The Pitch Read online

hair she was still the type of girl a stockbroker would go out of his way to charm. Gavin decided to eavesdrop, at least it might provide some entertainment to what had been a wasted evening.

  “No, I don't care, the moment's passed.” The stockbroker went to leave.

  “Mr Bateman, I have a number of other people interested. If you are sure you want out I shall go to them.”

  That seemed to give the man pause, but Gavin could tell it wouldn't be enough. After a few short moments he shook his head. “No, I'm sorry Miss Brooks. Whatever you attempted last night has clearly spooked them,” he said glancing at the guards. Gavin felt a small pang of guilt, looks like he wasn't the only one missing out on a pay day due to last night's fiasco. “You'd have to be insane to try anything now.”

  “As I have already explained, that was nothing to do with my associates. I promise you everything is okay on our end.”

  “That may be the case but you'll have to find yourself a new buyer.”

  Having heard enough to pique his interest Gavin made up his mind and strode towards the pair with purpose. “Miss Brooks,” he declared loudly in an exaggerated Texan drawl, sticking his hand out. “I thought it was you.” To the girl's credit she could spot a shill when one came along and shook his hand with a welcoming smile. “When I saw you I just had to come over and,” he paused and lowered his voice conspiratorially, “thank you for the Rembrandt two months ago.”

  Bateman's eyes went wide open. “That was you?” he asked Brooks incredulously.

  “My associates,” she answered coolly.

  “If I may be so bold, what are you offering this time?” Gavin asked.

  Brooks glanced at Bateman with an apologetic smile and turned back to Gavin. “The O'Keefe.”

  Gavin raised his eyebrows with interest. “How much?”

  “Hang on-” Bateman tried to interject.

  Brooks ignored Bateman “Mr Bateman was offering forty thousand.”

  “Fifty,” Gavin announced immediately.

  “Wait a minute, Miss Brooks hadn't finished her negotiation with me.” Bateman finally managed.

  “I'm sorry Mr Bateman, but Mr Ramsey has made an interesting offer.” Gavin liked that she just threw a name out there. Her ability to roll with an unknown party trying to help was pretty good, though a little reckless, but she did have some skills.

  “Fifty five,” Bateman countered.

  Gavin looked at Bateman with a competitive glare and a cocky grin. “I thought you said you weren't interested. Sixty.”

  “Seventy five!” Bateman said, his eyes narrowing.

  Gavin titled his head to accept defeat. “Okay, fine, you win.” Bateman smiled, Gavin made his excuses and left Brooks to finish the deal.

  He kept to the outskirts of the party again, keeping an eye on the 'art deal'. After several minutes of discussion Bateman had obviously made his arrangements and left. Brooks immediately grabbed a cell from her bag, but before Gavin could get close enough to hear she was hanging up and was about to head for the door.

  Walking up behind her and keeping the Texan in his voice, but dialling the accent down a little he said, “Well, that seemed to go quite well.”

  Miss Brooks jumped a little and turned to face him. “Yeah,” she said suspiciously. “And you are?”

  “Michael. Do I just call you Miss Brooks?”

  “Kelly,” Gavin raised an eyebrow at that. She giggled, “Kelly Anderson. Bateman thinks I'm Melissa Brooks. Look, thanks for your help. But I have no idea why you did that or what you expect to get from it.”

  “I expect my fair share. You'd have lost him if I hadn't jumped in, and I got you a bigger haul. Only fair I get a cut from that.”

  The smile disappeared from Kelly's face. “Really? And how do I know you can be trusted? Or that you even know enough to get even a small cut?”

  “Well, if that's the case maybe I should go catch up with Mr Bateman and say I just had a phone call from an expert I had checking out my Rembrandt and tell him it turned out its a fake.”

  “Like you'd know where to find him.”

  “Price and Pierce.” Kelly's eyes betrayed her panic. “You think I'm just going to wander in and out of a job like that and simply rely on your obvious good nature to get my fair share.”

  “But-”

  Gavin cut her off, “Let's discuss this elsewhere. You look like you need a drink.”

  A taxi dropped them at a bar of Kelly's choosing. The Cobalt Room. It looked fairly trendy, though that was hardly surprising given the area of the city they were in. White walls and chairs with blue lights illuminating the place. The bars and the tables were covered in glass with more blue lights underneath. It wasn't too busy, what with it being the middle of the week, but there was enough in to create the right amount of buzz so you could talk without anyone else overhearing. Gavin made his way to the bar and ordered a beer. He wasn't particularly fond of the stuff, but Michael Ramsey from Texas was.

