Saturday Afternoon – Nick Brady pulled open the museum door. It was so much the kind of place he usually robbed that he involuntarily glanced down and momentarily felt nervous about his bare hands on the stainless handle of the museum doors. Would they dust for prints on these after the heist? Maybe just a cautionary wipe down when he pulled the job.
But now he wasn’t on the job, at least he was only doing some casing as he made his Saturday meeting with the museum director. Behind him, Mrs. Noel Kennedy, the Belle Vue High School art teacher, slipped through the door, giggling and batting her eyelashes. “Why, thank you, Nick. You are such a gentleman.”
“Anything for you, Noel.” Inside, Nick rolled his eyes. Growing up as a kid, he never would imagined how damn much teachers seemed to try to flirt with or sleep with each other.
Noel Kennedy laughed and batted her eyes again. Truthfully, Nick Brady was ’safe’ to flirt with, with just a little spice of danger to him. A wife in prison, and known in their Tucson suburb as being completely faithful to his incarcerated wife Gloria. But had managed to hold onto his job via almost ten years in the district and tenure when she’d been convicted.
The curator of the Modern Art section came running up when he recognized the pair of bespectacled high school teachers. “Oh, Mr. Brady, Mrs. Kennedy, it’s so awesome to see you again.”
Noel smiled and hugged the curator. “Oh, it’s great to see you, too, just out of college and curating at the Phoenix Art Museum!”
“I can’t paint for shit, but I can express an opinion on them.” Neil Douglas waved his hands toward his office. “So what day were you two planning to bring the field trip through? I’ll have to get my good museum guides on duty that day.” “A week from this coming Friday, that gives us enough time to make the rest of the arrangements.” Nick was confident and easy mannered as he followed Neil while scoping the security system. Cameras were inconspicuously mounted at good points that made a total coverage of the gallery if Nick was figuring the panoramic field from their identifiable models right. It would be difficult to not be caught on camera on this one. And with Detective Holcome already aiming at Nick, the connection would be dangerous.
“Oh, Neil, is that a real Van Gogh?” Noel squealed as she approached a painting that was a recent acquisition of the museum.
The young curator smiled proudly. “Yep, it’s on loan from the Louvre for our European Masters exhibition. (more…)
