell?"

She blushed." What me? No." She swatted her hand.

"I'm busy with a small project and need more than one reference." He handed it to her." Call me if you're interested."

He winked and walked to the door. She stared at the card, and it was pitch black with a number in the middle. Even his card was intimidating.

"Oh yes, and by the way." He turned his head a little.

"My project has something to do with Jason Pollock."

Crystals grin turned into a wide smile. And he reciprocated the smile, pleased with himself. He knew that he got her.