Moonlightaholics

Moonlight Fan Fiction
Brush Strokes Rated PG
By Ella713


Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Beth covers a story on her favorite artist but soon discovers that he's a murderer.


Caleb McMann was the Andy Warhol of his time. Splashy, colorful and bold. He had sold out exhibits all over Europe and the United States. But that was more than 8 years ago. Every season there was some young artist that the critics and press decided to praise and this season it was Frank Heart, Well, one could hardly call him an artist.He did rather silly mundane things like spray painting hubcaps and installing them inside a television set! That's what passes for art these days! The old guard of artists were becoming obsolete, like the art world itself. Caleb thought hard, looking at the blank walls in his studio. The idea hit him like a flash! And in that moment he never looked at his wall again.

"Just a little higher and to the left" Beth was telling Mick as he hung the painting on the wall. "perfect! Right there!" she said gleefully. Mick climbed down the ladder and looked at the painting.
"I'm sorry babe, I don't get it" He said shaking his head.
"Mick, you have to really look at it. Study it. How does it make you feel?" Beth asked. Mick looked at what he thought was bicycle hanging from something that looked like a.....maybe a shoe....or was it a tree branch?....
"Honey, this painting makes me feel confused, I mean what is all that stuff over there" Is this supposed to be rice?" He said.
"Rice? Mick those represent tears! Not rice." She chuckled. She was about to give Mick another explanation when the phone rang. He ran quickly to pick it up.
"Saved by the bell" He said with a smile. "Mick St. John"
"Mick, it's Carl. Can you meet me at a crime scene?"
"Sure. What you got?"
"A man in Kelly's Park, hanging upside down from a swing set. And the guy has no blood" Carl said gravely.
"I'm on my way" Mick said hanging up the phone. "Babe, I gotta go. Carl needs me" He said giving her a quick kiss and heading out the door.

Guilermo pulled the sheet back.
"I gotta say Carl, I think you stumped me on this one. First, I mean this guy has no blood as in not a single drop left and that's a lot of blood missing. Second, there are no wounds on the body. So If he was stabbed where's the wound? Like I said, I'm stumped"
"Do you smell anything? Either of you?" Carl asked.
"No." Mick replied, Which meant a vampire didn't do it. But if it wasn't a vampire who the hell could do something like this?

Ooh! I love a new mystery.

Guilermo pulled the sheet back over the body and silently crossed himself.
"Keep working on it" Carl said to him. "Mick let's go back to the park and go over it with a fine toothed comb"

In the park Mick started to look around.
"You see anything?" Carl asked.
"Well, not really see...but let's think about this. You kill someone and take their blood, but even though the blood is all gone, a dead body still weights a lot. So why not just dump it. What's the point of taking the time to hang it?"
"You think someone's trying to throw us off track?"
"Maybe.....but maybe we're looking a two people. I mean if it was just one guy dragging a dead body, there would have been drag marks all along here, but there wasn't. He had help?" Mick said finally.

"I have surprise for you" Josef said walking in the door. Beth looked up and smiled. Oh great, she thought. A josef surprise. "Close your eyes and open up your hands" Josef said. Beth slowly closed her eyes, then peaked one eye open.
"This better not be anything gross Josef" She said closing her eyes and holding open her hands. She felt something light hit her hands. She opened her eyes.
"Caleb McMann! Josef, are these what I think they are?" She said hopefully.
"Yeah. Two tickets to his first show in 9 years." Josef said
"Oh Josef!!!!" Beth squealed and ran to hug him. Mick walked in the door.
"Okay, what's going on?" He said with a smile. Beth ran over to him.
"Josef got us two tickets to Caleb McMann's latest art show!!"
"Who?" Mick said kind of puzzled. Beth pointed at the painting that Mick had hung a few weeks ago.
"Oh.....that's great" Mick said half heartedly. "You shouldn't have"
"Anything for a fellow lover of the arts!" Josef laughed. He actually bought the tickets when he remembered Mick talking about the hideous painting Beth had him put up in their apartment.

