“I believe we told you to let us know if he contacted you again.”
“You try creating one of these overnight and tell me how much free time you have.”
Teddy caught Stone’s eye and tapped his watch. If Stone was going to get to the Centurion lot on time, they needed to leave soon.
“Here’s how it’s going to go, Rudy,” Stone said. “I’m leaving, but my friends Monica and Viv are going to stay for a while, and you’re going to tell them everything you know.”
“Not just about these,” Monica said, indicating Stone’s mother’s paintings. “About everything you’ve been involved with, from your first forgery until now.”
“Are you trying to get me killed?”
“Would you rather spend the rest of your life in jail?”
Rudy looked unsure as to what would be the worse fate, but after a few seconds, he groaned. “Like I have a choice.”
“Good call,” Stone said.
As he and Teddy headed for the stairs, Monica pulled out her phone.
“You don’t mind if I record our conversation, do you?”
Rudy groaned again.
Simon had not slept well.
First, Sticks had woken him with a call at midnight to tell him he’d be at the gallery at two p.m. It took an hour before Simon relaxed enough to doze off again. But then his dreams became one long parade of all the ways his plan could fail.
It was almost a relief when dawn came.
Before he even climbed out of bed, he called his bankers in New York and instructed them to transfer all the money in his personal account and the bulk in his business account to his Cayman Islands bank account. He left enough in the gallery’s account to keep it from dipping into the red until the middle of next week. By then, he’d be living under the first of several new names, designed to eliminate any chance he would ever be found.
He didn’t know yet where he would settle, but he did know his first stop would be Argentina, as it was one of a handful of countries without an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Not willing to risk being yanked off a commercial flight, he’d spent far more than he would have liked on a charter jet, set to leave at one a.m. Sunday.
After showering and dressing, he spent the next few hours checking in with his East Coast galleries, which had already opened. He didn’t particularly care how they were doing, but he needed to keep up the pretense that all was normal.
At eleven-thirty, he picked up a rental cargo van and drove to Rudy’s place.
A dark-haired woman with tanned skin opened the door and smiled. “You must be Simon.”
“And you are?”
“I’m Rudy’s girlfriend. Come in. He’s expecting you.”
There was something vaguely familiar about her, but he couldn’t place it. Maybe he had seen her with Rudy in the past. Whatever the case, he didn’t have time to worry about it. He stepped inside. “Where is he?”
“Downstairs.”
The woman didn’t follow him, for which he was glad. He’d much rather keep the business between him and Rudy.
The forger scowled as Simon entered the studio. “You’re early.”
“Are you done?”
“Yeah.”
“Then what does it matter?”
“Whatever.”
“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”
Something passed through Rudy’s eyes too quickly for Simon to decipher.
Rudy picked up a piece of wood that would fit over the open end of the box that sat in the middle of the room. “And I don’t know anything about your personal life, either. So, what does it matter?”
“Do you trust her?”
“That’s a stupid question.” Rudy gestured to the box. “You want me to close it, or do you need to see the paintings first?”
“That’s them?”
“Why in the hell would I ask you that question if it wasn’t?”
“Yes, I would like to see them first, please.”
Rudy swept a hand toward the box and stepped away. “Be my guest.”
Simon slipped the first painting out enough to see it and frowned. “I guess this is the best I could expect from you given the time restraints.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Simon pushed the painting back into the box, then repeated the process with the other two. Even a halfway competent expert would be able to tell they were forgeries, especially the last, but there was nothing to be done about it. But it really didn’t matter. No expert would ever see them.
He stepped back from the box. “Now you can close it.”
Ruby nailed the cover in place, then the two of them carried it upstairs.
When the girlfriend saw them, she jumped off the couch and said, “I’ll get the door, honey.”
“Thanks, uh, sweetheart,” Rudy said.
Outside, there was a couple engrossed in conversation in front of the neighboring townhouse. They hadn’t been there when Simon arrived, but neither seemed to take any notice of him or Rudy.
Simon and the forger slipped the container in the back door of the van and secured it to the wall with some rope.
As Simon was climbing into the driver’s seat, Rudy said, “Next time find someone else.”
Simon flashed a smile. “You’re in luck, Rudy. There’s not going to be a next time.” He shut the door, started the engine, and drove off.
Monica walked over to Rudy as the van turned out of sight. Viv, who had been one half of the couple talking on the sidewalk, joined them.
“Did you hear what he said right before he left?” Viv asked.
Monica, Rudy’s faux girlfriend, nodded. “I think Stone’s theory about him going on the run is right.” She turned to Rudy. “Nice job on the acting.”
“Oh, um, thanks, I guess.”
“Maybe prison will have a drama club.”
Rudy blanched.
Chapter 45
After dropping Stone off at the Centurion lot, Teddy drove to the Duchamp Gallery and used his well-honed skills to break in and disable the alarm.
Thanks to the audio bug in Simon’s suite, he’d learned that something was happening at the gallery at two. The obvious assumption being that it would be the time Petry picked up the forgeries.
Teddy spent ten minutes installing microcameras in the gallery’s back room, Simon’s office, and the showroom. Then, on his way back to the Audi, he placed four more cameras around the parking lot.
Once he’d checked that all the feeds were working, he drove to his house and transformed into Billy Barnett.
Thirty minutes later, he was on the Centurion lot, where he spent the rest of the morning huddled with his assistant, Stacy, going over preparations for tomorrow night’s party.
“...and in May of next year, we have three planned releases: Face to Face, directed by Lawrence Johns; Smiling Eyes, directed by Liesel Zhao; and Codes of My Father, directed by Zonnie Turman. There’s a chance that—”
The conference room door opened, cutting off Centurion Pictures’ VP of production.
Billy stepped in. “Sorry to interrupt. Ben, could I have a moment?”
Ben Bacchetti nodded and said to the room, “We’ll take a quick break.”
After he and Billy left the room, Dino leaned into Stone. “Twenty bucks says it’s about us.”
“No bet.”
Less than a minute later, Ben and Billy returned.
“There’s something that needs my attention,” Ben said. “Nothing serious, but it’ll take more than a few minutes. If there are no objections, let’s reconvene in one hour.”
There were no objections.
Billy caught Stone’s attention and looked to the door. Stone and Dino followed Billy out and into an office one floor down, where three chairs faced an open laptop.