“You’re all very welcome here,” he said, and displayed his best Hollywood grin. “Chill out. Stay awhile. It’s a beautiful evening.”

“Thank you, Barrett,” Johan said.

“My pleasure.” He brushed the spilled powder from the front of his shirt, then pinched his nose and sniffed a couple of times, clearing the yellow ring from inside his left nostril. There was no longer any sign that he’d taken the drug, and there’d be no negative side effects. No twitching, grinding, or scratching. He was good to go—a new Barrett Lorne, confident and in control—and would be until the party wrapped.

Johan looked at Kitty, who regarded him with questioning eyes. He winked at her, then turned toward the door.

“Oh hey, Nancy, my assistant, will pay you when you leave.” Barrett smiled warmly. “You met her on the way in, right?”

“We did.”

“She’s going to hand you an envelope full of cash, but don’t make a show of counting it in the foyer. You’ll just have to trust that it’s all there.”

Johan nodded, tipped an imaginary hat, then he, Kitty, and Xander left the actor to clean up. Out in the hallway, Kitty stepped in front of Johan, placing one hand gently on his arm. Her eyes were beautiful brown circles.

“You’re a canary dealer?” she asked.

“No.” Johan finished his whiskey in one hit. “I’m the canary dealer. It’s my product.”

They started walking again. On the stairway down to ground level, Kitty said, almost under her breath, “You are full of surprises.”

Johan said, “We’re just getting started.”

Maria Kiszka was the ditzy, gap-toothed star of Tell Me About It, a sitcom that ran on CBS for three seasons and was dropped around the time Netflix started making waves. Maria played the part of Tiffany Colt, the neighbor’s daughter, who always managed to get involved with the lead family’s affairs, and was known for her catchphrase, “Well, IIIIIIIIII didn’t do it!” She was the comic relief in a sitcom, the break-in-case-of-emergency role that Peter Riven at Key Light called “the cat litter of acting.”

When Tell Me About It ended, Maria seemed destined to sink into the dark quicksand of obscurity reserved for former sitcom actors. Not the case. She crossed the pond and appeared in the BBC police drama Heron Quays—a left-field decision that saved her career. After this, she returned stateside (met Johan) and put in a head-turning performance as a young mother with HIV in an episode of Echoes Fade. Her last role, playing a crooked cop in the movie A Derelict Life, was already getting Oscar buzz.