“I thought we were in the insight business, not the news business—telling people why over what. At least that’s what they told me my first day here. Vance Eady did.”

“Vance.” She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head, birdlike again. “The accountants are still trying to understand what he was up to.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that.”

“What?”

He pointed to his left ear. “I’m a little deaf in this ear.”

She raised her voice. “I said, the accountants have run into some irregularities when it comes to Mr. Eady. In the best light, they tell me, he took four steps—at four times the cost—to do what could have been done in one.”

Klay laughed.

“Funny again?”

“You think Vance Eady was embezzling?”

“Probably not. No. But we’re looking into it.” She set her iPad down on top of a Wall Street Journal. “Nobody wants to kick a man when he’s down. Certainly not a man who’s meant so much to this institution. To the world.”

She waved a hand and smiled brightly. “Let’s not talk about the past, Tom. We wish him well. He was supportive of PGM hiring me. I appreciate that.”

Klay was distracted by the smell of fresh paint and new carpet. What color carpet did Eady have? He couldn’t recall. How could he not remember the color of the man’s carpet he’d crossed a thousand times?

No whiff of desiccated tissue. No brittle animal fur. No sign Vance Eady had occupied this room at all. In place of his African masks, books, and zebra mount, a large painting hung on the wall above her glass-topped desk. A single blood-red brushstroke on white canvas. A mirror image of the Japanese painting using a black brushstroke hung behind his head.

“Do you know my background, Tom?”

“I saw the email. PR, right?”

He’d had Tenchant pull up some information on her. Married, forty-six. USC. Born in Chicago. Father, psychiatrist specializing in sleep disorders; mother, corporate lawyer; husband, reality television producer. She started in retail, then turned to advertising. Rose to partner at Aegis-Thompson in Los Angeles, which was subsequently acquired by Perseus Group Media. She was active on social media. Tenchant had pulled up her Twitter. “A bit of news: I’m heading to Washington as new EIC at The Sovereign. Psyched for a new PGM challenge! Big boots 2 fill. [Boots emoji]”

Klay told Tenchant not to bother digging any deeper.

“Public relations is selling, Tom. That’s what we’ll be doing now. Selling our information.”