Page 55 of Forging Caine

I turned the device over in my hand and pressed the Lock button. A small red light flashed. Clicking Unlock, two flashes. “Recording indicators?”

Elliot nodded. “Kelsey will give you her number. The second you make any plans to meet Fiori, you call me and if you can’t reach me, call her. You’ve been in danger too many times over the last year, and I don’t want to take any risks right now.”

“None of us do,” said Nathan.

From the moment I’d met Pasquale Fiori, I’d felt there was something off with him. The bodyguards, the superyacht, the way he’d originally said Antonio would owe him a favor for helping me. But him being involved with the smuggling ring Nathan had been talking about since August hadn’t occurred to me that beautiful summer day. That he was involved in some sort of illegal activities, sure, but not that.

“Wait.” I tapped my fingers against my forehead. Memories flashed through my brain as pieces of a puzzle I didn’t know I had to solve were falling into place. Nathan telling me about the smuggling ring. Adjusting a claim at Nathan’s house, where he had reference books about the Gardner Museum Heist. Elliot telling me there were whispers about Johannes Vermeer’sThe Concert, which was stolen during that heist.

Holy shit. Goosebumps exploded up and down my arms. “You think he’s bringing usThe Concert, don’t you?”

Nathan’s guilty glance toward Elliot told me everything I needed to know.

“You think that’s why he brought us the fake Ter Borch?” I raised fingers as I hit the big three reasons. “Same country. Same period. Same size. It was a test because it’s so similar?”

Elliot shrugged, but I’d known him long enough to spot the tiny twitch of his lips. “No one knows where it went after the heist, except the people who took it. How many hands did it change since then?”

“But the Ter Borch was a forgery. With a sketch ofThe Concertunderneath. What if the actual test was to find out how good his forger is?”

“In the end,” said Elliot. “These are the things we’re hoping you’ll find out.”

“Do you suspect Fiori’s at the top of the smuggling ring? Is he the one you’ve been going after this whole time?”

“That’s none of your business.” Kelsey stood and retrieved the empty box the key fob had been in. “You’re an informant, not a member of the—”

“We’re still not sure.” Elliot’s disapproving gaze fell on Kelsey, making it clear who was in charge. “At a minimum, he’s a buyer who most of the pieces go to. A massive collector. We’ve located houses in Corsica, Miami, and Hong Kong, plus a warehouse in Brazil. His holdings, businesses, everything we and Interpol have been able to get their hands on is a maze. We have a team of analysts combing through details, but he’s either legitimate or Fiori’s team is better than mine.”

Nathan sat forward, swiveling his chair toward me. “We originally suspected Antonio‘s uncle was a major player. I still think he originally was, before his efforts to get out of the smuggling business.”

Elliot scratched his goatee. “There are other parties we’re watching closely—a museum director from Amsterdam and a couple of antiquities dealers in Brasília—but the only person we’ve got reliable details from so far is a former chef of Giovanni’s.”

“Wait.” My hands shot up to stop him. “The chef who poisoned Giovanni?”

Antonio told me Giovannigot rid ofthe chef. We’d thought that meant he was dead.

Kelsey’s lips had tightened so much they should have turned blue. “Elliot, this isn’t appropriate.”

Elliot rounded on her uncharacteristically. “This is my case, not yours. I decide what’s appropriate formyresources.” Or maybe itwascharacteristic, and I’d simply never seen it before? “Samantha has proven herself repeatedly, so she’s getting the information she’s earned.”

“Earned?” Kelsey snapped back. “No. Intel about what she’s about to face, sure, but not this. She doesn’t get this kind of clearance.”

She’d said doesn’tget, not doesn’thave. Was Kelsey one of the people preventing Elliot from obtaining my security access?

Nathan said, matter-of-factly, “Kelsey’s right.”

Elliot took one slow breath and returned to his normal pulling-all-the-strings self. Knowing he’d started with the Clandestine Service put a different spin on how well he normally controlled his emotions. “This case has been a challenge, but I have a feeling if we can take down Fiori and remove his money from the equation, the landscape will change dramatically.”

And once again, it was on my shoulders. Well, mine and Antonio’s. For the first time, he was all-in with me. Maybe Samantha Ferraro. “Is it all art and antiquities?”

There was a knock on the door and Harry Bell, one of my SIU co-workers, stuck his head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but—Special Agent Skinner, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Kelsey flipped her laptop shut. “This is a closed-door meeting.”

I was officially late. I didn’t do late. “I’ll be right there, Harry.”

Harry didn’t pay me any attention, instead smiling at Elliot, who rounded the table to shake Harry’s hand. “Are you here for Roger’s case? Our fraudulent claims? Or maybe about the Scotts?”

“I’m poaching,” Elliot said.

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