Chapter 8
The bar was quiet, a tiny hole in the wall like hundreds of others in Manhattan. Lydia stepped in, followed by the tall, robust intern and sidled up to the bar, awkwardly taking a seat and cursing her large belly which made everything more difficult and uncomfortable. She certainly was an anomaly; a very pregnant woman sitting on a barstool on a Wednesday night - but the bartender's job was not to ask how or why, just to serve drinks.
Joe ordered a beer and an orange juice for Lydia and they sat, casing the place, trying to get their bearings. Mozzie had kindly provided a photograph of Jake the Snake and the insurance investigator looked around the place, seeing if she could spot him. The place was quiet – and small – there would be nowhere to hide when the meet finally went down so the twosome sat and drank quietly as they waited.
'Thanks for coming along' said Lydia as she clumsily turned towards Joe
'It's my job' he answered unenthusiastically and straight-faced
'Are you enjoying working at Sterling Bosch?' she asked, trying to make small talk while they waited
He shrugged. 'I was hoping things would move a little faster...' he said, not wanting to be too negative and attract any unwanted attention as to his motives or actions
'You'll see. Sara will bring you in when she feels you're ready' Lydia said 'She's very fair with her employees. Just be patient'
He rolled his eyes in response and if she'd been paying attention, she might have picked up on more than a passing dissatisfaction regarding his status with his current employer. But she was distracted by a new arrival: a very nervous looking man in his fifties who most certainly did not fit the profile for this type of establishment. He looked nervously around the place and made his way towards a booth in the back, clasping a small attaché case in his hand. The barman gave him a slight look of disapproval; the place sold beer and liquor and wasn't in the business of providing booths for the purpose of loitering. Service at the tables wasn't standard either but the new guy didn't seem to know the ropes so the bartender yelled out over the crowd.
'What can I get you?' he said, his voice impatient
'Draft is fine' said the diminutive man, nervously looking around
Lydia gave Joe a knowing look – it appeared their buyer had arrived. Now, all they had to do was wait for the fence's arrival. She scrunched her eyes closed as another contraction hit – stronger than the others – and she hung on to the edge of the bar to steady herself.
'You alright?' asked Joe, noticing her clenched features
She didn't answer, working hard to breathe through the contraction and the bartender gave them a concerned look as the door opened once more. Lydia forced her eyes open and despite the fact that the contraction was still in full swing, she noticed Jake arriving in her field of vision and gave Joe an awkward kick to get his attention while she tried to get herself under control. Luckily, the pain subsided briefly and she got her wits back, struggling to turn and face the newcomer. The fence was carrying a small item in a brown paper bag, just about the size of the medallion they'd been sent to recover. She watched as he made his way towards the older gentleman, waiting patiently for the item to be brought out into the open. She had the paperwork in hand, as always, although it was usually not necessary to produce it. Flashing her business card as a Sterling Bosch investigator was usually plenty and most often, fences scattered in an awful hurry at the sight of the small piece of identification.
She gave Joe a silent signal and slowly moved towards the booth, just as Jake produced the item to show his client. The two men suddenly looked up at this large, waddling woman coming towards them and wondered what the hell she wanted; they didn't have to wait long to find out.
'Good evening, gentlemen' she said with poise as she closed in on them
Joe stood behind Lydia, watching her work and marvelling at her confidence despite her currently fragile condition. She flashed her business card and sensed the sudden uneasiness emanating from Jake, who obviously wanted to get out of there – pronto. The buyer on the other hand, seemed totally taken aback. He was obviously a newbie, maybe fronting for the real buyer. In any case, Lydia didn't care; all she wanted was to walk out of the place with the medallion in her hands.
'I believe that medallion is the property of Sterling Bosh' she said, her voice strong despite the fact she could feel another contraction coming on
Jake took advantage of her obvious discomfort to slip out of the booth and she and Joe watched as he made a mad dash for the front door. He couldn't believe this was happening again – a third time in recent months and always with the same insurance company. Lydia picked up the item from the table, returning it to its wrapping and staring down the older gentlemen.
'Hope you hadn't put a deposit on this' she said snarkily as he looked on in total shock
Regardless of his lack of experience, he realized he was better off just exiting, something he did in record time, grabbing his small case with him and returning to whatever rock he'd crawled out from under.
Lydia just looked at Joe with delight. 'And that's how it's done'
WCWCWC
Hope drove herself and her brother home and let them both into the house, making sure to lock up as instructed. She made her way up to her bedroom and cosyed up on her bed with Raffie lying nearby, obviously in need of a cuddle. She indulged him, grabbing her phone with her other hand and noting a text had come in. She smiled as she read the name of the sender.
'I'm glad u invited me tonight'
'I'm glad u came'
'So, Saturday night'
'Yeah'
'How about we grab a bite first?'
