The sealed restoration workshop beneath Artemis Gallery smelled like antiseptic, old varnish, and rainwater dragged underground on expensive shoes.
Soft industrial lights glowed overhead behind wire-caged fixtures, throwing pale reflections across stainless-steel counters and reinforced glass walls. A drainage grate cut through the center of the concrete floor beneath the containment chamber, narrow enough to ignore until someone noticed the dark stains caught inside the metal grooves.
Galathea Brooks noticed them immediately.
That felt unhealthy.
The unstable painting had already been mounted inside the sealed containment room beyond the observation glass. Heavy locking braces held the frame upright beneath harsh white examination lamps while black cables ran across the floor toward monitoring equipment humming quietly in one corner.
Portrait of a Girl Who Refused looked worse under direct light.
The paint no longer resembled paint.
