“Yes.”
“I saw your show at the Modern last year.” She hadn’t, but she’d found that on the Internet, too. “I thought it was brilliant.”
“Thank you. I wish you were an art critic.” He walked her slowly around the room, not stopping.
“Well, that’s that,” Willa said. “No reason to spend another minute here.”
“Would you like to go somewhere else?”
She nodded. “Somewhere where they have Scotch, instead of this wine, and food, instead of cardboard canapes.”
“There’s a favorite place of mine just down the street,” Daltry said. “Shall we?”
“We shall,” she said, taking his arm.
They walked past Shelly on the way out. The moment they hit the sidewalk, she heard her partner, Bernstein, say into her ear, “Good girl.”
“You a fast worker, bitch,” Shelly said, in a bit of self-caricature.
Willa laughed out loud, in spite of herself.
“What’s so funny?” Daltry asked.
“I was just thinking,” Willa replied. “Isn’t it strange how a semitalented painter like Jason Griggs can get rich, selling poor work?”
“And a semitalented sculptor like me, as well?”
“You are extremely talented, and your work has substance and beauty.” She smiled slyly at him. “But I don’t need to tell you that, do I?”
This time they both burst out laughing.
“You got him hooked, baby,” Shelly said into her ear. “Now all you got to do is reel him in.”
The couple walked on toward the restaurant.
52
Stone and Dino had just tucked into their pasta when Dino’s cell phone rang. Dino flipped it open.
“Bacchetti.”
“It’s Bernstein, Lieutenant,” a deep male voice said.
“Yeah? Which one?”
“The one with the balls.”
“Willa? Is that you?”
“Very funny, Lieutenant.”
“I thought so. What’s happening?”
“It’s going like a dream. I tell you, this girl is good.”
“Details, please.”
“Well, first of all, she did some research on the Internet and nailed where he would be tonight, at a gallery opening. Then she waltzed in there, and inside of five minutes, he’s walking her around the gallery, disparaging the artwork. Now they’re in a restaurant down the street, and she’s in the process of wrapping him around her little