Get Lost (14 page)

“Me too,” my father concurs.

Switching gears, Mom hums. “Are you all packed for your flight in the   morning?”

“Almost.”

“It’s so hard to think that, almost eighteen years ago, I was blessed with a precious darling like you.” The words cause my father to give her a look that raises a red flag to me. “Well, let’s go.”

“We’ll be home late tonight,” my father reminds me. “Just go ahead and put your suitcases out here by the front door, so I can load them into the car in the morning, all right?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t stay out too late.”

“I won’t.”

“And don’t misplace your plane ticket.”

“I won’t.”

“Remember to set your alarm.”

“I will.”

“And…”

“Oh, give it a rest,” my mother fusses as they head toward the front door.

“Any more to remember and she’ll probably forget.”

I stand and escort them over to the front door. Staring at my mother, I admire the way our soft features match, her sweet smile that always projects a loving demeanor, and the confidence that radiates from her, something I think I’ve finally learned to do myself. I lean in and wrap both my arms around her for a long hug.

Afterward, I pull away and look at my father. His attitude toward me lately has begun to change in a way I’m not a 100 percent sure how to handle. While I still see the loving, playful, and caring man who raised me to be independent and follow wherever the wind takes me, I’ve begun to see a man who resembles more of a warden with chains and locks that I didn’t know existed. I place my arms around him, hug him tightly, and let out a soft sigh.

Pulling away, I swallow a few tears in my throat and smile. “Have a great time. I love you both.”

Not sensing anything is wrong, my mother says, “I love you too.”

She prances toward the front door, while my father lingers for a minute. “Peyton, are you sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?”

Bravely, I ask, “Is there something you want to tell me?”

His patent leather dress shoe taps the floor for a moment. “I love you. Remember that.”

I nod and watch the two of them leave, knowing the life I once knew and trusted just disappeared with them.

Over the course of the next few hours, I am a busy bumblebee preparing more than I ever have in my entire life. Not only do I make sure my room is tidied up with everything on display in a showcase manner, but I take the time to carefully decide what it is that’s valuable enough for me to take. Once I’m done with that, I take a long, hot shower to help focus my mind, listen to a classical piano station on my phone, and center myself, knowing I’m about to commit the biggest crime I’ve ever attempted. I take my time applying makeup and slipping into my cocktail dress, knowing that, if the slightest detail is out of place, things could unravel like a poorly knitted blanket.

A few minutes before seven, I smile proudly to myself. While placing conventional items such as lip gloss, perfume, and a makeup compact into one little, black purse, I’m loading an identical one with the tools every good  thief needs.

Hearing a soft knock on the door, I grab both bags and answer it. Justin is smiling sweetly with a rose in his hand that matches the deep red shirt underneath his black jacket.

“Dastardly.” I shake my head slowly. “That’s how you look.”

“And, that’s bad?”

“In this situation? Yes.”

“The red’s a little much?”

“A bit.”

He holds up a finger to me, dips his finger into a small pouch in his inner coat pocket, gives his shirt a tug, and it instantly changes to a bright blue. I shake my head, and he tugs once more, so it’s gray. “Better?”

“Much. How the hell did you do that?”

“A little extra fairy dust does quite a few things.”

“I’ve never seen you use that trick before.”

“I actually take pride in the way I look and like the work and effort into getting dressed. However, as we are on a tight schedule, I used a backup plan. You     ready?”

“Everything in place?” Once I receive a nod, I grin, taking the flower, “Then, it’s show time.”

Locking the apartment, I adjust the jewel around my neck and pull up on the straps of my black cocktail dress as Justin sighs. “I know tomorrow’s your birthday.”

Slightly annoyed, I reply, “You and everyone else.”

“I got you a gift.” A small velvet box slides out of his pocket. “I know it’s not much, but…”

“Did you buy this or steal it?”

In an offended tone, he answers, “Bought it.”

“With stolen money?”

“I…well…I mean, does it…you see…”

“You sound like me.” I chuckle playfully, nudging him. “I was just giving you a hard time.” Opening the box, I see a small, silver bracelet with several silver, red, and pink stars and one gold cloud shape. Perplexed, I ask, “What’s with the  gold one?”

“After tonight, you won’t remember my face. You won’t remember my name. In fact, after we leave tonight, I’m just one more line in the Peter Pan fairy tale. But, I won’t forget you, and even though you won’t know why you have this bracelet or where it came from, I know I’m still a part of your world. That gold cloud represents the nebula you saw in the sky. It’s the portal to Neverland.”

Holding back the urge to tell him I love him, I allow him to fasten the bracelet around my wrist before we leave. The two of us load ourselves in his car and take off to the For the Love of Art Museum.

Once we arrive at the magisterial building, I pull my invitation out and hand it to the front door security. I don’t recognize any of the new, extra guards. Most of the normal guards look like the most they could intimidate is a twelve year old girl lost on a field trip, but these guards…they look like they arrest guys like Justin every day between reloading their machine guns. This could make things a little harder…A little anxiety attempts to set in, but I kick it back, knowing there’s no room for doubt, because doubt creates error. Immediately, the two of us are asked to walk through the metal detectors before security searches through my purse.

“I can’t believe you refused to take me to dinner!” I snip at Justin, while security rifles through my purse.

“I thought you had eaten.” His answer is followed by me tapping my foot impatiently, pretending as if I didn’t hear security tell me my purse is fine.

“God! I swear you’re such an inconsiderate…”

“Miss!” The guard waves my bag at me, “You’re clear.”

“Oh.” I take it from him. Sheepishly, I giggle. “Sorry. Thank you.”