The following week, there was another body. Completely drained of blood and sitting up in a port a potty in Garfield Park.
"You know I was praying that this wouldn't be a serial killer, but it looks like we will have to entertain the idea. The first guy was an art critic, this lady owns an art gallery in San Diego" Carl explained.
"Well, there's the connection. You think it's a frustrated artist? Maybe he got a bad review or something?"
"Come on Mick, you know the motive is never that easy"

"Guillermo give me some good news?" Carl said.
"Okay. Both bodies same thing. No blood, but I found the wound..so the speak. So, if you take blood from a body you gotta go in from somewhere and from the cursory glance it looks like the blood just disappeared. But if you look right here" He said pointing to an area behind the knee, Your perp inserted a small tube right there and extracted the blood from there."
"And that's on both bodies?" Mick asked.
"Yeah. And before you ask, it would take a long time extract blood this way. You're talking at least 48 hours. And they were alive while he was doing it"

Caleb was in his studio working on this final painting. He studied the hues of the paint and the texture. Perfection! They would always speak his name when art was the subject. His would go down in history as the artist who sacrificed everything for his craft. Even his own soul. That my friends was the true meaning of "Artist"

allegrita wrote:Ooh! I love a new mystery.

Thank for reading Allegrita!

Sefan had been Caleb's agent for 12 years. He fondly remembered seeing a struggling young renegade hanging out in the bowery selling his paintings for mere dollars. Stefan had but one glance at the small canvas he was trying to sell and knew that he would be a major talent. Taking the young man under his wing together they made the world see Caleb McMann as the heir to the throne left void for so long by Warhol, John, Lichtenstein and Basquiat. Quietly Caleb assumed the title and reaped the rewards, the accolade. But the public was fickle, the art world extremely so. Caleb faded away like many before him. But not through drugs nor alcohol which Caleb abhorred, but from overexposure.
Stefan blamed himself for that one. As he walked around the studio examining the new work, he smiled.
"Caleb, you have outdone yourself! This is remarkable! That shade of red is stunning and so realistic. That hand almost looks real" He said touching it gingerly. "Where did you get the idea?"
"Frank Heart to be honest. Look at the junk he sells. It's waste, garbage really. So if that's what they want Stef, that's what they'll get. I am feeding their junk art and culture back to them." He explained,
Stefan didn't care about the reasoning behind it. Artist were all the same in his opinion. The only thing that mattered was if he could sell it to the masses.
"Hey let's toast to what will be the greatest art show in modern history" He said happily,.
"In history period" Caleg said reaching the fridge for a bottle of ginger ale. He poured two cups full.
Stefan downed his quickly.
"Well, I must run. I've got a million things to do" He said walking quickly towards the door. Suddenly, he fell to the floor unable to move. The neuromuscular drug Caleb has placed in the ale worked fast This would be the last one. How fitting it should be the agent he thought to himself.

Oh, eeeew. Caleb is not my kind of artist.

Beth was elated when her station manager Gary told her she would be interviewing Caleb McMann on the air. She spent most of the day reading up on his past interviews so she wouldn't repeat questions. Artists hated that. Beth planned on being prepared,

"Babe calm down! He's just a man. I haven't seen you this excited over an interview." Mick said
"Mick Caleb McMann is my favorite artist. When I was in college and I felt sad about something, his artwork always made me feel something so much greater than sadness" She explained. Mick knew what she meant. He used to feel that way about music.

"What time did you find this guy?" Carl asked the uniform.
"After midnight sir. A couple taking a short cut around the pond called it in"
"Alright" Carl said rubbing his temples. "Seal off the entire area. No one in. Not one person" He said walking away. "Mick I don't even know how to handle a case like this."
"Carl, you're a damn good cop. Split it apart. We know that these murders have something to do with the Art world. All three victims worked in the field.All three had important titles. Art Critic, Gallery Owner and third an Art Agent. Now somebody's got a beef with these people. We have find out what it is."
"Okay. You're right. I'll take the critic and you take the other two." Carl said.

Robert Levy was a respected critic. Every artist in the state of California tried to get on his good side.
But no one that Carl spoke to ever said he was mean. He was always fair and just in his reviews and even applauded the artist for their efforts. No one could think of a soul who wanted him dead.

