Thick as Thieves
Page 19
A shadow passed over the wall as someone left the room.
“Was that your roommate?”
“Not exactly.” My sister smiled. “It’s Kai. He came down here for a visit. He’s the sweetest.”
Oh. Well then.
Haylee leaned in closer to her computer. “The people who had you and that guy… Were they working with the guy who … who…” Her words caught in her throat as the memories flooded back.
“Yeah. They’re all gone now though. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“Molly, it was so scary. How can you live in that world?”
“It doesn’t usually go like that.”
Haylee nodded. “I won’t tell Mom your secret, I promise.”
I put my pinky finger close to the monitor, and she did the same.
“Love you, sis.”
“Love you, too.”
A few minutes after I closed my laptop and set it aside on my bed, my doorbell rang. It was raining even harder outside as I skipped down the stairs. I peered out my kitchen window, trying not to step on the shards of plate.
I unlocked the door in a hurry and whipped it open, revealing Rhys in drowned rat form. Drowned rat or not, he somehow pulled it off. His hair was matted to his head, and water trickled down his face, down his neck and onto his soaked white shirt. His jeans and shoes were drenched. His chest heaved like he’d been running. His beard had filled in a bit—he obviously hadn’t shaved since I saw him last.
“I can see your nipples through your shirt again.”
He didn’t respond. He didn’t even wipe away the raindrops collecting on his long, dark eyelashes. He just stood there.
I stepped out into the rain. “Are you alright?”
“Goddammit,” Rhys whispered. He let out a long, exhausted sigh as a plump raindrop slid off his chin. “I’m in love with you.”
THANK YOU FOR READING
Thank you so much for reading Molly Miranda: Thick as Thieves. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, iBooks or the inside of a sketchy bathroom stall. Ya know, wherever. I would appreciate it. Your positive vibes would really help me out.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Picasso painting that Molly and Rhys are after in this book is fictional. However, if it were real, it would’ve been painted during Picasso’s cubist period.
One of the most famous stolen paintings in history shows up in this book: Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee. It’s the artist’s only seascape and he even included himself among the sea-tossed sailors aboard. It’s a beautiful and dark artwork. This painting was among the many stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. The Concert by Vermeer, also featured in this book, was also taken that night and never recovered. Five artworks by Degas, one by Manet and a handful of other pieces were taken that night, culminating in the biggest art theft in history.
The history of art theft is a strangely fascinating subject. If you’re interested in reading more about stolen art, I recommend these books:
Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World’s Most Coveted Masterpiece by Noah Charney
The Thefts of the Mona Lisa by Noah Charney
Noah Charney has several books on the subject of stolen art. It’s kind of his shtick. He did a TEDTalk in 2012 on the subject of art crime that you can watch on YouTube.
The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser
The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury
Museum of the Missing: A History of Art Theft by Simon Houpt
Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by Anthony M. Amore and Tom Mashberg
If you’re interested in forgery specifically, I recommend watching the documentaries Art & Craft (2014) and Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery (2014).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jillianne Hamilton is a writer and graphic designer. She studied Journalism in college and her writing has been published in The Truro Daily News, The Sackville Tribune-Post, Macleans OnCampus and the PEI Writes 2013 Anthology. Molly Miranda: Thief for Hire was short-listed for the 2016 Prince Edward Island Book Award. Jill grew up in Nova Scotia and now lives in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on Canada's east coast with her husband.
You can follow Jillianne on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or on her website.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THANK YOU FOR READING
AUTHOR’S NOTE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR