Page 98 of The Picasso Heist
“No, you lied to me too.”
“Name one thing I told you that wasn’t true,” I say.
“Call it a sin of omission, then.”
“Is that a crime?”
“No, but fraud is,” she says.
“You’re the expert, but for there to be a crime, I think there needs to be a victim. I don’t see one.”
“I’m sure Anton Nikolov and his beautiful fake Picasso would begto differ. Do you want to tell him it’s a fake or shall I? On second thought, it shouldn’t be you, given that nasty Bulgarian temper of his. I guess I’ll do it. He’ll thank me in the end.”
“Great. I can picture the billboards now: ‘Elise Joyce, friend of organized crime,’” I say, adding air quotes for good measure.
“That’s funny,” she says.
“It’s also no way to get to the governor’s mansion, now, is it?”
Joyce smiles like a heavyweight champ after taking a good punch—stung but far from beaten. I’ll give the woman this: She has no fear… or shame.
“Oh, I’ll be in that mansion one day. You can count on it,” she says. “In fact, thanks to you two, I’ll be there even sooner than anyone thinks.”
“Great, congratulations. Now, if you could just release our father, we’ll be on our way and you can get busy campaigning,” I say. “Glad we could help you out.”
“But that’s just it,” she says. “You’re not done helping.”
I rest my forearms on the table. “You’d better not be saying what I think you’re saying.”
Joyce edges forward, matching me forearm for forearm. “Or else what?”
That’s all it takes to get Skip involved. “Wait a minute,” he says. “You can’t do this.”
But she can, and we all know it.
“We delivered Lugieri as promised. Now you hold up your end of the bargain,” I say. “You release our father.”
“For the record, my end of the bargain assumed you weren’t engaged in breaking the law. I should’ve known, though. Art fraud? It runs in the family, apparently.”
I’m about to lunge across the table when I feel Skip’s hand holding me back.
“Easy, Halston. Let’s not do anything that might keep you here for the night,” says Joyce.
“What do you want from us?” asks Skip.
“Like I said, thanks to you two, I now have the opportunity to bring down Dominick LugieriandAnton Nikolov. It’s a field day on the mob. In fact, I can picture the actual billboards,” she says, breaking into a smile. “‘Elise Joyce. No one’s tougher on crime.’”
“You still haven’t answered my question,” says Skip. “What do you want?”
“Just a little more cooperation to seal the deal on Nikolov, that’s all. Once you do that, your father’s a free man.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” I say.
“It is now,” she says. “Take it or leave it.”
“We’ll leave it.”
Skip turns to me. “Halston—”
