“No problem—then we shoot them,” she teased him. “Watch, he’s going to charm us to death. He’ll see us,” she said confidently. “He’ll want to make a good impression on us, to prove he’s above it all.”
They pulled up at the loading dock at the back of the boat. She flashed her badge at the sailors, and a broad smile, and got out of the police boat in bare feet, with her high heels in her hand, and a flash of great legs as she hiked her skirt up to hop aboard. She explained that they were there to see Mr. Stanislas, and needed his help with an investigation of an art theft. She was sure he could guess which one, since it was all over the news by then. Steve let her do the talking as he always did. She looked like a sexy young girl and anything but a policewoman, as the sailors grinned at her, and one of them went to call upstairs while she and Steve waited and chatted with them.
A moment later, the deckhand was back, and said he would take them upstairs. She gave Steve a knowing look, and followed the crew member into an elevator that took them up five floors to the outside bar, where Vladimir was having a glass of champagne with Natasha. Steve and Athena wandered onto the deck, and Athena held out a hand, and thanked him profusely for seeing them. Vladimir gave Natasha a nod, and she stood up. Her face was expressionless, as Steve looked her over admiringly in her skin-tight pink bodysuit that showed every inch of her body, and her breasts. Athena saw her but concentrated on Vladimir, as a stewardess offered them champagne. Natasha quietly went down the stairs to a lower deck, which Athena found interesting and Steve disappointing as she disappeared from sight. Athena checked her watch before she took the champagne.
“When we leave here, we’ll be off duty, so yes, thank you.” She smiled at the stewardess and then at Vladimir, and Steve accepted a glass too. Athena then proceeded to charm him, and had Vladimir laughing on a variety of subjects and then dragged herself back to the art theft, as though it bored her to do it, but she had to at least pretend to do her job. She made it clear that they had only come for the thrill of meeting him and seeing the boat, and he was pleased. But he was nobody’s fool either, and they were both playing a game, and they were good at it.
“The robbery is most unfortunate. I bought one of Luca’s works from them last year. A very handsome piece. I saw one I liked the other night when I was there for dinner.” He knew that was why they had come. “The Lucas are impossible to deal with. They have successfully frozen the market for his work.” He looked contemptuous as he said it.
“Why is that?” she asked innocently.
“To drive up his prices. One day they’ll start selling. They’re establishing the high-water mark now. The art theft won’t hurt them either. It will only make the work more desirable. It could be a clever ploy on their part. People involved in the art world are capable of some very strange, desperate acts. You should explore all of it—the result may surprise you.”
“You don’t think the work was really stolen?”
“It’s hard to say. I don’t know. I just know there are some very odd stories, and characters, in that world, with twisted ideas and complicated motives.”
“You could be right.” She asked him about the boat then, and was fascinated by what he said, and that he was building a new one that would be even bigger, which he told them proudly. They chatted aimlessly for an hour, and then Athena set her glass down and stood up. “I’m sorry we stayed so long. Your hospitality was irresistible.” She smiled at him, and saw him admiring her figure as she turned to Steve.
“Come back anytime,” Vladimir said warmly, and put a hand on her shoulder. “I hope you find the paintings. I’m sure you will. Artwork never stays lost for long. A few paintings do, but not many. And it would be a shame to lose so many of Luca’s works, although it only makes the one I have more valuable.” He laughed as he said it, and Athena thanked him again, as the crew member escorted them back into the elevator, and down to where their boat was waiting. Athena gave them another flash of leg as they got in, and as the police boat pulled away and picked up speed, Vladimir waved to them from the upper deck. Athena waved back, smiling broadly. And then they saw Natasha reappear and stand at the rail with him, and then they both turned and disappeared.
“Holy shit, did you see that girl?” Steve said to her. “She was gorgeous. Who do you think that was? Hired talent or his girlfriend?”
“Better than that, bozo. Probably his mistress. That’s a very special breed. A beautiful bird with clipped wings. Did you see him signal to her to leave? She’s on a very, very short leash and does whatever he wants. There isn’t enough money on the planet to pay me for that job.”
“Well, that was a waste of time,” Steve said, as he leaned back in his seat for the trip back to shore, “but the boat is amazing.” It was like an enormous luxury hotel, or bigger, almost like an ocean liner.
“Not a waste of time,” she said, looking pensive. The broad smile was gone. She was working. The champagne hadn’t slowed her down, and she had only taken a few sips.
“Come on, don’t tell me you think he did it.” Steve laughed at her. “If you think that, you’re crazy. Why would he bother? He can buy anything he wants. Why would he risk prison for an art theft?”
“Because guys like him never get caught. They let someone else do the heavy lifting. And I’m not saying he did it. But he’s got the balls to do it. Whether he did or not remains to be seen. He plays a good game.”
“So do you. I thought you were putting the make on him for a minute.”
“So did he.” She remembered the hand on her shoulder when they left. “Not in a hundred million years. The homeless-looking artist, however—now that’s another story.” She laughed as they approached the dock. “Leave me alone in a room with him for a minute, and I could teach him a thing or two.”
“You don’t think Theo Luca did it, do you?” Steve asked her seriously.
“No, that was just Stanislas’s game, to create a doubt in our minds. He didn’t. Nice try, though.” One of her fellow officers helped her out of the boat at the quai in Antibes, and she managed it without flashing any leg this time, and a minute later she and Steve were back in the car, heading back to the restaurant.
“I thought you said we were going off duty. I have a date tonight.”
“Cancel it. We have work to do,” she said, looking distracted.
“You’re just hot for Luca.”
“Maybe so,” she said, smiling at him, as they headed back to St. Paul de Vence, not to talk to Theo, but to investigate the crime scene again. She had some new ideas she wanted to check out. Steve had already figured out it was going to be a long night. With Athena it always was.