Two thieves in the same room.
It is then that a thought crosses my mind.
“What I wonder,” I say. “Was anything else stolen, or just the painting?”
“I cannot tell,” she says. “We have been very focused on the Mona Lisa, as it is the most valuable in the entire musée.”
“Check for it,” I say. “Because I can’t rule out both of them working together. A heist as loud as that one screams for distraction,” I say and carefully add, “And by check, I mean especially those relics that aren’t on display. Avery Zayne likes what isn’t for the public eye.”
“You seem to know her very well,” she says.
“Very,” I say. “I studied her since I was in university. I wrote about her in my thesis.”
“I will speak to the chief to get you involved and cleared for help with our investigations,” she then says. “I believe we could need your experience very much. It is a catastrophe!”
“It is,” I say, “I’ll arrange everything on my end if you give a green light.”
We hang up, and I stare at the picture of Hedda Lagner. Could they have been working together? Hedda for the blow, the loud, attention-seeking, while Zayne gets in secret what she wanted?
But then those thieves don’t work well together. They are both independent women who lie and trust no one. They operate alone.
Or haven’t they?
I get up and hurry to Rachel’s desk.
“I need you to run a prompt. Cross-reference of all time-stamped known locations of Hedda and Zayne,” I tell her urgently.
Rachel is my girl, all things tech. While I’m not a dinosaur, she is way more effective; with her major in Computer Science, aside from Criminology, she seems to be more proficient in tech.
“Huh,” says Rachel, and pulls up a chart. “There’s an awful lot of correlation.”
There is indeed.
My phone rings.
I take the call.
“You were right,” says Inès Abrègè, “Something else was stolen, from the conservation at non-public display, the Crown of Charlemagne.”
Napoleon’s Imperial Crown.
“I knew it,” I say and scoff-chuckle incredulously. “That’s Avery Zayne. They were working together. We’re looking for two of the most notorious thieves who did this.”
“Merde,” says Inès, and while I don’t know much French, I know what it means, and I haven’t related to anything more.
Catching them if they work together is nearly impossible. But who am I not to try? One day, one of them will make a mistake, and I will be there to catch them.
3
AVERY
PLAYLIST: HOLD ON, I’M COMIN’ – SAM & DAVIE
Iplace the crown in its designated spot, a glass casing just next to my bed. It’s such a beauty, and probably one of my biggest achievements.
My phone rings.
“You have a nerve calling,” I say when I answer.