Visily Romani had been here.
Visily Romani had done this.
Visily Romani had left a trail, and Kat had followed. She’d been more determined than Uncle Eddie, and braver than her father, and more clever than the cleverest minds at Scotland Yard. She had come so far, and standing there, watching her cousin drag four priceless paintings through the air and into the heating duct, it should have been the proudest moment of her life. But all Kat could do was stare and say, “It’s not here.”
She traced the raised black letters of the business card.
“Kat.” Nick’s voice was in her ear. His hand tugged gently on her arm. “Kat, it’s time.”
Time, the greatest thief of all. So Kat didn’t stop to ponder the question of the fifth painting’s fate.
Instinct and breeding and a lifetime’s worth of training were taking over as Kat ran to the empty hook on the wall and replaced the final frame.
She turned and saw Gabrielle dragging Raphael’s Prodigal Son by a cable, easing it inside the heating duct just as Simon yelled, “Guys, you are out of time. Get in or—”
“Here!” Nick screamed. He cupped his hands, ready to boost her up to reach the vent, but Kat didn’t take his offer.
Instead she reached down and picked up the burgundy blazer and tie where Nick had left them. As she ran her hand over the small, custom-made patch that Gabrielle had hand-sewn over the pocket, she found the words she’d said to Hale coming back to her. “Why are you doing this, Nick?”
“Guys!” Simon warned.
“Why, Nick?” she asked, moving closer. “Just tell me . . . why.”
“I . . . I needed a job.”
“No,” Kat said simply. She shook her head and, without wasting another second, clutched the blazer to her chest with her left hand and grabbed the wire’s end with her right. And suddenly she was flying, rising through the air toward the vent.
Once she was securely inside, she looked back at Nick, standing on the ground beneath her.
“Throw me the cable, Kat,” he said, staring up at her with an unwavering gaze, and Kat realized she hadn’t seen eyes like that since Paris—since the day Amelia Bennett had come to take Bobby Bishop to jail.
“You look like her, you know?” she said, staring down at him.
“Kat,” he said again, harsher now. “Throw down the cable.”
“I should have seen it sooner. I’m pretty sure Hale saw it right away.” She laughed, despite the sirens and the pressure and the blood rushing to her head as she peered down. “I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“Kat, throw down the—”
“Taccone likes to threaten people, did you know that? Typical stuff, really. Innuendos . . . threatening pictures . . . And when I looked at the ones of my dad, I saw you in them— in the background. Were you following him, Nick? Is that why you followed me?” Kat asked. She didn’t wait for him to answer. “I bet you’d been planning to help your mom catch my dad by getting close to me for a long time.”
“Kat!” Gabrielle’s voice echoed in the distance. She could hear her cousin struggling with the four priceless paintings as they banged against the thin tin walls of the shaft. But still she didn’t move.
“How long has your mom been leading the investigation of my dad, Nick?”
He looked down at the ground and admitted, “A while.”
“And so she drags you with her all over the world, and somewhere along the way you got sucked into the family business?” She looked at the boy who might have helped her, or might have betrayed her, but had certainly lied to her. And yet she couldn’t help saying, “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” She scooted farther into the shaft. “Maybe you should try boarding school!”
As she inched deeper into the ductwork, Nick called out, “I thought you were retired!”
And something in his voice, or maybe just the moment, made Kat smile. She turned and leaned out of the vent one final time. “Why are you doing this, Nick?”
“Because . . .” He paused, searching for words. “Because I like you,” he said, but Kat didn’t believe him.
At that moment a new siren began to wail—a different, deafening sound.
“Kat,” Nick said again, stepping forward, reaching up for help, but in that instant, red laser lights flashed over the grate’s opening. The cool blue light of the Romani Room was replaced by a bright red glow. Nick glanced toward the doors as if he could hear the guards coming.