[Variety Drama] Mobility Scourge

When you know someone for a long time, you will gradually forget how you met, remember more about the process of acquaintance, the days together, Neal and Lucida are like this, they have known each other for too long, so long that the two They have the same habit, so long that they don't even need to collude to know each other's thoughts when they lie.

In St. Louis, Missouri, when they met, Lucida was 12 years old, and Neal was 15 years old. At that time, Lucida was adopted by the 21st or 22nd family. Neal was not called Neal Caffrey at that time, but another name, Danny Brooks .

******

New York, 2004.

"200 million, 200 million, does anyone else want to raise it?"

The man on the stage raised his voice, and quickly glanced at the group of people holding signs below. Most of them were wearing neat suits, and they could double the number he reported with a random gesture.

The woman yawned boredly, and the man sitting next to her raised the corners of his mouth helplessly. The man was wearing a black suit and the same black shirt, which made the man's handsome face give people the illusion that this man was worth millions. He approached the woman's ear and comforted softly: "Baby, bear with it."

Lucida curled her lips, she is not interested in this world art auction market, but Neal said so, she pouted and nodded, um, so good, Neal bent his eyes, and the smile on the corner of his mouth was undisguised, Lucida She moved her body and leaned on Neal's shoulder, using the sign in her hand as a shield, and raised her chin slightly and said in Neal's ear, "Is someone here?"

Neal kept his eyes on the auction items on the stage, but it didn't prevent him from answering Lucida. He said in a low voice, "At your seven o'clock direction."

Lucida raised her eyebrows slightly, and turned her head to look at the person at seven o'clock calmly. It was a man about 40 years old, with a tall nose bridge and deep facial features, with European features. Lucida looked away, and Neal's voice rang in his ears: "He is from the Rochechouillard family in France, and he has an invitation card."

"I see."

Lucida nodded, this time, this man was their target.

The cause of this incident goes back to three days ago.

"What do you think of Jacques-Louis David's paintings?"

Moz blinked his shining eyes and looked at a man and a woman on the sofa. The two sat in similar postures, lazy and uninspired. Neal stretched out a hand to pick up the whiskey on the coffee table, and he said lazily: "Tired gone."

The corner of Moz's mouth twitched violently: "You never stole!"

"But I also forged several copies."

This man's righteousness makes him feel a fire every time.

Moz said angrily, "What about the 'Mayflower' list?"

"Why would I steal a list of British immigrants going to North America? That doesn't make much sense."

The corner of Moz's mouth twitched again: "Then it makes sense for you to steal Washington's love letter?"

Neal thought for a while, and said seriously: "Because, that is the most disgusting love letter I have ever seen, and it is very meaningful to collect."

And the great founding father wrote a love letter to his best friend's wife.

"Lucida, what do you think?"

Asking the girl who didn't talk much, Lucida propped her chin and shrugged, "I don't care, I don't have anything in particular."

As soon as the woman finished speaking, Neal's eyes flashed. He remembered that Lucida's birthday was coming soon, so he didn't notice Neal's expression. Moz suddenly showed a smug smile: "Well, then, you will definitely be interested in this one."

"..."

Neal and Lucida looked at Moz at the same time, they even raised their eyebrows so similarly, Moz raised his chin and said: "It is said that John Campbell is going to hold a party a week later, and on the party day he will announce his collection, including The Marionettes by John Singer Sargent."

As soon as Moz finished speaking, Neal and Lucida were stunned at the same time, and Neal's eyes lit up: "The marionette?"

"Yes, it is the marionette that has never been seen."

Moz nodded. The Marionette is a painting that was kept by Sargent himself. It was not sold to collectors by his family until after his death, but this painting has never been seen in public for decades. , according to the market price, the value of this painting is about 500 million to 700 million, which really aroused Neal's interest.

Neal flashed a handsome smile: "Well, Moz, given your smug expression, I think you should know how we should get into this party."

Moz curled his lips to correct Neal's words: "I'm not talking about this, it's called 'strategy', it's a Chinese idiom, it means..."

"I know what that means." But how is the word used?

Neal blocked what Moz was going to say next, the man's beautiful peacock blue eyes stared at Moz, and Moz exhaled: "First, we need an invitation card, and I know who has an invitation card..."

So, that's why Lucida and Neal appeared in this auction. According to Moz, this Roshshuyar family member received an invitation from John Campbell to his party. John Campbell is a nobleman in Boston, commonly known as The Boston Brahmin is not only famous in Boston, but also in New York, and all the people he invites are people of status, so Lucida and Neal must first 'need' an invitation to enter this party.

