Wyatt - 03 - Death Deal Read Free Page A

other niceties first. Right
you are. He counted on his stubby fingers. One, a weekend warehouse sale.
Two, a racehorse. Three, a private art collection. I need someone who can work
out the angles, bypass security, do a clean job, etcetera, etcetera.

    Wyatt looked at the woman. Whats
Theas role in this?

    A rich, avuncular chuckle later,
Dern said, She put me onto the first job. My little kitten here just happens
to work for a crowd that specialises in your blockbuster style of three-day
warehouse clearance sale.

    The kitten simpered at Dern, then
glanced expressionlessly at Wyatt as Dern went on: To cut costs they only
employ one guard and the takes not collected by armoured car at the end of
each day but after closing time on day three. Could be a couple of hundred
grand in the safe by then. We simply go in before the armoured car gets there.

    Wyatt folded his arms and rested his
back against the wall. Half of the two hundred thousand will be in cheques and
charge-card slips.

    Doubt flickered in Derns face, but
the optimism won out. Still, even a hundred grand is a tidy sum.

    Split four ways, its twenty-five
thousand each. You said a warehouse. Wed have to seal the place. What are we
looking atfour doors, six, ten? Do we know what kind of safe it is? And so on.
Is all that worth twenty-five grand each?

    Thea flushed, as though hed
attacked her, not the idea. She was pretty in a soft, undefined way, but it was
spoiled by a perpetual sourness under the beauty. Wyatt knew that she collected
and harboured injustices, and now shed just found another one. He put some
conciliation into his face and voice and said to her, It shows an instinct for
the type of score that can pay off, though. Im not discounting it totally.

    She smiled at him. Dern saw it and
narrowed his eyes, as if hed picked up a current running between them. He
asserted himself. Like I said, I come up with the ideas. I rely on people like
you to identify the snags. Next job, the racehorse, Almanac

    Harbutt frowned. You want us to fix
a race?

    Dern put up both hands and his big
smile creased his face. No, no, no. I want you to steal the horse.

    Wyatt nodded. This Almanaca big
winner?

    One point six million in four
years, Dern said. A mate of mines got twentieth share in him.

    Insurance?

    Possibly. Or possibly the owners
themselves will fork out to get him back.

    Wyatt looked flatly at Dern. One,
how do we transport him? Two, where do we keep him? Three, how do we look after
him? Four, what if they dont pay?

    Now irritation and resentment were
getting the upper hand in Derns face. Like I said, I deal with the big
picture. Could it be that difficult though? I mean, rent a farmhouse, buy a few
bales of hay.

    Dern, the reason Im alive and on
the outside while my peers are dead or behind bars is that I take the big
picture and look at it dot by dot.

    Ahh, Dern said, dismissing him
with his big right hand. The left, meanwhile, was on Theas bare knee, rubbing
it in a way that looked uncalculated but was intended to tell Wyatt to keep his
eyes to himself and to remind Thea exactly who was buying her dresses and
paying her rent these days.

    The art collection, Wyatt said.

    Definitely an insurance job. Theres
a Western District grazier with a homestead chockers with antiques and original
oil paintings. Old stuff. Old.

    You say that as if you think a
paintings worth something if its an oil and got a signature at the bottom of
it. Id need to view the collection first.

    Now, why doesnt that surprise me?
said Dern. Dont any of the jobs Ive outlined grab you, make the old
heart flutter? He looked at Harbutt. You didnt tell me your mate was a wet
blanket, Mike.

    Wyatt uncoiled from the wall and
unfolded his arms. I havent said no, Dern. Give me the addresses of these
places and Ill check them out. If one looks promising, Ill be in touch. But
that will only be the start. Well need equipment, vehicles, somewhere quiet to
stay. All that costs money. Are you good