Chapter 993: Running Into Lindsay Again
Looking at Elenaâs conflicted expression, Luke rubbed her head and said, âIâll go along with what you want. I was going to skip work today anyway.â
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 didnât feel anything, and even felt like laughing.
Desperation â 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 childâs 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 petite Margaret dragged Elena deep into the exhibition hall, where the masterpieces were.
Luke wasnât interested in the paintings here.
If they were classic works of writing... Fine, he couldnât be bothered to understand, nor could he pick out the differences.
Even the âabstract expressionismâ which Monroeâs 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 womanâs voice rang out not far behind him. âDetective Coulson?â
Luke turned around and smiled formally. âHello, Miss Soderberg.â
It was Lindsay.
She extended her hand with a sincere smile. âJust call me Lindsay. Also, thank you for helping me and Monroe.â
Luke shook her hand. âThen please call me Luke. Also, thatâs just my job.â
Lindsay let go and gestured. âCan I talk to you in private?â
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, âMargaret and I are friends. She said that she had a friend here. I didnât expect it to be you.â
Luke chuckled. âI didnât expect you to still be here.â
Lindsay sighed. âThatâs why I want to talk to you.â
Luke raised an eyebrow but didnât 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, âAlthough I just said it, I still have to thank you again. Luke, thank you for everything you did for me and Monroe.â
Luke didnât stand on ceremony this time. He simply nodded and was ready to listen.
She definitely had a request.
It seemed that Lindsay hadnât brought him here just to thank him.
Without any hesitation, Lindsay got straight to the point and talked about her familyâs 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 wasnât lying.
If he didnât have this ability, he might have deemed this a case of the Rashomon effect[1].
He could only conclude that this was a classic case of a communication breakdown in the family.
Lindsay and Monroe werenât a couple. She just admired Monroeâs work.
She was young and not as experienced as her father, Jeffrey. On a whim, she went from âchasing paintingsâ to âpushing people,â and became an investor for Monroe. She could also be considered an opportunist.
She funded and promoted Monroeâs 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 didnât 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 wasnât hard for Monroe to accept such a contract.
Monroe was the typical artist.
He didnât care about money at all. What he wanted now was recognition.
Perhaps after he received widespread recognition, he wouldnât even need that anymore.
And without Lindsayâs help, he didnât have the ability to show his work to the world, and there would be no point in him continuing to draw.
If it wasnât 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 Auroraâs âenemiesâ mocked her behind her back, things got out of hand.
After she investigated Monroeâs background, she tried to persuade her daughter to give up on her plan to promote Monroe, but she already had doubts about the relationship 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 artistâs 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 didnât believe it.
This misunderstanding led to an even bigger one, which turned into a family dispute.
It wasnât 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 Pheromoneâs control, and performed a little experiment with his own abilities, so that the two of them would remember each otherâs 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, didnât argue anymore. They soon reached an agreement and took a step back.
As long as Lindsay didnât have any more âbrain spasms,â this would only be a minor episode in her growth.
Today, she was here to wrap things up.
When she heard Lukeâs 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 couldnât help but pour out secrets that she couldnât tell her friends and family.
[1] When eyewitnesses to the same event give contradictory interpretations of it