The Heist

was the only one on stage. I’ve kept my eye out for Boyd’s shows during my travels and ended up seeing him in productions all over the country. He has a broad range, as well as an ability to perform in the worst possible circumstances. I once saw Boyd hold the audience spellbound in a dinner theater production of
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
in El Paso, and inthe middle of a key dramatic scene he performed the Heimlich maneuver on a woman choking on a buffalo wing without breaking character.”
    “Good to know in case I get a chunk of apple pie stuck in my throat tonight.”
    “You scoff, but at the rate you’re shoveling the food in you might need his help. Do you ever chew anything?”
    “Excuse me, but I’m starving. I didn’t have caviar and hot fudge sundaes on my flight.” She cut her eyes to Boyd. “So how did this amazing actor end up exiled to the dinner theater circuit?”
    “He’s a nut. He won’t compromise on his artistic vision. Early in his career he was offered a big break, the chance to be the new voice of Casper the Friendly Ghost, but he got fired when he insisted on playing the character in anguish and misery. He told the director that Casper was a dead child, for God’s sake, what does he have to be happy-go-lucky about? More recently, he was hired for a beer commercial, and he said he needed to know the background of his character. Did he graduate from college? Was he married? What was his ethnic background? The director screamed at him to just drink the freaking beer, and Boyd walked off the set. He said he couldn’t create under the existing circumstances.”
    “Now he’s here as Willy Loman, in Cape Girardeau,” Kate said.
    “Yep,” Nick said. “Check him out.”
    Kate pushed aside thoughts of more lemon meringue pie and found herself completely captivated by Boyd’s performance. It was as if he was infusing Willy Loman with his own lifetime of disappointments, unfulfilled dreams, and unmet potential. It was a genuinely moving performance.
    “You’re right,” Kate said when the play was over. “He’s good.”
    “He’s better than that,” Nick said. “He’s a natural grifter, he just doesn’t know it yet. He’s going to join our band of merry men.”
    Kate felt the gravy and grits slide around in her stomach. This was the first step on the road to hell. Kate’s original assignment from Jessup had been to watch over Nick and make sure he was kept out of harm’s way. Now, as the con was beginning to unfold, she realized she was going to have to play a role in it. There was no room for an observer in the con. There was only room for participants. She was going to help Nick persuade this poor schmuck to enter a life of crime. And she shuddered to think what she’d be called upon to do in the future. Not that she hadn’t done some morally questionable things in the past, depending on how you felt about shooting at people and home invasion in foreign countries. Granted they were all legal military operations, but some people (and even possibly God) might find them unsavory. And then there were smaller transgressions, like cheating on her final algebra exam in tenth grade and wearing a push-up bra for Megan’s wedding so her breasts could compete with her sister’s.
    Nick intercepted Boyd as he was leaving the stage and asked him to join them to discuss Boyd’s possible participation in a new production in Los Angeles.
    “You bet. Give me five minutes,” Boyd said. “I need to get out of character.”
    Boyd joined Nick and Kate after he’d removed his makeup and made a pass through the buffet line. His plate was loaded, and Kate was pretty sure he had a few rolls stuffed into his pockets. He was good-looking, she thought, but in a slightly dated way, like last year’s model of a sports car immediately after the sleeker, redesigned model has come out. And he moved as if there was a spotlight following him. Even his littlest gestures, whether it wasputting his napkin into his lap or reaching for his silverware, had flamboyance, as though he was aware, or at least hoping, that people were watching his every move. Not entirely attractive in a man, but oddly compelling to watch.
    Nick introduced himself without giving a last name. “And this is my associate, Kate,” he said.
    “What did you think of my performance?” Boyd asked Kate. “I was a little worried I might have played the ending with too much intensity.”
    “No way,” Kate said. “You