"..."

Lucida narrowed her eyes slightly, her green pupils were stained with a smile, the woman murmured with a smile: "... aristocrat."

"The next painting, we don't know who she is or who made her, is a chalk-and-ink drawing on vellum, borrowed from a German renaissance style in the early 19th century. works, we start at $21850, anyone want to increase the price?"

Just as the auctioneer said, this is a chalk and ink painting on kraft paper. The female painting on the painting is delicate and deep, but the unknown woman and the unknown author, no one responded to the starting price of 22000. When he thought no one was willing to buy him, Neal raised his hand: "[-]."

As soon as Neal finished speaking, many people looked at him. Someone watched Neal think for a while, and then raised his hand as well. Lucida narrowed her eyes and approached Neal and said angrily: "Stupid! A chalk and ink drawing on kraft paper Where is the value of 19, it is still in the [-]th century, and the German works of the Renaissance have Baroque features to some extent, but this one does not have it at all, don’t be stupid.”

"I just think the woman in that painting is pretty."

Neal said innocently, sounding like a complete layman.

Not far away, the man who was about to raise his hand heard Lucida's 'light drink', and he put down his hand leisurely. Neal saw the other's movement from the corner of his eye, and the corner of his mouth curled into a shallow arc. The auctioneer on the stage Seeing that no one raised the price except for the one offer, he shouted three times cheerfully, and then finalized the price: "Congratulations to that gentleman, you bought this... painting at a price of 22000."

An unknown painting was bought at a price of 22000. Some people disliked it, some people satirized it, but Neal still maintained an elegant smile and nodded and smiled to everyone who looked at him. This man is so elegant that people can't fault it.

Neal became the owner of the painting, and he leaned closer to Lucida's ear and smiled and said, "Well done, Lucida."

"Hope it's worth the price," Lucida grumbled.

Lucida really didn't see the value of this painting, just glanced at it from a distance, the woman in the painting had a familiar style and brushstrokes, but she denied her guess, it was just a painting on a piece of kraft paper, But although Lucida didn't understand what Neal did, she knew Neal's thoughts, he must get what he wanted, so the moment that man raised his hand, Lucida knew that he couldn't ask the other party to increase the price. Look, the two cooperated so much good.

"He'll be worth the price."

Neal grinned, as if the painting excited him inexplicably.

The auction ended, that Rosh Shuyar left the auction, Lucida followed behind him, bought a cup of coffee, opened the lid of the coffee, the woman walked up to him without hesitation and bumped into him He, coffee spilled on the man's expensive suit, Lucida's expression of surprise and bewilderment was very real: "God, I'm sorry!! Are you okay?"

Speaking English with a French accent, the man's frowning brows slowly relaxed again, and he said lightly: "It's okay, it's not easy to get dirty, just wipe it off." The man spoke French, and Lucida's eyes flashed After a flash, he continued: "Then, let me come..."

The man thought for a moment, took off his coat...

"Lucida, how?"

After watching the man leave, Lucida turned around and got into the car parked on the side of the road. The two men in the car looked at her with shining eyes. Lucida closed the car door proudly and raised her head and took it out of her pocket. An unopened envelope.

The cover is cursive with the name written in green ink, and the reverse is a wax seal with John Campbell's name.

"There are tickets."

Neal turned on the lights on the roof, looked at the invitation letter inside the envelope through the lights, and the man raised the corners of his lips into a meaningful smile.

******

It's not difficult to fake an invitation letter, both Lucida and Neal can do it, it's a rare task for Moz, it's a matter of identity.

Neal held a round wooden seal in his left hand, a carving knife in his right, and in front of him was the wax seal printed on the back of the envelope, just like an ordinary engraved seal. The man's hands were incredibly delicate, and every detail was completely taken care of by him. It was engraved in, and the name was printed on the sealant. If it was a pattern, Neal might be better at it. Moz looked at Neal's progress, and then looked at Lucida's progress. These materials were all prepared by him, and they were exactly the same as the original. The envelope The invitation letter inside is a card the size of a postcard. The handwritten font on it shows the wildness of the writer. It is not difficult to guess that it was written by John Campbell himself. Lucida put the invitation letter upside down. After the font is reversed On the contrary, English is like a pattern. It is not difficult to imitate fonts according to the trajectory of the handwriting. This was given to her by Neal. Lucida's left hand is as flexible as her right hand, and the imitation of fonts with the left hand can follow the direction of the font more smoothly.

