The Mistress(56)

“The robbery is most unfortunate. I bought one of Luca’s works from them last year. A very handsome piece. I saw one I liked the other night when I was there for dinner.” He knew that was why they had come. “The Lucas are impossible to deal with. They have successfully frozen the market for his work.” He looked contemptuous as he said it.

“Why is that?” she asked innocently.

“To drive up his prices. One day they’ll start selling. They’re establishing the high-water mark now. The art theft won’t hurt them either. It will only make the work more desirable. It could be a clever ploy on their part. People involved in the art world are capable of some very strange, desperate acts. You should explore all of it—the result may surprise you.”

“You don’t think the work was really stolen?”

“It’s hard to say. I don’t know. I just know there are some very odd stories, and characters, in that world, with twisted ideas and complicated motives.”

“You could be right.” She asked him about the boat then, and was fascinated by what he said, and that he was building a new one that would be even bigger, which he told them proudly. They chatted aimlessly for an hour, and then Athena set her glass down and stood up. “I’m sorry we stayed so long. Your hospitality was irresistible.” She smiled at him, and saw him admiring her figure as she turned to Steve.

“Come back anytime,” Vladimir said warmly, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I hope you find the paintings. I’m sure you will. Artwork never stays lost for long. A few paintings do, but not many. And it would be a shame to lose so many of Luca’s works, although it only makes the one I have more valuable.” He laughed as he said it, and Athena thanked him again, as the crew member escorted them back into the elevator, and down to where their boat was waiting. Athena gave them another flash of leg as they got in, and as the police boat pulled away and picked up speed, Vladimir waved to them from the upper deck. Athena waved back, smiling broadly. And then they saw Natasha reappear and stand at the rail with him, and then they both turned and disappeared.

“Holy shit, did you see that girl?” Steve said to her. “She was gorgeous. Who do you think that was? Hired talent or his girlfriend?”

“Better than that, bozo. Probably his mistress. That’s a very special breed. A beautiful bird with clipped wings. Did you see him signal to her to leave? She’s on a very, very short leash and does whatever he wants. There isn’t enough money on the planet to pay me for that job.”

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Steve said, as he leaned back in his seat for the trip back to shore, “but the boat is amazing.” It was like an enormous luxury hotel, or bigger, almost like an ocean liner.

“Not a waste of time,” she said, looking pensive. The broad smile was gone. She was working. The champagne hadn’t slowed her down, and she had only taken a few sips.

“Come on, don’t tell me you think he did it.” Steve laughed at her. “If you think that, you’re crazy. Why would he bother? He can buy anything he wants. Why would he risk prison for an art theft?”

“Because guys like him never get caught. They let someone else do the heavy lifting. And I’m not saying he did it. But he’s got the balls to do it. Whether he did or not remains to be seen. He plays a good game.”

“So do you. I thought you were putting the make on him for a minute.”

“So did he.” She remembered the hand on her shoulder when they left. “Not in a hundred million years. The homeless-looking artist, however—now that’s another story.” She laughed as they approached the dock. “Leave me alone in a room with him for a minute, and I could teach him a thing or two.”

“You don’t think Theo Luca did it, do you?” Steve asked her seriously.

“No, that was just Stanislas’s game, to create a doubt in our minds. He didn’t. Nice try, though.” One of her fellow officers helped her out of the boat at the quai in Antibes, and she managed it without flashing any leg this time, and a minute later she and Steve were back in the car, heading back to the restaurant.

“I thought you said we were going off duty. I have a date tonight.”

“Cancel it. We have work to do,” she said, looking distracted.

“You’re just hot for Luca.”

“Maybe so,” she said, smiling at him, as they headed back to St. Paul de Vence, not to talk to Theo, but to investigate the crime scene again. She had some new ideas she wanted to check out. Steve had already figured out it was going to be a long night. With Athena it always was.

—

As soon as the police boat pulled away and Natasha came back to the upper deck, she looked at Vladimir with surprise. “One of the boys said they were the police. What did they want?” Normally she wouldn’t have asked him, but it wasn’t business, and she was curious. She had been reading about the art theft at Da Lorenzo, and knew Vladimir had been there that week with some of his associates from Moscow who had flown in to meet with him for a night.

“It was just a social visit. They wanted to see the boat,” Vladimir said, looking unconcerned. “The robbery was a good excuse.”

“Have they found anything out?” Natasha asked, intrigued by the expert art theft she’d read about. And it was an odd coincidence that the Lucas were the victims, since Vladimir had bought a painting from the widow and the son had done a portrait of Natasha. It made it seem more personal than if it had happened to people they’d never met.