Drake’s voice came through the car speakers. “How’s Kathleen?” He sounded concerned.
“I’m fine, Jamie,” she confirmed.
“Good. I’m calling because I have news on the statue.”
“Really?” Kathleen asked. “It’s so ugly. I was just saying I didn’t think it would be worth anything.”
“You’re right, it’s not,” a new voice said. “Hi Kathleen, it’s Alex.”
“Hey, Alex. How are you? Are you back from your honeymoon already?”
“Er…no. Drake has just patched me into the call. Mitch and I are still in the Caribbean.”
Kathleen glanced over at Enzo with a raised eyebrow. “I’m sorry he disturbed you. I’m sure it’s nothing, really. Go back to your honeymoon.”
“It’s not nothing,” Jamie growled.
“Um, I can tell you a bit about the statue,” Alex said, cutting off Jamie. “I was asked to…retrieve it from the MET in New York, but someone got there before me. The statue itself is not worth anything monetarily speaking, but supposedly, it is highly sentimental to someone. I have a call in to Leo, who originally asked me to retrieve it. I want to see if I can get any more details.”
Enzo cleared his throat, “Ciao, Alex. I’m Enzo Valardi.”
“Hey, Enzo. Drake told me about you. Nice to meet you.”
“Alex, do you think that the person who beat you to Ernie is the one who is trying to get him back?”
“Ernie?”
Kathleen laughed. “Sorry, that’s what we’ve been calling him. He just seemed to need a name, and he looked like an Ernie to me.”
Alex chuckled. “Ernie. I like it. Yes, I’m assuming it’s the same person. I guess they didn’t want to take the risk of gettingErnie out of the country. If it’s any consolation, the guy didn’t seem overly violent or anything, and he could have been. As a matter of fact, he kind of looked like Gage.”
“Huh. Okay, well… good to know,” Kathleen said. “I am hoping all this will be over tonight once we return Ernie to…whoever it is.”
“I hope so too,” Alex agreed. “I’ll reach out when Leo gets back to me with more details. Until then, enjoy your vacation and good luck tonight. Nice to meet you, Enzo,” Alex added right before she left the call.
“You still there, Jamie?”
“Yes,” he said, but sounded distracted. “I’m going into a meeting. Please keep me updated.”
“Will do.” Enzo pressed the button on the wheel to end the call.
“Well, that’s interesting. Ernie was in the MET. More valuable than we thought?” Kathleen asked.
“No, not according to Alex. Honestly, people donate a lot of crap to museums, and the museum ends up accepting it, because the junk usually comes from good donors. They don’t want to upset their patrons. I would guess that’s what happened with Ernie.”
“Makes sense,” Kathleen agreed and then yawned. “This isn’t the normal route to Milan, is it? We’re not on a highway.”
They were winding their way along a quiet road, glimpsing farms, fields, and occasional glints of water along the way.
Enzo glanced over at her, “No, I thought it might be nice to just take a leisurely drive, if that works for you.”
“Works for me.” She yawned again. “I might take a nap, though. I thought I got a lot of sleep last night but jet lag must be catching up with me.”
“Go for it. We have some distance to go yet. You might as well take advantage.” He glanced at her to find her eyes alreadyclosed. They fell into a companionable silence, and before he knew it, Kathleen was fast asleep in the seat beside him. The sun shining in made her hair look like it was on fire.
He swallowed a silent curse. Thoughts like that weren’t going to be helpful. He focused on his driving. Part of him wanted to put the pedal down and get to Milano as quickly as possible, but another part of him just wanted to enjoy the drive. It wasn’t often that he drove this route, and normally not by himself. Even now that he was retired, he had security, and they were never far behind.
He snorted softly. Oh, the irony. The one time he probably could have used his security, he had told them to take some time off. Always the way.