Mick spoke with Sarah Hoffman's husband. They had owned the gallery for at least 20 years. Due to it's location they did quite well.
"Maybe it was an artist that you turned down" Mick offered. Mr. Hoffman shook his head.
"That's the point Mr. St. John, we never turned anyone away. Our philosophy was if you poured your heat and soul into something, it should be viewed by the public. Even if your work was crap, we still put it up and tried to sell it for the artist."
"Do you think maybe someone thought their work was worth more."
"Your talking about artist. Most of these people literally live on the streets making art. They're happy is they gross $200. The artist we display don't care about the art world per se. They just want to make art and have it seen by the public"

People had a lot to say about Stefan Lodell. He had introduced some of the world's most sensational artists, but he kept getting dropped after a few short years. People who knew him well said Stefan had all the skills to be a first rate agent, but he was greedy. And in the end quite a few artists that he represented sued him for ruining their careers. His personal assistant Cameron Hughes said it best.
"Stefan promoted Stefan. Plain and simple. The artist wasn't even in the running"
"Why would they put up with it? They had to know what he was doing." Mick said.
"Artist are consumed with their work. Most wouldn't even notice a nuclear way going on behind them. Stefan counted on that. When they were trying to finish pieces for a show, Stefan would just place a contract of some sort and say sign this. They would sign anything just to get Stefan out of the way. Sometimes, if I felt like he was really out of line, I'd destroy the contract. Stefan always forgot about it. Maybe he knew I was doing it."
"Who was he representing?"
"Fritz Winer, he's a sculptor from upstate New York, DeAnna Forks, she's an exceptional glass blower from Seattle, and Caleb McMann. He's been the rep for Caleb for a long time"
"My wife is crazy about his art. How were things between Stefan and Caleb?"
"Great. Caleb was the only artist who wasn't angry with Stefan. In fact Stefan was instrumental in putting the word on the street that Caleb was back"

Caleb is so creepy! How did he get so twisted?

Mick saw that speaking with the elusive artist would be required. He called Carl and told him what he found out.

Fritz Weiner was a small jittery man who chained smoked as he spoke,
"Stefan. You know when I first signed on with him I thought of how lucky I was. I mean he represented some heavy hitters in the art world. Having him as my agent would open so many doors for me at the major galleries in New York" He explained.
"What happened, you didn't get the shows?" Mick asked.
"The exact opposite. I got the gallery shows. So many in fact, I could hardly keep up. Before I knew it Stefan had authorized a contract for t-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains stuff like that. The art world is very snotty. Any kind of commercial ventures like that can ruin an artists career. It's selling out for money. Stefan had no right. I also found out after I sued his ass, that he got 75% of the profit made from that commercial crap." He said sadly. "Mr. St. John, I was good artist. Really good. I was hoping for a fellowship in Vienna to teach other artist. Stefan ruined me by saturating my art. The man was a bastard."

DeAnna Forks wasn't as bitter as Fritz, but for good reason.
"Yeah, I knew he was a slimeball. You can't do what he did and keep it quiet you know. He came to one of my shows and said he wanted to represent me and I said yes. Who wouldn't? I started hearing things about it before I even signed with him."
"I don't understand, if you knew he was a crook, why did you sign with him?" Mick asked confused.
"I signed because he was a crook. I'm a glassblower, not a sculptor, artist or photographer. That's where the big bucks are. So I figured, so what if he puts my designs on a calendar. But I made sure he didn't screw me like he did the others. He tried to give me that whole "you don't need to read the details" crap. I read it a bunch of times, then I had an attorney read it. Stefan got 12% and I got the rest. I still do some glass work, but to be honest, I don't need to" She said confidently.

After speaking with DeAnna, Mick was curious to see what kind of contract Stefan had with Caleb McMann.

Beth was excited about the interview with Caleb. She had her notes and had practiced them for hours on end. His show was this evening so she would barely have enough time get home after the interview and change. She decided to wear her cocktail dress to the interview and meet Mick at the gallery.

Caleb looked at the blank canvass. Perhaps he should do just one more.....get started on works for the next showing. Going back to New York would prove necessary. People disappear more there than any other place.

Beth pressed the intercom.
"May I help you" a soft voice answered,
"Hello, Mr. McMann, my name is Beth St. John from Action News. We have a 4pm appointment"
"Of course. Please come in" Beth heard the door unlock and walked in.

