Chapter 3 - The Bellamy Was A Painting
The Bellamy turned out not to be a person.
It was a painting.
Low Tide Near Ossabaw, painted in 1912 by Savannah artist Henry Bellamy.
My grandfather purchased it in the 1960s.
Dad later placed it on long-term loan to the museum.
It was not the most valuable painting in the Bennett family collection.
But it was his favorite.
He used to stand in front of it during museum events and say the marsh looked different every time the light changed.
After Dad’s death, Claire searched the museum’s public catalog.
The Bellamy was listed as temporarily removed from display for frame conservation.
That seemed ordinary.
Then Claire learned something odd.
It had been removed two days after Dad died.
At my mother’s request.
Evelyn had no curatorial authority.
But as representative of the Bennett family collection, she was allowed to request examination of works we owned and loaned to the museum.
The painting was moved into a private conservation storage room.
Months passed.
It never returned to the wall.
Claire asked Mom about it once.
Evelyn said:
“The frame was deteriorating.”
Then she changed the subject.
Claire contacted the museum’s registrar.
Carefully.
She did not accuse anyone.
She asked only to see the movement records.
Because she was my wife and because the work belonged to a family entity in which I had an interest, the registrar eventually provided limited information through counsel.
That was when Claire found the first real inconsistency.
The Bellamy had not been removed because of frame damage.
The conservation note said:
Owner representative requested rear inspection and temporary resealing. No treatment performed.
Owner representative:
Evelyn Bennett.
Rear inspection.
Resealing.
Two days after Dad died.
Claire remembered his words.
Remember the Bellamy.
She became almost certain Dad had hidden something behind the painting.
But by the time she asked for access, the painting had been moved again.
Not out of the museum.
Into a restricted donor storage vault controlled under the Bennett family loan agreement.
The access request had also come from Evelyn.
Claire did not yet know whether the letter was still there.
May you like
She only knew Mom had moved the exact object Dad had told her to remember.
And she knew Evelyn had never told me any of it.