'Sounds good'
'We can leave from the gallery'
'Okay'
'Sleep tight'
'U too!'
She fell back on her bed with a goofy smile on her face; it was still there when she finally fell asleep an hour later.
WCWCWC
Neal made his way over the bridge for the second time that day; he glanced at the clock. It was 9:15 and he wondered in passing if he should have given Sara some warning of his imminent arrival. He wanted to surprise her; see her face light up when he walked in. He remembered the feeling of delight when he'd seen her walk into the gallery unannounced two nights before; his heart had skipped a beat and he hoped Sara would feel the same way when she saw him appear unexpectedly. She would still be toiling away, of that he was sure; she always texted before leaving the office, something they had gotten into the habit of doing years ago.
His stomach was still doing flip flops but at least it was empty now, and unlikely to require an emergency visit to the washroom.
He smiled as he thought of Sara – she still did it for him after all this time.
WCWCWC
'Any problems?' Sara asked as she stood to greet her two employees
'None whatsoever' said Lydia, waving the package in front of her boss's eyes
'Thanks a lot for acting as backup, Joe' said Sara as she smiled at the young man
'It was my pleasure' he said, fake smile plastered on his face
He bid them goodnight and made his way out into the night, leaving the two women behind and mentally spending every one of those $10,000 he'd just made. It was going to be a hell of a weekend!
Sara watched as Lydia slowly opened up the paper package, revealing the beautiful medallion which depicted a woman's face, looking sideways – similar to a Camay. Insurance recovery was a business like any other but both Sara and Lydia had originally been attracted to their jobs because of their love and appreciation of beautiful art and it was always a privilege to be able to handle a recovered item and spend a few minutes admiring it before having to put it into storage.
The protocol was simple. A preliminary report was filed and the item was brought up to the 38th floor for safe storage while it was authenticated and eventually reunited with its owner. In the case of museums or galleries, it always took several days, even weeks, for the transfer to take place as paper work was exchanged and safe transportation was arranged. At any given time, there might be dozens of very expensive pieces stored in the building and Sterling Bosch took great care in keeping the items safe.
Sara had begun on the report even before the return of her underlings, filling out such things as date and time of recovery, name of investigator and supervisor and other sundry details; all that was left was a cursory account of the takedown. Once the item was processed, the investigator would proceed to writing up a more detailed report (the thorn in every investigator's side) which would make its way to Sara's office and eventually up the line to the bigwigs.
The women sat huddled in Sara's office as Lydia dictated and her boss typed away at her computer; they made a great team. The younger woman stopped on two occasions as she caught her breath, dealing with more contractions and Sara winced as she heard her friend's breathing waver.
'Is Sam picking you up?' Sara asked, concerned
'Yeah, I texted him. He should be here soon' responded Lydia
'Needless to say, your leave of absence begins immediately' said Sara, her voice serious
'But -' Lydia began
'No, buts' answered Sara, sounding more like a mom than a boss 'You're done. Go home and nest'
Lydia smiled; she knew Sara was right. As much as she was nervous and apprehensive about the next stage of her life, she couldn't put off the inevitable any longer.
Sara glanced at the clock; it was almost nine thirty and she didn't want to keep Leroy waiting any longer than necessary. Lydia insisted on going along and finishing the job and between contractions, they made their way to the elevator on the 31st floor where their offices were located and headed up to the 38th where they would bring this chapter of the recovery to its appropriate end.
WCWCWC
The three men made their way up 47th Street towards the building which housed the offices of Sterling Bosh. Their informant had been clear: the security guard was on duty until 8:00. After that, it was simply a matter of disarming the security system which Pete felt reasonably comfortable doing. There was a chance that even disarmed, the alarm was rigged to notify police of a break-in; at least, there wouldn't be a loud, shrill ringing bell in their ears as they worked. They had agreed to be in and out in the time it took for the 11th precinct to react to the warning. Pete had timed the route from the nearest precinct to the offices of Sterling Bosh on three separate occasions and he knew exactly how much time they had to do their smash and grab before the police intervened.
Of course, neither he nor his brother were connoisseurs of fine art but they would have to go by instinct and grab as much loot as they could comfortably carry in one trip. Fortunately, he knew that bigger didn't mean better or more expensive so they had agreed to target jewels or smaller items. He could feel the blood rushing in his ears as they got closer; this was such a rush. They'd already begun to fence some of the items from their previous bust and the money had been very good, indeed; a fact that urged him on in wanting to repeat the experience.
He glanced nervously at his kid brother; he was a bit of a loose cannon, a worrier and too much of a soft heart for his own good. That was okay, Pete would show him the ropes and make sure he was safe. He'd promised their mom on her deathbed that he'd take care of his little brother and making him independently wealthy seemed like a good place to start.
TBC
