Kisser (2010)

friends.
    Hildy answered his question. “How interesting. My father and Ralph are old friends, too. Ralph has bought a number of pictures from him.”
    “Oh, is your daddy in the art business?” Mitzi replied.
    “The Parsons Gallery,” Hildy said.
    “Oh, of course. I didn’t make the connection. A lovely gallery it is, too. I bought a Hockney there.”
    “Oh? Whom did you deal with?”
    “Rita Gammage.”
    “Oh, yes.”
    “Your father was busy with something else that day.”
    This was out of control. Stone tried desperately to think of a way to change the subject. Fortunately, dinner arrived.

22
    THE TERIYAKI WAS GOOD. Stone tried not to watch the others eating raw animals. As soon as he had finished his main course, Stone asked to be excused and left the table. He found a quiet corner of the restaurant and called Rita Gammage.
    “Hello?”
    “Rita, it’s Stone. We’ve got problems.”
    “Did something go wrong?”
    “If anything, it’s all gone too well,” Stone said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean that Mitzi has gotten a little too much in the swing of things. She’s impressed Sharpe and, incidentally, Hildy, too much. Among other things, she has told them that she bought a Hockney from you, and the way things are going, next she’ll be inviting them over for drinks.”
    “Oh, God.”
    “Does Philip have a Hockney in the gallery?”
    “Yes, he does.”
    “Borrow it, will you? And will you please call him right now and tell him that Mitzi bought it? I have the feeling Hildy is going to call her father tonight and ask him.”
    “I’m sure he’ll loan it to me for a few days when I explain why,” she said. “I’ll get right on it.”
    “Another thing,” Stone said. “Mitzi has told them that Ralph Lauren personally decorated her apartment.”
    “That’s outrageous!”
    “I know, but she did it.”
    “Fortunately, most of my upholstered furniture is from Mr. Lauren’s store.”
    “That will be a big help,” Stone said, “but there’s a further complication.”
    “Now what?”
    “When Hildy questioned whether Lauren personally does decorating jobs, Mitzi told her that Lauren and her father are very old friends and that he was one of Lauren’s early investors.”
    “Oh, shit. If I know Hildy, she’ll find a way to track that down.”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of. Do you know Lauren?” “I’ve met him a few times, but I don’t think he’d recognize my name.”
    “Does Philip?”
    “I think he sold him a picture once, a few years back.”
    “Do you think Philip would call him and try to get him to back up this story?”
    “I’m not at all sure about that,” Rita said. “Let me think about how to do this, and in the meantime, I’ll call Philip and ask about the Hockney.”
    “I’m afraid that I don’t know Mitzi’s father’s first name,” Stone said.
    “It’s Mike. She told me.”
    “Good, I’ll leave it with you.”
    “Are you home? I’ll call you back.”
    “No, we’re in a sushi restaurant downtown with Hildy and Sharpe.”
    “Call me when you get home. I’ll be up late.”
    “Will do.” Stone hung up and returned to the table.
    “Oh, Stone,” Mitzi said, “Derek and Hildy are coming for drinks tomorrow evening.”
    “How nice,” Stone said, very glad that he had called Rita. Then he had a terrifying thought: Had Hildy ever visited Rita’s apartment?
     
     
     
    THEY FINALLY WRAPPED up dinner, and the check came. It sat there. Stone was damned if he was going to pick it up; this had been at least a seven-hundred-dollar dinner, given the wine Sharpe had ordered, and it wasn’t Stone’s party. He decided to take the bull by the balls. “Thank you so much for dinner, Derek,” Stone said, pushing the check across the table. That was very extravagant of you.” He thought he saw Sharpe turn pale. He turned to Mitzi. “Shall we go?”
    “Yes, let’s do,” she replied. “Can we drop you?” she asked Hildy and Sharpe.
    “We’re going to have an after-dinner drink at the bar,” Sharpe said. “We’ll make our own way home.”
    Stone hustled Mitzi out of the restaurant and into the car. “How’d that go?” Tom Rabbit asked.
    “Wonderfully well,” Mitzi said.
    Stone thought she was a little drunk. “You really threw a monkey wrench into the works,” Stone said.
    “How’s that?” She seemed baffled.
    “Well, first of all, that business about the Hockney.”
    Mitzi giggled. “Oh, yes, I forgot about