“Oh, please don’t cry,” she said. “If you survive two murder attempts, you’re not allowed to weep at the cancer lady serving you lemonade. Did they get him?”

“He’s been indicted on attempted murder and illegal art trafficking,” I said. “But it will be a long time before the trial.”

She looked out over her garden of grass and flowers and million-dollar sculptures.

“I always knew Nelson de Wilde was a crook,” she said with a satisfied air. “I always knew he had secrets. An expensive suit and a yacht-ready tan don’t hide the real man. But the thing is”—she nestled deeper in her chair—“he was our kind of crook. He knew what we wanted, and he got it for us. Not always great art,” she said, giving me a shrewd look. “Exclusivity. We wanted to have what no one else had, but everyone else wanted. That’s a long, complicated, expensive game. Some gallerists and dealers have their own money to lose on it. Nelson didn’t. Doesn’t justify his brutality when he got trapped, but I understand its root. I tried to destroy the possibility of a brand-new art museum in downtown L.A. because I felt cornered. And cheated. Despair makes people ugly.” She paused to watch a bee veer near us, then fly off again. “Fortunately, I’m used to being ugly, and I’ve learned it’s far better to wear it kindly.” She gave me a haggard smile. “No condolences now. For anything. We’ll win in the end.”

“I agree,” I said, swallowing both my grief and my admiration, and I told her my plan. I summarized everything I’d learned about Brenae Brasil that week—how she’d faced increasing isolation this year, as her family contracted to cope with her older brother’s arrest, as the school cut her off from the opportunities it had offered, as she lost friends to careerism. I told her about the fateful trip to London to install Hal’s show, and the confessions that Layla and Brenae must have traded about their secret lovers: Layla and Nelson, Brenae and Erik. Brenae must have told Layla that Erik still came to her, demanding sex, and Layla hadn’t believed her. Neither had Hal. Hal had taken Erik’s side, because he was worried about his favorite student losing his visa status, and future opportunities to stay in the States.