Crushed (3 page)

Sophie's heart dropped. She felt like he'd just slapped her. "You stole the Dali painting?" She tried to ignore his comment about her parents. If he really was a thief, it was up to her to stop him.

"Do you know the story of this particular painting? It's one of my favorites." He paused, glancing back towards the staircase, as if judging how much time he had left. "In 2006 four paintings were stolen from the Museu da Chácara do Céu in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stolen paintings were works by Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Claude Monet. By using a carnival parade that was conveniently passing the museum, the thieves were able to vanish into the crowd."

"What's your point?" Sophie took a careful step towards him, wondering if she should try and forcefully get the painting back.

"Art thieves are amazing, aren't they? It's a shame that this painting was recovered. It would've been better if it had stayed stolen." He turned towards the half-open window, and pushed it all the way open.

"You'll kill yourself!" Sophie warned. "That jump is impossible!"

Jack grinned, shaking off her concern. He paused for a moment, and dug out a card from his pocket. He laid it on the floor, and slid it towards her.

"If you want to learn more about your parents, look me up." He pushed himself onto the windowsill, and his legs dangled outside.

Sophie picked up the card, and noticed how it had the name Robert Locksley printed on the top. Beneath it was an address and a phone number.

"Some thief you are. I could give this to the police, and you'd be finished." Sophie wondered if he was actually clever, or really, really stupid.

"We both know you won't do that, Sophie." His eyes locked with hers. "If you turn me in, you'll never understand anything about who you really are."

Sophie felt like he was challenging her. "Oh, and you know who I am?"

"You'll have to wait and see." He winked, and his lips curled into a smile. "See you soon, Sophia Parker." He laughed as he pushed off from the windowsill.

Sophie stopped breathing, not believing that he'd actually done it. She rushed towards the window, shoving her head out so that she could see below. Her eyes frantically searched the ground, but she couldn't see any traces of him anywhere.

Just when she thought she was going to die of anxiety, a rough hand jerked her back.

"Identify yourself!" A security guard shouted at her sternly.

Sophie watched the guard with terrified eyes. He had a gun pointed at her, and he looked like he wouldn't think twice about firing it. "S..Sophia Parker." She blustered.

"What are you doing up here?" He released her, not looking convinced.

"I'm…waiting for Professor Brown. I'm a student here." She held up her hands so that he could see she wasn't hiding anything.

The guard examined her suspiciously, glancing out of the window to try and figure out what she'd been looking at.

"Did you see anyone suspicious come through here?" He was still glaring at her.

Sophie paused, wondering if she should turn the stranger in. She wasn't even sure what his real name was, and he was obviously dangerous. However, everything he'd said made her second guess herself. Her curiosity was overflowing, and his comments paired with her grandmother's last note were enough to overcome her better judgment.

"No, I was by myself." She answered, glancing down at the card she'd quickly shoved into her pocket before the guard had noticed.

The guard stared at her for a long moment before spinning around and charging back out of the studio.

Sophie sighed heavily, feeling relieved that he'd believed her half-hearted lie.

She turned her attention back out of the window. No matter how long she tried, she couldn't figure out how he'd done it.

Campus security was already closing off the area, though their attempts were failing. Outside a long crowd of people were marching across the street, waving banners, and posters in the air. It had slipped Sophie's mind that today was the college's annual spring parade, where students joined together to march as chaotically and loudly as they could through the campus. It was the perfect opportunity for them to wildly break free from their busy schedules before exams began, and normally the students' behavior went without punishment. However, today campus security was in no mood for the parade, and were hastily trying to disperse the crowd.

Sophie only smiled as she watched the scene unravel below.

"Parade." She whispered, remembering the story the stranger had told her only a few minutes before. "Of course."

She slipped the card he'd given her out of her pocket, and examined it again. The handwriting was sloppy, as if he'd done it in a hurry. She absentmindedly flipped it over, and to her surprise, there was something written on the back as well.

Until we meet again.

Instead of feeling daunted by the message, Sophie felt exhilarated by it. Whoever this stranger was, he brought with him a world that was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She hadn't planned for him to come, and in no way did he fit into her packed schedule. However, she found that she enjoyed his unexpected presence, and looked forward to the day they would meet again. After all, this wasn't the end.

This was just the beginning.

CHAPTER TWO

In the beginning, I was exhilarated. I was so caught up in his mystery, I barely noticed when he swept me back into the past.

As she stood in front of the door to the thief's house, Sophie wondered if she'd lost her mind.

