Chasing Vermeer

As Petra and Calder continue to search the school buildings for the missing Vermeer painting, they take a hot chocolate break at Delia Dell Hall. They’re dismayed by the quantity of wood paneling in the building because any of it could match Petra’s vision of the Lady’s location. After searching all three floors, they descend the sweeping staircase to the lobby.

Petra pauses midway, noticing all the fanciful shapes in the wrought-iron railing. She recognizes similarities between the shapes and Mrs. Sharpe’s pentomino words from the day before:

Monkey, panel, vines, flute, finds … She could feel the blood beating wildly in her temples: monkey, vines … monkey, vines … panel, flute, finds … FINDS! Mrs. Sharpe’s words: Petra stood frozen, one hand gripping the railing (195-96).

Petra feels that she’s close to finding the missing painting but can’t quite put the pattern together yet. She fears that someone is watching them, so she leads Calder home through a back route. Then she cryptically announces, “I think we’ve found her” (197).

Later that night, Petra dismisses her hunch on the staircase as fanciful. She talks herself out of suspecting Mrs. Sharpe and Ms. Hussey of any wrongdoing. When she asks the Lady in the painting for help, she receives no answer.