CHAPTER 36
Some days, everything goes right. That afternoon, I received a call I'd been waiting for, Clarence Petersen was back in town.
"Hey, Clarence! How was your trip?"
I pictured him behind the counter of Petersen's Antiques, a trim man in his fifties, professorial, examining a painting with the eye of a museum curator. The store was his father's legacy and there was no place he would rather be--except Europe. I planned to visit the Louvre soon myself but, sadly, my trip would be virtual. I wished I could sample éclairs at the charming patisserie next to the museum. Some people long for landscapes, others pine for palaces, I dream about dessert. Don't judge me.
"It was wonderful," he said, "until my poor wife twisted her ankle and we had to come home early. I'm afraid we'll have t
