Once the door was locked and they were all seated, Billy tapped a few keys on the laptop. A grid appeared on the screen showing a dozen different camera feeds.
“I thought you might be interested in watching the handoff of the forgeries.”
“You thought right,” Stone said.
Billy clicked on a feed covering the back room of Simon’s gallery, and the picture increased to a quarter of the screen, while the others shrank to fill the remaining space.
In the center of the room was the box Rudy had made for the forgeries. Simon was pacing a groove in the floor beyond it.
“Looks like it’s time.” Billy exchanged the enlarged interior feed with one from the parking lot.
A small cube truck had just pulled into the lot. It performed a three-point turn and backed toward the gallery’s rear door. When it stopped, two men got out.
“That’s not Petry,” Stone said.
“Not his lawyer, either,” Dino said.
Billy increased the magnification. “Those are the two who delivered the original yesterday.”
“I thought they worked for Simon,” Stone said.
The scrawnier of the two reached the gallery’s door first and pounded on it.
Billy switched back to the interior view in time to see Simon briefly close his eyes before walking to the exit.
Dino grunted. “I can’t tell if he’s happy they’re there or wishes they hadn’t come.”
As soon as the door opened, the scrawny one stepped inside. “Hello, asshole.”
Simon did not respond.
The guy jutted his chin at the box. “That it?”
“Yes. Just take it and get out of here.”
“You’re acting like you want to get rid of us. That ain’t very nice.”
“I don’t need to be nice.”
The guy laughed. “You don’t even know how to be nice. Maybe if you did, your brother and I wouldn’t have left you.”
“Sticks,” the man who presumably was Simon’s brother said. “Let’s get it and go.”
Sticks held Simon’s gaze for a few more seconds, then chuckled. “Sure. No sense staying someplace we ain’t wanted.”
Simon’s glare turned ice cold as it fell on his brother, but neither said a word.
Sticks circled the box, rapping on the wood several times. “Nice and dry. This will work perfect.”
The microphone barely picked up the brother as he whispered, “We should make sure they’re inside.”
Sticks shot a look at Simon. “Good point. Maybe big bro is pulling a fast one.”
“Go ahead,” Simon said. “Check.”
“We need a crowbar or hammer,” the brother said.
Simon didn’t move.
Sticks pointed at Simon. “Hey, jerkwad! You heard him.”
Simon frowned, then jutted his chin at the worktable. “Toolbox is over there.”
The brother retrieved a hammer and opened one end of the box.
Sticks looked inside, then pulled one of the canvases out a few inches, scoffed at it, and pushed it back in. “The things people call art. Garbage, if you ask me.”
He motioned for his partner to put the cover back on.
A few feet away, Simon visibly relaxed, though the other two didn’t seem to notice.
“Give me that,” Sticks said.
Simon’s brother, who had just finished closing the box, handed him the hammer.
Sticks examined it, then cocked his arm back like he was going to throw the hammer at Simon. Simon brought his arms up to protect his head and ducked.
Sticks laughed, the hammer still in his hand. “You should see your face.” He tossed the hammer at the worktable, and it landed with a loud bang. “Let’s roll.”
The second the men were gone and the door closed, Simon sagged against the wall.
“Wait.” Stone turned to Billy. “Does the truck have a tracker?”
“Don’t need one.”
“You have someone following it?” Dino asked.
“Don’t need that, either.”
Billy brought up a map on the computer, upon which a red dot was moving away from the gallery location.
“While Rudy was showing you where he’d hid your mother’s originals, I planted a tracker in the box. Unless they rip the thing apart, they’ll never find it.”
“If it sounded like I doubted you, I apologize,” Stone said. “And I will never do so again.”
Chapter 46
On Saturday morning, Stone lay in bed, attempting to read through the agenda for the final day of board meetings. The problem was his mind had other ideas and kept trying to poke holes in the plan to take down Petry.
Beside him, Monica groaned and nuzzled against him. She tilted her head back, peeking at him through half-closed eyes. “Hi.”
“Hello, yourself. Did I wake you?”
Her hand traveled down his stomach, her lips following close behind. “Does it matter?”
He tossed the papers on the nightstand. “Not in the slightest.”
A half hour later, they lay in each other’s arms, worries of the coming day temporarily banished from Stone’s thoughts.
“I believe that’s what’s referred to as an excellent start to the morning,” Stone said. “Here’s hoping it’s a harbinger for the day ahead.”
Monica propped herself up on an elbow. “Tell you what. If everything goes as planned, tomorrow I’ll treat you to a repeat performance.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
She grinned. “Then you’ll treat me.”
“Deal.”
They sealed it with a kiss.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Five-thirty.”
“Too early to get out of bed and too late to go back to sleep. Whatever will we do to fill the time?”
“Perhaps I should practice for tomorrow, in case things go awry.”
She lay back on her pillow. “What an excellent idea.”
Practice went so well that if this were any other day, they would have never left the bed.
Reluctantly, they showered and dressed, then joined Dino and Viv for breakfast.
“Everyone ready for the big day?” Viv asked.
“As ready as we can be,” Stone said.
“Are you carrying?” Dino asked.
“I doubt the board meeting will get heated enough that I’ll need a weapon.”
“Maybe not, but the party will be a different story.”
“I’m already concerned enough about tonight. I don’t need to add a gun to my worries.”
“What could possibly go wrong?” Dino said.
“Do you want a list? Or...?”
“Now you’ve both gone and jinxed us,” Monica said. “We might as well go back to the room and crawl into bed.”
“I hadn’t realized that was an option. I’m game if you are.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“It was your idea.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“I’m serious about the gun,” Dino said.
Stone sighed. “Yes, Mother.”
After they finished eating, a golf cart took them to the hotel entrance, where two of the Arrington’s vehicles awaited them.
Stone kissed Monica. “See you back here at five.”
“If you hear anything more from Billy, let me know.”
“I will.”
Dino and Viv shared their own goodbye, then the women headed to Strategic Services’ L.A. headquarters in one Cayenne and the men to the board meeting in the other.
Teddy was also up early.
The first thing he did was check the locations of the trackers. Petry’s vehicle was at the Four Seasons, and Sticks’s cube truck was in the same secure parking structure in North Hollywood it had been in since the previous afternoon. Simon’s car had also not moved from where it had been when Teddy had gone to sleep. Not at the Verdugo Royale Hotel where Simon had been staying, but at the LAX Hilton, where he had gone yesterday evening.