If she'd been sane, she would've known not to take him up on his offer. She should've turned him in to the authorities when she had the chance, and she should've never, ever, decided to come visit him at the address he'd given her.

After all, her common sense was screaming that this was a bad idea. The thing was, that just made it all the more exciting. This man, who had introduced himself as Jack, but had written the name Robert on his calling card, was everything Sophie wanted him to be. He was different, unexpected, and best of all, he knew about her parents. At least, he said he did. For all she knew he could've been bluffing, but the temptation to ask more had eaten at her until she'd gotten into the cab to come here.

Here being the upper-middle class neighborhood that was located two hours from her college. While Sophie hadn't expected to be coming to his hideout, her expectations had been a bit higher than the seemingly average home she was staring at. It was larger than any house she could afford, though it was still a long shot from the house she'd expected an art thief would live in.

In fact, his house was smaller than almost all of the other houses in the neighborhood. It had the same Victorian style as the others, but it was at least half the size. The house set on the corner of a busy street, though the various trees in the front yard provided sufficient privacy. A tire swing hung from one of the trees nearby, and Sophie noticed three bicycles leaning up against the front porch.

No matter how long she examined the property, nothing seemed to shout "thief". It might've hinted at a wealthy profession like a lawyer, or a doctor, but there was nothing suspicious about it. If anything, it was more average than the other bold houses she'd seen on her way through the neighborhood.

There was no way around the truth. This was not the kind of lair she'd been expecting.

Even though she was twenty-one years old, Sophie had a child-like curiosity towards the stranger. After all, he'd swept into her life and rekindled an interest she'd thought she'd lost since her grandparents had died. For once, her future was the last thing on her mind.

How did he know her? What had happened after he'd jumped out of the window? Had he escaped? Did he know her parents? Was he the person her grandmother had been talking about? Was he really a trained thief?

She'd gotten so carried away with who he might be, she'd daydreamed throughout a weeks worth of classes. Her initial curiosity had been overflowing, but it was only when she'd spoken to Professor Brown that she'd decided to come here.

Apparently, there had been no sign of forced entry when the painting had been stolen, which made the crime seem like an inside job. The thief had disabled the security system on one of the other vaults hidden beneath the building. When Professor Brown had gotten the call that something was wrong, he'd been asked to come help fix the system. However, while he was working just across the hall from where the Dali painting was kept, he hadn't even noticed that it'd gone missing. Five security guards, and numerous security cameras were not enough to capture the thief. No one had seen, heard, or known that they were being robbed until Professor Brown had decided to check on the painting after fixing the security system.

Now that the officials had spent a week examining all of the evidence, they concluded that the thief had tampered with the system so that security would be inclined to fix it. When they were rebooting the system, the thief had snuck in and left without anyone's knowledge. Even the security guards that had been positioned outside of the paintings' fault had not seen him.

Just like Sophie had expected, the parade outside had allowed the thief to slip away without any trouble. However, she was still unsure of how he'd made the jump from the third story. She was willing to believe that he'd survived, as all the evidence was enough to prove that he was skilled…or just really, really lucky.

While she felt guilty for keeping quiet, Sophie also knew that she couldn't force herself to tell. Even though she knew the thief was obviously a criminal, she felt like she didn't want him to get caught. At least, not before she figured him out.

She'd been hesitating at his front door for a good ten minutes. Rather than being scared of what she'd find inside, Sophie felt like she didn't want to be disappointed. She wanted him to be the man in her imagination, but she knew it was highly unlikely that he could live up to her expectations. Her better judgment told her that he'd probably been lying about her parents…but then again, how had he known she'd never gotten to meet them? When they'd passed away she'd been only three years old, and she had no memories of them whatsoever. Her grandparents hadn't even let her see a picture of them, saying that it was better for her to focus on the future instead of feeling bitter about her past.

It was natural for her to feel curious about her parents, but going out of her way like this to learn more about them seemed sketchy. Especially since she'd come to meet someone she'd known for less than a day.

Deciding that waiting any longer would just be wasting time, Sophie pulled up the courage to press the doorbell. She could hear it ring on the other side of the door, and her heart clenched. She glanced around anxiously, wondering if he wasn't home. Just as she was about to give up on waiting, the large oak door creaked open.

"Hello?" A small voice asked her.

Sophie's brain felt like it had turned off momentarily. She couldn't think of what to say to the little boy in front of her. He looked like he couldn't have been older than eight or nine years old, but more than that, he seemed familiar to her.

