ELEVEN

I STEPPED OFF the bus a block from Lisa’s pawnshop. All the stores were closed for the night. The streets were empty. Some of the streetlights had burned out. I knew how they felt.

It was dark inside the Silver Lode. I knocked on the door. There was no movement inside. I waited and knocked again.

Behind me I heard the purr of an engine. Lisa was sitting behind the wheel of an expensive-looking truck with black windows.

“Change of venue,” she said. “Let’s do this at Kidd’s.”

I climbed into the passenger seat and set my bag on the floor behind me. “Nice car,” I said.

“It beats riding the bus, doesn’t it?”

“I like the bus.”

Lisa laughed. “Of course you do, Ali. You’ve always been cheap. You could’ve made so much more money if you’d treated yourself better.”

“I treat myself fine, Lisa. And there’s always a cost for nice things.”

“Whatever. Do you have the photos?”

“Some of them.”

“Where are the rest?”

“Still in their cases.”

“So you didn’t complete the job.”

“You never expected me to,” I said.

Lisa stared straight ahead, but a smile crept over the corners of her mouth. “What could you possibly mean?” she said.

“I mean the police showed up. And I don’t know if you sent them there or if they were onto the job some other way. I wasn’t in the place that long before they were.”

“But you got away,” Lisa said. “How did you do it? It’s impossible to climb out of there, isn’t it?”

“I never reveal my secrets,” I said.

Lisa parked behind the restaurant. It was almost closing time. There were only a few customers inside. One of them was Max. A cup and an empty pot of coffee sat on the counter in front of him.

“He’s been here for three hours,” Dean said to me. “Coffee only. He didn’t even order dessert.”

“He hasn’t done anything, has he?”

“Just sat there,” Dean said.

I hugged Dean and told him it was good to see him. “I need to talk to Lisa in the back. After that I’ll help you clean up, okay?”

Dean nodded and went back to wiping down the counter.

In the office I put the case down on the desk. Lisa pushed me aside. She opened it and took out the photos, which were sitting at the very top of the case.

“Excellent work,” she said, holding them up to the light to make sure they were real. “This might even be better than having all ten. The art gallery will want the full set. They’ll probably pay a fortune for these.”

“Why did the police get to Collins’s place so quickly?” I asked.

“They knew I wanted the photos,” Lisa said, still staring at them. “Max tried to get them for me once before. The building security thought he was just a hockey fan who wanted an autograph. But that cop Kushida, he knows Max works for me.”

“You didn’t tell me the police were watching,” I said.

“You didn’t need to know that, Ali.”

I changed into a white kitchen smock and put a white cap on my head. Lisa zipped up the case.

“We had a deal,” I said. “You leave Dean and me alone. Right?”

“Ali, I would never hurt your brother. And I’d never ask you to do something you didn’t secretly want to. Admit it. You enjoyed this, didn’t you?”

I said nothing. My leg hurt, I felt beyond tired, and I was still worried that Phil had caught a glimpse of me in the apartment on the security camera at Ty’s apartment. But I did feel alive. I hated to admit that she was right.

“I won’t need to bother you again,” Lisa said. “You’ll come to me. You can put on all the kitchen whites you want, Ali, but you’re a born thief. You’ll always be a thief. And you’ll always need someone like me.”

She left. I helped Dean mop the floor and clean the grill. As I did I wondered how right Lisa was. Could I really give up something I was so good at, something I enjoyed?

I guessed I’d have to find out.

An hour after closing, the restaurant was spotless. Dean was adding up the day’s receipts in his office. I put away the last load of dishes. There was a knock on the door so loud that it nearly made me break a plate.

I fixed my hair under the cap before unlocking the door.

“Any chance of a last-minute coffee?” Phil Kushida asked.

I poured what was left into a takeaway cup. “Busy night?”

“Pretty busy, yeah. A few hours ago someone broke into the home of Ty Collins. He’s a hockey player.”

“I don’t watch much hockey,” I said.

“Ty collects photos. Have you heard of Jane Brick? He owns some rare photos of hers. They’re worth a lot of money.”

“How can a photo be worth money?” I asked. “Can’t you just make another one with the…what do you call it? The negative?”

“If you have the negative,” Phil said. “These are one of a kind. Probably worth at least a million.”

I whistled. “That’s a lot.”

“Someone tried to steal them tonight.”

“Tried to?” I said.

“Looks like we got there in time. The thief ran away. Climbed away, more like it. You won’t believe it. He or she climbed from the thirtieth floor to the roof.”

“Crazy,” I said. “Did you catch him?”

Phil looked closely at me. “I have an idea who he is. Or she. The security footage at the door shows someone dressed as a window-repair person. A witness says she saw a woman in the alley next door.”

My heartbeat had tripled. I tried to look casual and kept putting away cups and plates.

“The witness only caught a glimpse of our thief,” Phil said. “She says the person has silver hair. Do you know anyone like that? A woman with silver hair who could climb a building like that? Or maybe a woman with hair dyed silver?”

I stopped. He was going to ask me to take off the kitchen cap. He’d see my hair. That would be it.

Phil pointed at my shirt and cap. “That uniform,” he said. “It’s a good fit on you.”

“Thanks,” I said, stunned.

“Thank you for the coffee, Ali. Stay out of trouble.”

“You too,” I said. But the door was already closing. Phil waved goodbye.