"It's almost there, I'm going to prepare the wax."

Moz rubbed his hands, he always had a lot of these messy things, Neal raised his head and said, "It's golden."

"I know!"

Moz pouted, wondering what color he wouldn't recognize.

"Whoo~"

After Lucida forged the handwriting, she picked it up to have a look, and compared it with the original. The degree of restoration is quite high. Lucida showed the imitation to Neal, and Neal raised his eyebrows and said with a satisfied smile: "Perfect."

"Okay, you're all done, I can seal it up."

They want to make a kind of invitation letter that has been opened, so wax seal is a must, um, by the way, the real opened invitation letter that came by is printed on an envelope and returned.

Lucida put the invitation in the envelope, Moz had already burned the wax, Neal stretched his waist and waited for the last step, his eyes glanced at the real invitation to the side, suddenly, he thought of something, and rushed forward to pick it up The invitation said to Moz, "Wait, Moz, get that UV light."

"..."

Neal said so suddenly, he blinked twice, put down the wax in his hand, turned around and took a small desk lamp on the table, Neal held the small desk lamp with ultraviolet light to shine on the invitation, as expected, there were more words in the blank space Signed in green.

"really……"

Neal exhaled: "This guy also has an anti-counterfeit signature." Neal grinned: "It seems that not everyone can easily get in."

If this signature was not found, it was probably caught and driven away at the entrance.

Moz poked his head to study the signature, and the man narrowed his eyes and said calmly, "This is ultraviolet fluorescent ink. I have a bottle. I'll look for it."

Lucida twitched the corner of her mouth: "Moz, what you have is what you don't have."

It's like a treasure chest!

******

Each of the receptionists at the door checked the invitation letter. Lucida was holding Neal's arm. The two were wearing high-end dresses. They each handed out the invitation letter. The man smiled and said, "Welcome, Ms. Eleanore Murphy, Mr. Hearst Owen."

The two wore similar smiles and walked into the venue indifferently. Moz identified the two of them, one was the curator of the art gallery, and the other was the person in charge of the insurance company.

"I see John Campbell, do you want to say hello?"

Lucida whispered in Neal's ear, and Neal looked around at the invited guests, all of whom had appeared on TV, and Neal shook his head: "Not yet."

This time they looked at the painting first.

Neal waved to the waiter, and the waiter came over with champagne. Neal picked up two glasses of champagne, handed one to Lucida, and touched Lucida's glass. The man smiled and said, "Let's enjoy it for a while."

Said Lucida's eyes lit up: "Can I have cake?"

"Only one."

"..."

The woman sat and gnawed a small cake, the man sat and drank champagne elegantly, the woman looked straight at the small cake in her hand, and the man quickly scanned all the guests present, finally, the climax of the night came .

"ladies and gentlemen!"

The voice of the low-pitched man resounded through the microphone. Lucida looked up slightly, and could clearly see the protagonist of the party, John Campbell. Neal chose a good position, which was not very eye-catching but could clearly see Everything on the stage, John Campbell’s speech was long and boring, and he talked for a while before he got to the point. He will announce to the world the “Muppet” he just bought. Only 6 works of Sargent’s paintings are up for auction , and this painting has only heard the name but has never been seen in the world. The price of "Marionette" is not as good as "People Under the Parasol", but it can't help him to be mysterious. Two staff members wearing gloves carefully carried a A painting covered by a white cloth came to the center of the stage, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the white cloth. John Campbell nodded in satisfaction, and pulled off the white cloth. For a moment, there was a small commotion underneath.

Neal squinted his eyes and stared at the painting. It was the real work of Sargent. When Neal was thinking about how to steal the painting, John Campbell actually covered it with a white cloth. The painting has only been around for 10 years. minute.

"This is just a warm-up. In three days, I will lend this painting to the Metropolitan Museum, and then everyone can enjoy it to their heart's content!"

Three days later... Neal lowered his eyes.

"Lucida, plans have changed."

Lucida twitched the corner of her mouth: "Did you have a plan before?"

"Yes." Neal nodded solemnly.

"where?"

Neal pointed to his head and chuckled, "Here."

"Then why didn't you tell me!"

"Because I was overthrown just now."

"Neal, I'll bite you."

Neal looked at Lucida's grinning smile, and the man chuckled, "Just don't bite my face."

Smelly peacock!