The Elevating Power Of Art

by Liv Strom

About the Author: Liv Strom is a writer of stories ranging from fantastical to criminal to utterly ridiculous. She is Swiss-Swedish, drinks copious amounts of tea and reads too much of anything she can get her hands on.

Excerpt

Jane and Ricky were drinking at O’Malley’s, as was their usual in-between work routine, though this time the mood was as low as their funds. Their last job had ended badly, but who could have planned on a runaway elephant? Sure, they were robbing a circus, but that was just not a thing an average thief could be expected to handle during a heist. Mitigating circumstances, they called it, but that didn’t help them pay for the third round of drinks, or their debts to people even more unsavoury than themselves. It did, however, put them in an accepting mood when a lanky, dark, fix-foot fellow in a jacket better suited to a lecture hall, and a nose large enough to give elephant flashbacks offered to pay.

He introduced himself as John, the made-up name an apt show of his lack of imagination. When the third round was drunk, he cut to the chase.

“I sometimes work with the Royal Museum of Art. When someone gets ill, or they are busy, they call me in. I’m an art historian and painter, you see.”

Ricky grunted noncommittally. He’d never seen much art, but held out hope that the stranger might spring for a fourth round if he nodded in the right place.

“A week ago they called me to support writing the Certificates of Authenticity for the donations from Belcherly Manor. You’ve heard about Belcherly, right?”

“That’s the one where the old guy croaked and left it all to charity despite the grandson screaming that it’s his?” Ricky said, feeling proud of reading the newspaper once in a blue moon.

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