"Mick, this is Carl. Look I found Stefan's contract file listen to this. He signed a $7 million contract to produce a sort of tutorial painting kits. Kind of like paint by numbers sort of thing. It's called a grid pattern. They use it for art students. Stefan found a way to have the contract include all of Caleb's work. Past and future. And he would have gotten 90% for all profits!" Carl said.
"You're talking about hundred of millions of dollars!" Mick said.
"I'm going to that gallery show and I'm bringing a couple of units with me" Carl said.

"Thank you for this interview Mr. McMann. As you can see, it is just you and I. Gary told me how you felt about cameras." Beth explained to him.
Caleb looked at young woman. She had very strong leg muscles. Those tendons would look devine slathered in blood and his version of metallic blue. He might even include some of her beautiful hair. She had so many nice attributes and Caleb wondered about each one.

Carl was already at the gallery when Mick showed up. The moment Mick walked into the building he was knocked over by the smell of blood. An overwhelming amount of blood. He looked all around trying to find the source but saw nothing.
"It looks so real" He heard a woman say behind him as she stared at a painting. Mick slowly walked towards the painting. The smell became stronger the closer he got to the painting. Mick looked closely at the art. That was a real blood. Caleb was using the blood of his victims as paint! Mick quickly found Carl and told him. Carl called it in and the gallery was closed. After everyone was ushered out Mick looked around. Where was Beth?! He saw Steve her camera guy outside filming and Mick ran over to him.
"Hey Mick, what the hell happened in there?" he asked.
"Steve where's Beth? She wasn't in there!" Mick said anxiously.
"Calm down man, she's interviewing that Caleb guy. She went over to his studio earlier"
"Where does he live Steve? I need the address now!"Mick said becoming frightened,
"It's by the old docks where the fisheries are...The Angler Bldg." Mick took off for his car and floored it.

Beth opened her eyes and saw she was strapped to a table. What did he put in that drink? She quickly looked all around her and saw that she was somewhere in the building, but not in the studio. After all these years the place still smelled of fish. The door opened and she saw Caleb coming towards her.
"Good your up." he said softly. "I'm sorry about your clothes, but they weren't necessary for this procedure, but I assure you, I was a perfect gentleman. I would never violate a woman" He said stroking her hair.
"You won't violate a woman but you'll kill a woman" Beth said in anger.
"But this is for Art. Art that the entire world must see. The world must understand what art is, not the trash that it has become. You my lovely will be my prized new work of art." He said reaching for the
tubing.

Mick parked his car and very quickly and very quietly rab through the entrance of the Angler Bldg.
Caleb's studio would be on the top floor Mick guessed due to amount of light. Mick stopped before he got to the top floor and went out a window tight below. He climbed the fire escape and peeked inside the large window. Beth was naked, tied to a table. Without hesitation and without thinking Mick broke through the large window. He ran to Beth and quickly snatched off her straps.
"Babe, are you alright" Mick asked in a scared voice. Beth opened her eyes slightly.
"Hi you" she said in a weak voice. "He's coming back Mick. He gave me something that paralyzes the legs" she started to say. They heard a door slam and Mick his behind on of Caleb's larger canvasses,
"I told you I wouldn't leave you for a long time dear. I just needed to pick up some new containers, What a fool I felt like when I saw I had none left. But you'll have to forgive me. This is my first stab at this medium. There's so much to learn....l.but I think we're ready to begin." He said walking towards Beth with the needle and the needle and tubing. Mick rushed out and grabbed the man from behind.
"I don't think so Caleb!" He said in a steely voice. The artist tried to release himself from Mick's grip with no success. "I'm afraid your show was cut short. No one's going to buy your art! You're a nobody, a has been!" Mick said knocking the man out. He took off his long coat and wrapped it around Beth and called Carl.

Within minutes The police had arrested Caleb and the CSI folks had found a wealth of evidence.
"I can't believe this Mick" Carl said in disbelief. "I sounds like something out of movie. A lot of things do these days" He said walking away.
"I agree" Mick muttered silently.

Caleb McMann, once a great artist, now a convicted murderer. As a result of his guilty plea he was spared the death sentence, but was assured by his attorney that he could paint in his cell. People who had viewed it said it was best work ever.

Beth no longer wanted his art work in the apartment and ended up selling it to Josef for a song. Two weeks later, Caleb was found murdered in his cell, with paint poured down his throat. His paintings jumped up in value. Beth didn't care at all.







The End