Love Unlocked by Waterford Libby

Author:Waterford, Libby [Waterford, Libby]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Decadent Publishing Company, LLC
Published: 2013-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

***

“And then we’ll hand off the painting and head home. Barring unforeseen circumstances.” Eve finished outlining the plan and pushed away the rest of her Cobb salad.

“What kind of unforeseen circumstances?” Hudson asked. He’d already finished his second portion.

“Well, that’s sort of the idea. I don’t know. So we stick to the plan but stay flexible.”

“It’s a solid plan. I can see why you were so good at this.”

“Really?” Why did his compliments always blindside her? “Well, it’s the best I could come up with on such short notice. Normally, I’d have a lot more lead time than this.”

“What would you do if you had more lead time?” He seemed genuinely curious.

She poured herself another half glass of wine and moved to the living room. “It depends on the kind of job. A basic smash and grab requires a little reconnaissance, maybe two weeks of staking out the locations, figuring out the weaknesses in the security system, whether it’s a museum or a private home. For a switch, we had to have access to the original so we could have a duplicate made, then we had to plan a time to make the switch. Those were more delicate operations, but ultimately less dangerous.” She settled into a corner of the sofa.

Hudson followed her, but took up residence a safe distance away in an armchair, leaving the entire sofa to her.

“Because the owners wouldn’t know for a while that they had a copy?”

“Right. It gave us time to distance ourselves from the scene. Sometimes, they never figure it out.”

“Really?”

“You have no idea how many reproductions are hanging in museums, being passed off as the real thing. Not only copies of well-known works, while the originals sit in a warehouse somewhere or in some rich guy’s castle, but fakes in the style of a certain artist, which can sometimes sell for as much as a real one, if they’re good enough to pass authentication. Our forger was the best.”

“So, if you had the time, you’d rather make a copy of the Mondrian and somehow change the real out for the fake?”

“It’s not a perfect system, but yeah, it usually keeps the heat off for a while. Also, fewer people get hurt that way. The owner of the original is none the wiser and the buyer is happy because the item isn’t considered hot, and it won’t raise eyebrows if he’s associated with it. He tells people his is a fake, and everyone is happy.”

“Then why not sell the buyer the fake and skip the hassle of stealing the painting in the first place?”

“The kind of people who want to buy real artwork are not to be trifled with. They want the originals, and they have no scruples.”

“So what kind of guy is Deacon?”

“He’s the worst. An ambitious thug with delusions of grandeur. He fancies himself a gentleman thief but he’s really hardly more than a gopher. Unfortunately, the people he gophers for are very unpleasant, the Italian Mafia. Plus, he’s kind of crazy.

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