you last night?”
“Oh. Sorry. I was with a…” I paused. What could I say? A friend? Hardly.
My silence seemed to say it all to Shep who fairly screeched, “You were getting laid while I’m having the single worst crisis of my life?”
Laid? I had spent the early part of the evening being grilled and the later part of the night interrogating anyone who answered the phone. I was incapable of concealing my intent so I had flat-out asked if they’d seen anyone upstairs. If they’d had sex with a guest. If they’d stolen something. They were all pretty pissed when they hung up. Worse, that bastard Peter had yet to call me back. He was hiding in the desert with the Treefucker guy, letting me handle his mess.
“Shep. I wasn’t doing anything but having a beer and trying to save your damned neck. And why I’m explaining myself to you is a mystery. If you’d let me finish, I’d have told you that I was awake half the night leaving messages and talking to anyone I can think of who was at the party. No news. Then my battery died and I went to bed. What did you do?”
“I’m freaking out. Chad is breathing down my neck about that part. He’s suspicious, and that dinner didn’t help me any. I have to be the poster child of unblemished heterosexual living. Estelle asked me if you were my boy toy and told me to get rid of you. She thinks I should pay you to be quiet. And that asshole who sent the video emailed again. He asked me for more money.”
Pay me to be quiet? Jesus, why hadn’t I thought of that? Sighing, I dismissed every whine he had except the last one. “How does he want you to pay him? Secret drop at an undisclosed location? PO box?”
“PayPal.”
“ Are you serious? ”
“As a fucking heart attack.”
“Well that should be easy to track. I think I may have someone who can help us.”
“You can’t tell anyone, Ce. No one. Not about this and not about us. I’m not kidding.”
“But you, of all of us, need to go to the police, Shep. You were violated.”
“I’m fine.” He wasn’t fine. I could hear it. He was in denial, not exactly new territory for him, I know, but one of these days he was headed for a breakdown. “I can’t go, man. I just can’t.”
“This person could hound you for years. You know that right?”
His voice grew unmistakably hard. “I’ll handle it. Once I find out who it is.”
“Fine. You hang in there. Go have brunch with your mother or something. Take the train to Connecticut and have some lox at the club. I’ll speak with you later. I’ll have this Dan guy check things out. I’m sure he has software for that kind of thing. Forward me your emails.”
I went back to work preparing the sculptures for shipment. We’d only keep a few of the busts. Everything else would go to either its new owner or to other galleries. A few would return to Jean Luc’s studio in Brooklyn. I still didn’t know what to do about Justin Timberlake…except to wait for the blackmailer to contact me. And wait for Dan to come up with something.
I spent the morning hauling all the pieces into the South Salon and then I got the North Salon prepped for Peter. Installation was not in my job description. God forbid I so much as straighten a frame in this gallery once it was on the wall.
I took a break at eleven thirty and just as I sat down, Rachel wiggled in. She was a tall, bubbly, sweet girl, and I immediately recollected the condom on the carpet upstairs. I still wouldn’t pick that thing up. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
Rachel kissed my cheek, her lips a full, wide, cosmetically enhanced cupid’s bow, painted a rich cherry red. I knew she’d left a big smear on my face. “I need to get the last check, and Brandon said he left the warming oven here. They loaded the truck on Friday night, and he asked me to come back over here and get it. I have an old boyfriend who says he can fix it. My brother lent me his car.”
“What oven?” I went to my office to find
“Oh. Sorry. I was with a…” I paused. What could I say? A friend? Hardly.
My silence seemed to say it all to Shep who fairly screeched, “You were getting laid while I’m having the single worst crisis of my life?”
Laid? I had spent the early part of the evening being grilled and the later part of the night interrogating anyone who answered the phone. I was incapable of concealing my intent so I had flat-out asked if they’d seen anyone upstairs. If they’d had sex with a guest. If they’d stolen something. They were all pretty pissed when they hung up. Worse, that bastard Peter had yet to call me back. He was hiding in the desert with the Treefucker guy, letting me handle his mess.
“Shep. I wasn’t doing anything but having a beer and trying to save your damned neck. And why I’m explaining myself to you is a mystery. If you’d let me finish, I’d have told you that I was awake half the night leaving messages and talking to anyone I can think of who was at the party. No news. Then my battery died and I went to bed. What did you do?”
“I’m freaking out. Chad is breathing down my neck about that part. He’s suspicious, and that dinner didn’t help me any. I have to be the poster child of unblemished heterosexual living. Estelle asked me if you were my boy toy and told me to get rid of you. She thinks I should pay you to be quiet. And that asshole who sent the video emailed again. He asked me for more money.”
Pay me to be quiet? Jesus, why hadn’t I thought of that? Sighing, I dismissed every whine he had except the last one. “How does he want you to pay him? Secret drop at an undisclosed location? PO box?”
“PayPal.”
“ Are you serious? ”
“As a fucking heart attack.”
“Well that should be easy to track. I think I may have someone who can help us.”
“You can’t tell anyone, Ce. No one. Not about this and not about us. I’m not kidding.”
“But you, of all of us, need to go to the police, Shep. You were violated.”
“I’m fine.” He wasn’t fine. I could hear it. He was in denial, not exactly new territory for him, I know, but one of these days he was headed for a breakdown. “I can’t go, man. I just can’t.”
“This person could hound you for years. You know that right?”
His voice grew unmistakably hard. “I’ll handle it. Once I find out who it is.”
“Fine. You hang in there. Go have brunch with your mother or something. Take the train to Connecticut and have some lox at the club. I’ll speak with you later. I’ll have this Dan guy check things out. I’m sure he has software for that kind of thing. Forward me your emails.”
I went back to work preparing the sculptures for shipment. We’d only keep a few of the busts. Everything else would go to either its new owner or to other galleries. A few would return to Jean Luc’s studio in Brooklyn. I still didn’t know what to do about Justin Timberlake…except to wait for the blackmailer to contact me. And wait for Dan to come up with something.
I spent the morning hauling all the pieces into the South Salon and then I got the North Salon prepped for Peter. Installation was not in my job description. God forbid I so much as straighten a frame in this gallery once it was on the wall.
I took a break at eleven thirty and just as I sat down, Rachel wiggled in. She was a tall, bubbly, sweet girl, and I immediately recollected the condom on the carpet upstairs. I still wouldn’t pick that thing up. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
Rachel kissed my cheek, her lips a full, wide, cosmetically enhanced cupid’s bow, painted a rich cherry red. I knew she’d left a big smear on my face. “I need to get the last check, and Brandon said he left the warming oven here. They loaded the truck on Friday night, and he asked me to come back over here and get it. I have an old boyfriend who says he can fix it. My brother lent me his car.”
“What oven?” I went to my office to find
Similar Books
