Chapter Fifteen
Grace Digs In
September 2010, Los Angeles
Grace immersed herself eagerly in researching the origins of The Baptism. She was sure it would give her a new focus. It would be a welcome distraction from her anxieties about her mysterious health symptoms and the ongoing stress of coping with Alan’s financial challenges. Her job responsibilities still included fielding research requests from art students, but Lucas had authorized the hiring of an intern to help. And when Grace saw that one of the candidates had done her Ph.D. thesis at Virginia Tech on nineteenth-century European realists, her decision was made.
Rose Kasparian was a soft-spoken, second-generation Armenian with a round face and a beatific smile. Grace couldn’t help thinking of the Mona Lisa. The young woman wa
