“My dear,” says Hedda, “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
I laugh.
“Thanks for the publicity, by the way,” I say with a growl.
“Ah, well,” she says, “That was for stealing from me.”
“You stole the Guennol from me,” I say.
“I needed it,” she says, “Had to make a deal. But if you want to steal it back, Louis Ashterbire has it on display in his Aspen mansion.”
Louis is a complete idiot. His real name is Andy Moore, and he is an eccentric collector of art and women with an ego that doesn’t fit his size.
“What protections does it have?” I ask because I will most certainly steal it back.
Hedda laughs wholeheartedly.
“I’m not doing your job for you,” she says, audibly amused. “But it’ll be a home run for you. I was rather impressed with your skills in Paris.”
“Can tell you the same,” I say. “I could use your skills for something I have planned.”
“I’m listening,” she says.
“I am going to break into the FBI storage facility and get the hat,” I say.
There is a moment’s pause.
“You’re going into the lion’s den for it?” Hedda asks.
“Of course I am. It’s easier to get in there than the Smithsonian. You saw what happened with Logan. I mean, he’s an idiot; we all know it, but he was good in his profession, and he almost got away with stealing the hat, if not for the five security mechanisms he didn’t plan for.”
“He is an idiot,” says Hedda. “How are you planning to do it?”
“The impersonation won’t work,” I say. “Which is why I was thinking more of a forceful version. With your support, of course. That distraction worked quite well in Paris.”
“And what do I get out of it?” she asks.
“You can have Lincoln’s hat,” I say. “I only need the sewn-in letter.”
“There is no letter sewn in,” Hedda says. “I would know?—“
“Would you?” I ask. “Because there are only three people on this planet who know about this letter.”
“What’s the letter about?”
“It’s a letter from Abraham to John Wilkes Booth before his assassination.”
It’s a lie. One, I tell, because I need Hedda to be on board. I need her to break into the holding facility because I am going to have her arrested in the act for the setup in Paris. I now have every agency breathing down my neck, not that I had before,but the Mona Lisa is a different caliber. One that makes many powerful people very nervous.
Setting her up does two things. Setting the record straight, I can find the original Rembrandt. I have zero interest in the Mona Lisa. It’s something way too hot for my taste.
“And why has no one ever talked about it?” asks Hedda. She isn’t one to be easily fooled. “It’s such a monumental part of American history.”
“Exactly,” I say, improvising. “Can you imagine nothing that would be in this letter? Imagine if all of it were plannend.”
Hedda is rendered silent.
“I’m in,” she says, and I fight the grin that appears on my face.
