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Nikki snickered as Audrey gasped. “You are such a bad influence on everyone.”
“Me? I did nothing,” Nikki scoffed.
They meandered through the crowd, smiling and nodding politely. Every time a man seemed to take an interest, Nikki slid an arm around London. It was enough to get them to back off.
“This way,” Nikki murmured. The library door was open, but it didn’t look like anyone else from the party had drifted in there. “You’re my lookout.”
“What exactly does a lookout do?”
“Watch for people and distract them so I can do my thing.”
Chatting people up was something she was good at. It brought her back to the first job she had done with Nikki and Audrey. All she had to do was talk with a maid after chasing a dog across a lawn.
At least there, though, she had a reason. Standing in a hallway without someone to talk to looked suspicious.
As if reading her mind, Nikki’s voice whispered through the comm, “It’ll be fine. Smile pretty.”
So, she did as she was told. In her ear, Nikki mumbled, “I hope you all know how much this still goes against my thieving heart. To have my hands on this painting and leave it.”
London snickered. She’d heard the same version of this comment from Nikki repeatedly on many jobs.
Nikki had been in there a couple of minutes when a man started pulling a woman down the hall. He looked vaguely familiar, but London had no idea where she might know him from. She straightened as the woman swatted at the man. She clearly had had too much to drink.
“Let go of me,” the woman sputtered.
“Is everything all right?” London asked.
“It’s fine. Thank you. I’m just helping my wife to bed.” He looked around the hall. “This part of the house isn’t open for the party.”
London smiled again. “I just finished a call. It’s a bit chilly outside to try to talk.” Turning her attention to the woman, she asked, “Is this your husband?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“All right then. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” As the conversation registered, London realized the man looked familiar because he owned the damn house and the painting Nikki was messing with right now.
“What kind of party do you think I throw, miss?”
“One can never be too careful, Mr. Peters.”
He eyed her suspiciously but said nothing as he returned to his previous task of whisking his wife off to bed.
Once they were out of her line of sight, she stuck her head in the doorway to the library. “Ready?”
Niki popped out from behind the door. “Yeah. I was just waiting for them to leave.”
“I think we need to get out of here before he comes back and starts asking more questions.”
Nikki waved. “It’s fine. I mean, next time, you might want to pay closer attention to the dossier that Audrey puts together. Then you might’ve recognized his wife.”
“But if I hadn’t questioned her, he might’ve wanted to talk more to me instead of just being offended.”
“Good point,” Nikki admitted. “It didn’t sound like a ploy.”
“Oh, it wasn’t. I started talking to him before I realized who he was and then I had to go all in.”
Nikki laughed. “Our ride should be here in a minute. I might just make a thief out of you yet.”
“No thanks. I’m good with my art.”