"Can I help you?" The boy crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Um…Robert…" She shook her head, trying to wipe away her surprise. "Robert Locksley gave me this card." She pulled it out of her pocket, and flashed it before the boy. "Does he live here?"

She was beginning to think that the thief had given her the wrong address on purpose so that he wouldn't be caught. She expected that this wouldn't be the first time a thief had lied for his own good.

"Oh." The boy's face brightened. "You're Sophie! I remember you." He turned around, and dashed down the hallway.

Sophie stepped forward, feeling utterly confused. "Uh…can I come in?" She hesitated at the doorway, not knowing if he'd meant for her to follow.

"Gwyn!" Even though she couldn't see the boy, she could clearly hear his shout. "She came! She came, she came, she came!" He sounded like he'd just woken up to find that it was Christmas morning.

"Who?" A girl's voice replied. Sophie heard someone clumping down the steps inside the house, and immediately felt awkward. She had no idea what was going on.

"Her." The boy replied exasperatedly, like the girl should've already known.

"Oh." The girl replied as she stepped around the corner into the hallway. "It is her."

The young girl had curly black hair and sharp green eyes, which were both identical to the boy's. Sophie suspected they were siblings, but she still didn't know how they fit into Robert's life. The girl, Gwyn, seemed to be almost fifteen years old, and the math didn't add up. Unless they were his siblings…but their appearances were completely different.

"Is something wrong?" A deep voice asked from behind her. Sophie spun around, expecting it to be Robert, but it was yet another stranger. The boy brushed passed her, toting two grocery bags in his hands. He appeared to be around sixteen, with short dirty blond hair, and warm brown eyes.

"It's her." Gwyn responded seriously.

"You owe me ten bucks!" The smallest boy said confidently. "I told you she would come."

"Teddy, have you apologized about her wallet?" The older boy interrupted chidingly.

Teddy stuck out his tongue, and turned to Sophie. "Sorry about almost stealing your wallet. It wasn't really stealing though, 'cause you did get it back." He shrugged off any guilt he might've had.

"Wait…" Sophie began, and her mouth dropped open. She'd thought she'd seen him before. He was the same little boy that had almost stolen her wallet a week before. If it hadn't been for Jack, or rather Robert… "Oh." She continued. "I guess it makes sense now." She wondered if Robert had planned out the whole scene.

"You'll have to forgive him." Gwyn offered out her hand, and Sophie shook it awkwardly. "Rob's just started training him, and he's hard to control." She glared down at Teddy, the perfect image of a scolding sister.

"I'm Rylan." The oldest boy introduced him. "It's nice to finally meet you. We've been expecting you for a long time."

"A…long time?" Sophie's eyes widened as chill bumps raced down her arms.

"Don't worry." Gwyn placed a hand on her arm. "We're not bad people. Your grandmother asked us to look after you."

Sophie examined the three minors, and her frown deepened. "She asked you to take care of me?" These kid's couldn't even take care of themselves…how were they supposed to look after an adult?

"Actually, she asked me." Sophie turned around again, only to see the blue eyed thief staring back at her. He slipped around her to enter his home. "And I asked you all not to butt into my business."

Teddy scowled, crossing his arms. "Sophie's our business too!"

"No, she's not." Robert motioned for them to move down the hallway. He nodded for Sophie to follow as well. "If everything works out, we'll never see her again."

Sophie scowled, not liking the sound of his voice. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

The three kids turned right down the hallway, heading for the open door that led into a kitchen. While they congregated there, Robert turned to Sophie.

"Sorry for making you wait. I had some things to take care of." He motioned for her to follow him down the left side of the hallway to his living room.

"Illegal things?" She asked, smirking.

"Actually, I was helping Rylan shop for groceries." He flashed her a look that asked if she was insane.

"Oh, I wasn't sure what the schedule of a thief would be like." Sophie replied, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

As soon as they entered the living room, Sophie found herself a seat on his long couch. Robert decided to sit across from her in a recliner that she figured was his usual spot.

"So, just to clarify things, what is your real name?" Sophie crossed her legs and leaned back, trying to feign indifference. She didn't want to seem nervous.

"You can call me Robert." He smiled politely, but Sophie didn't return the gesture. She had a sneaking suspicion that Robert wasn't his real name either.

"Okay, Robert, tell me why I'm here."

He sighed, turning towards the doorway where the three kids stood watching them. "Can I help you?" He asked them, ignoring Sophie's last statement.

"Come on!" Teddy complained.