The two of us take hands and pretend to continue the spat until we’re at a safe distance. In a low whisper, he says, “You know, I would’ve gladly taken you to dinner, right?”

Chuckling, I shake my head. “Stay focused please.”

“Just saying. I mean, I would have. I…”

“Will you hold my purse? I need to go to the ladies’ room.” I state loudly enough for close ears to hear.

“Of course.” He nods, takes the black bag, and lingers  outside  the bathroom.

Slowly, I turn around and slip out the side door, where Aiden’s disabled the alarm. My heels take me swiftly to Justin’s car, where I grab the other black purse from under the front seat and head back up the stairs past the front doorman and into the security area.

Preparing to bypass security, one of the guards attempts to stop me. “Miss, you need to get your bag checked.”

Luckily, the other one pipes up, “No, she’s fine. I checked her earlier. She was the one fighting with her boyfriend because he didn’t take her to dinner. Jerk.”

“Right?” my offended voice is followed by me continuing to move ahead.

The remotely cute guard speaks up again. “I thought you were already inside.”

“I was, but I had to get something for a feminine problem.” The words straighten both security guards up because, for some reason, guys of all ages hate to discuss lady products.

“Oh, go on ahead.” They usher me in past the others. Strolling back by the bathroom area where I left Justin   lingering, he chimes in, “Is everything okay, babe?”

“Just peachy.” I wink and adjust the bag in my hand.

The two of us begin strolling around enjoying the displays and looking for cues from Eiden, who is dressed as waiter, and Aiden, who is part of the custodial staff.

An announcement is made that the big speech of the night is about to take place, which means our window is finally here. Justin disappears before me into the men’s restroom and drops an “Out of order” sign on it, which is when I stroll over to Aiden.

“Excuse me, sir, there’s a problem with the ladies’ room. Can you help me?” I politely   ask.

“Yes, miss.” He nods and strolls in that direction.

The two of us linger there until Eiden blocks the small hallway as he drags a tray of food by. At the perfect moment, I drop to the ground and give the door a single knock, and Justin crawls out of the men’s room. The two of us crawl at Aiden’s feet into the custodial room. Immediately, he locks the door and blocks it with the cart. He yanks a blanket off what looks like a box of chemicals but is actually a computer system.

“We’re here,” he whispers. “I’m closing all security codes and passwords for the next three minutes. You have that long to get here.” His finger lands on another point on the screen. “Eiden’s already slipped the decoy you repainted last week in the storage room. Once there, Justin, it’s your job to draw security’s attention. Peyton, you have to get those switched in five minutes flat. Remember to be careful when peeling and   sealing.”

“Just like we practiced.” I wink.

Unlocking the back door, which leads to a secured set of doors and flights of stairs, Aiden gives us the go ahead, and we take off. Once down the stairs, we storm through two sets of separate doors, take a left, another right, and go down another flight of stairs, this time having to slide past one of the main security offices. Within the window given to us, we arrive at the mark on time.

Justin pulls out a duplicate key to the storage room and slides out a tube that contains the painting I created. He hands it to me along with a small set of tools.

“It’s all you.”

With a wink, I slide him a small bottle of alcoholic smelling body spray and pull an access card out of my purse to swipe myself into the room where the goods are waiting. Cautiously, I wait until I hear Justin’s sad attempt to be drunk and disorderly, then he heads toward the security office.

“This is the worst parking garage ever!” he yells from two flights of stairs up.

I stare at the painting in its protective glass case. Shaking my head in wonder that anything is worth this much trouble, I slide a glove out of my purse, a key card, and an access code. Quickly, I swipe the card, plug in the code, and slide on the glove to place it onscreen. The glass slides open, and I grab the painting.

As rehearsed, I do my best to try to slide it out of its fame. For some reason, no matter how hard I try, the stupid thing won’t come out, and I feel panic set in. There was no plan for if it didn’t slide out of the frame. How could we have not created a backup plan? See, I knew these old paintings had more to them! Trying to remain calm, I feel all along the gold and ruby-colored frame. Suddenly, I notice the smallest piece of the frame at the top is missing. In disbelief, I place my hand on my necklace, remove it from around my neck, and pop out the ruby piece. Placing it carefully into the empty space, the frame unlocks, and the painting is mine for the taking.

“Thanks, Dad.” I smile at the necklace that was given to me when I was born. “Hope you understand.” Excitedly, I slide it over to the side and prepare the duplicate to take its place. Gently, I use a handheld torch to help age it along with the gloss and seal, a process that feels natural, thanks to the weeks of practice I was lucky enough to endure. As soon as I’m through, I stick it in the frame and pull the ruby out of place, which forces the frame to snap back together. Placing the ruby back in my necklace and the necklace around my neck, I do my best to hide my crooked grin.

I put the painting back on the display, hit the button to seal it closed once more, and stare at the object standing between me and the most important decision I’ve ever made.

With a quick motion before I’m interrupted, I pull out the smaller tube I slipped into the bigger one to hold the decoy painting. I shove a packaging label on both of them before sliding Sous Clef in the tube. Once it’s secure, I take my knife to the large case and carefully unlatch the second, secret decoy I taped to the inside of it. As soon as it’s free, I slip the lid on and place my tools back in my purse.

Afterward, I put my hair up in a high bun, place a pair of square glasses on my face, and rip off the bottom portion of my dress, causing it to appear to be much shorter than it was before. Lastly, I drape a security pass around my neck and pick up the cases.

Opening the door, I see Aiden wiping off all fingerprints from both sets of doors. With a simple nod, I slide the large case and ripped part of my dress onto the bottom of his cart, as he hastily tosses a clipboard on top moments before security comes down to find us.