  “And for you?” he asked Kelly. “My treat.”

  “White wine.” Gavin was offended she could order wine so vaguely, but he kept that opinion to himself, once again it not being one of Michael's.

  He led her to one of the few empty tables there were along the wall, sitting himself facing the door.

  “Okay, I'll admit it,” Kelly said as she sat down opposite. “What you did was impressive. How did you know he'd bite?”

  “You nearly had him mentioning other people being interested, he just needed a little more prodding. So I rubbed his nose in it,” Gavin answered with a smile.

  “Nice touch with the Rembrandt too, I remember seeing that robbery all over the news. That was inspired. Was it that obvious we were offering to steal a painting for him?”

  “Only because he made it obvious. And I've had that conversation myself a few times. Is your friend going to join us?” Kelly looked puzzled. “Black kid, tall, short hair, roughly same age as you, sat near the back all on his own and doing his best not to look like he's watching us. “

  Kelly was clearly taken aback by Gavin's observation. “How did you know?”

  “Came in just after us, walked right to the back while we were at the bar, made no attempt to engage anyone in conversation and hasn't once touched the drink he only ordered because the waitress walked up to him.”

  “You've not once looked in his direction.”

  “I don't have to look straight at him to know he's there,” Gavin said matter-of-factly.

  Kelly's shoulders slumped, craned her neck to look past Gavin and gestured with her head to come join them. Seconds later the kid walked up and sidled into the seat next to Kelly.

  Gavin smiled and offered his hand, “Michael, nice to meet you.”

  The kid glanced at Kelly, who nodded. He took Gavin's hand. “Will.”

  “Is this your whole crew?” They both nodded. “So what's the plan? Offer to steal it, he pays up front, and disappear before he knows he's been had. Not bad, though I'd imagine most of the time you're lucky to get even half up front.”

  “Oh no, we sell it to him alright, and deliver.” Will said with a cocky grin across his face.

  Gavin studied them both for a second. “Oh, you are actually doing the Mona Lisa variation.” Will's grin disappeared. “Fair enough. So I take it you're the forger?”

  The grin was already back, “And more.”

  “How many buyers?”

  “Eight.” Will said, earning a glare from Kelly.

  “Eight? That's pushing it. Valfierno kept it to six for a reason. At least least tell me they're not all in New York?”

  Both of them looked embarrassed, though Kelly hid it a lot better.

  “I want a thirty percent cut,” Gavin stated bluntly.

  “Hold on there cowboy,” Will said. “What gets you that much?”

  “We'd have lost Bateman if Michael hadn't stepped, and he nearly doubled the payout,” Kelly answered for him.

  “That's nice. But thirty percent of whole cut? I t
hink not. Twenty percent of Bateman's, now that sounds fair.”

  “We'll see.”

  “No, we won't,” Kelly said, finding strength in Will retaliation. “Fine, you helped us secure Bateman as a buyer, and significantly increased his haul, but we've got the rest covered.” With that the two stood and marched out the bar. Gavin finished the last few sips of his beer and followed them out.

  They led Gavin on a little chase to start with. They were clearly taking precautions after the unexpected turn their night had taken, and a little of the worry that had crept up on Gavin in the bar started to dissipate. While he'd originally been impressed with Kelly's work he now had the distinct impression that they were two kids that had bitten off a little bit more than they could chew.

  However, they eventually led Gavin to an apartment on the upper east side. For all their precautions Gavin wasn't sure who they would have managed to throw off their trail with that. Probably some local PDs, and definitely any lowlifes that were unhappy with them, but FBI or a professional that meant them harm wouldn't have struggled.

  The building certainly fit with the persona Kelly had been selling Bateman anyway. The alleyway behind it was empty, and surprisingly clean even for this part of New York. Gavin swung onto the fire escape without a noise, slipped out of his suit jacket and shifted his body to reflect the environment. As he slowly started making his way up the escape, checking each window for the two con-artists, he flashed back to how he'd got started in this life, discovering his climbing and camouflage abilities as an hormonal young teen and sneaking into houses of girls from his class. He was