Frank liked to know what it was we were taking so he could figure out how much it was worth. He didn’t care, but he always liked to know. You’d be surprised at how much junk is worth. I mean, some of the ugliest, unlikeliest things are worth more than you’d ever imagine. We took this horrible piece of pottery one time, that we were convinced wasn’t worth our time that ended up being worth almost twenty thousand. Over the years, however, Frank’s gotten good at telling the minute we see something.

“You ever wonder where it goes?” Frank once asked me.

“It goes to Froehmer,” I said.

We actually stole an item twice. Froehmer had hired us to take a painting one time, then about three years later he had us go someplace else for a painting. It was the same one. We didn’t say anything; we figured Froehmer knew. We figured that was his business. Somebody wanted something rare or whatever and asked Froehmer to find it for them and paid him for it. Frank and I figured that must be what Froehmer’s role was. He located the stuff, told us the location, and we gave the stuff to Froehmer. We got paid by the job and Froehmer probably got a fee based on the value of the thing. It probably wasn’t fair, but we didn’t care. We really didn’t. We did all right, Frank and I. I could have made more money working on my own, but I didn’t want to do that. And now that I’d worked with Frank for so long, I couldn’t stand to be alone. I watched the place a while longer, then drove back to the hotel.

Frank was sitting in the almost life-size chair when I got back to the room. “We got nothing to worry about,” I told him. “We can get this whenever you’re ready. I can do it by myself, if you’re not up for it.”

“I’m ready,” Frank said. “But you should have waited.”

“I know. But Froehmer has a deadline.”

“What good is a deadline if we get caught.”

“We’re not going to get caught,” I said. “I told you. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“There was,” he said, meaning the horse.

“You figured it out?”

“I think so,” he said and then didn’t say anything else. I gave him that. Let him keep it for a while. I didn’t really care. Not that much, anyway.

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