Entry #31

"Too Well Illumined"
by Zara Calvente


Jasmine, Re: your urgent e-mail.

The photos of the painting prior to its theft from Aurora Barden's insured Anchorage condo are, indeed, highly illuminating. Likewise, your quotes from her detailed explanation of the photographs intrigue me.

Aurora said, "Immediately after hanging the painting on the twenty first of June, I took a few photos. (Sadly, the painting was stolen several hours later.) I had deliberately hung the painting in a spot that would attract one's eye from any corner of our sunlit living room. But by the time I finished hanging the picture, it was evening. The resulting photos in the darkened room hardly do justice to the irreplaceable work of art. "

Well, Jasmine, if you want to see justice done in this case, tell your employer not to pay out the insurance claim check. As a native Alaskan, I assure you that this photo was not taken in Anchorage on the evening of June twenty first. While the sun rises on that date in Anchorage around four twenty in the morning, it sets only around eighteen minutes before midnight. No one who claims to have a "sunlit" living room would need to put on the lights in the middle of the day or in the evening.

I applaud your instincts as a skilled investigator. You are right; something is definitely "off" here!

Regards, Sasha.