The Thomas Crown Affair Page #2

But it's such an important one.

It's a seminal work, a historical

watershed. It's truly irreplaceable.

I love this neighborhood. Some of

these broads are wearing my salary.

So the skylight was rigged to blow?

Yeah. And there were cargo nets

spread out ready to use.

And they were wearing rappelling

harnesses underneath their clothes.

Let's just track this thing through.

So, they kill the air...

make the place uncomfortable,

drive out the tourists, right?

Then they lower these gates

so nobody can get in to disturb them.

Then they lower the paintings

into the cargo nets.

Pull the paintings,

ditch the frames.

Figure they're gonna fly out of here

like a road company of Peter Pan.

Some of the crew make it,

some of them don't.

Basically, amateur night, right?

What's that?

It was wedged under the gate.

And?

Not exactly Samsonite.

Titanium. The engineer said

that it'd have to absorb...

15 to 20 tons to stop this gate.

Seems there may be

a couple of holes in your theory.

They shut off the air

to drive out the tourists...

then they escort them out

anyway?

Then they close the gates

to keep everybody out...

but block one of them open while

they prepare to load conservatively...

a thousand pounds of paintings

and 800 pounds of men...

that we know about, in a...

What was the chopper model?

Sikorsky S-76.

Right. In a chopper

with a 600-pound useful load.

You figure you'll wrap this by morning,

do you, Lieutenant?

It's Detective. And I'm a little fuzzy

about who you are.

- I'm sorry. I'm Catherine Banning.

- Of?

Zurich underwriters requested...

Well, actually...

You're insurance.

There are a couple Swiss gentlemen who'd

rather not write a $100 million check.

So, I'm stuck with you on my back.

Come on, Lieutenant.

Who knows?

You might enjoy it.

Thousand bucks says

you can't do that again.

Tony, put another ball down there.

Tommy, it was a figure of speech.

Let's make it interesting,

shall we? Ten to one?

Fine. I'll take your money.

Let's go again.

Still ten to one.

That's $100,000

on a goddamn golf swing.

It's a beautiful Saturday morning,

John.

What the hell else

do we gotta do?

She does live in Europe

but she's actually from the Midwest.

- Born Catherine Olds.

- Who's Banning?

Some Englishman she married

for six months.

- So she's not law enforcement.

- Worse. Bail bonds and bounties.

Whoa, tough people.

Her father's an Ohio hardcase, Clarence

Milton Olds, called Bumper Olds.

Story goes he kept a chain

on his back bumper.

A guy ran on him once, he brought him

back on the end of the chain.

Guess you don't wanna cross

old Clarence.

Good morning.

How are you?

I said, how are you?

Jet-lagged. Thank you.

We thought we'd start with

the security tapes. What is that?

You don't wanna know.

All right. These are yesterday's tapes

from the Impressionist wing.

Why are they different

from the corridor cameras?

We're upgrading to thermal imagery.

So far, it's just the high value areas.

But it works in the dark.

Even senses body heat.

Got it. So that's the Monet

that morning.

- Right.

- Skip forward to the robbery.

- Time of the robbery.

- Whoa.

Zip.

Was the camera still working,

or what, did they cut the feed?

- That's why they cut the air.

- You know, that could be.

These things need

a ten-degree difference.

If the temperature of the ambient

gets within ten degrees of the bodies...

Then the camera can't tell

between people and walls.

How hot did it get in the museum?

Check the other cameras.

So why can you see people

in this room?

The ambient in that room

only went up to the mid-80s.

Wait a minute.

You're telling me

that for some reason...

the area around that

particular painting went above 90?

What?

I don't know. Something.

What, are we channeling now?

How long you been doing this?

A while.

- Where? In Europe?

- And other places.

You're a real self-promoter.

Give me a for instance.

- How many legs?

- What?

The bench.

Two.

You still have that tape up?

Great. Back it up to

the morning part of the tape.

Stop.

Hello.

Jesus.

So they bring this thing in

earlier in the day. What's in it?

It could be a heater.

- What?

- In the briefcase, on a timer.

Bring the temperature up

ten more degrees.

You ever eat?

Lunch, for instance?

You like pizza?

I know a great place we could stop.

I'm on London time.

And pizza's not your thing.

What's the matter, Lieutenant?

Did she leave you for a stockbroker?

It's Detective, First Grade.

And he was a urologist.

Can I drop you someplace?

At your hotel?

One, I keep an apartment here,

and two, I'm going to your office.

She keeps an apartment.

I keep goldfish.

Hello there, little lady.

How are you doing?

- Detective.

- They don't seem to be Russian.

Tadross thinks maybe Romanian.

- The witness is here.

- Right.

Come on in.

Number four.

You're sure?

I'm sure.

- Would you mind indicating that here?

- Certainly.

Just check it off.

And if you could sign down here, please.

These gentlemen will take you out,

finish the paperwork.

- Appreciate it.

- Thank you very much.

We're gonna go beat up the Romanians.

Thank you, thank you.

Wait a minute.

I'm gonna go get some coffee.

- That sums it up, gentlemen.

- And you'd be willing to testify?

Absolutely.

I have to tell you, people like this,

they might have friends.

You realize they might try

to make it ugly for a witness.

I understand, gentlemen,

and I guess I'll take my chances.

We'll nail these jokers.

I can't imagine somebody thinking

they'd get away with a thing like this.

They say anything yet?

Not in English. They're still

trying to find somebody to translate.

- Let me try.

- Do not tell me you speak Romanian.

God, who would ever bother

with Romanian?

Give me the quiet one.

They do speak English.

It was a prepackaged robbery.

He picked them up in Little Odessa.

They were given timetables, electrical...

Who's "he"?

You don't think they know,

do you?

I mean, there were intermediaries. They

never saw his face or heard his voice.

One-time hires.

That's why they failed.

What makes you think they failed?

Oh, maybe it was

a successful robbery.

Maybe they were set up to fail.

- Why?

- Diversion.

Make a lot of noise over there...

so over here in this room you can

take a hundred million off the wall...

and waltz right out the front door.

- Oh, that's good.

- Doesn't matter.

As soon as he tries to sell it,

we nail him.

He's not gonna sell.

He's not?

Mm-mm.

This is an elegant crime...

done by an elegant person.

- It's not about the money.

- Okay.

So who's gonna risk prison

to steal a Monet...

just to not sell it?

A Monet lover.

Whose desk is that?

- Could I use it?

- Yeah. Sure.

Okay. Let's dig up every major auction

in the last five years...

and see who's been bidding

on Monets.

See anyone we know?

Him?

A big day for this guy

is taking off his tie.

He's a finance geek.

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