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“Really?” Philip looked confused “Who?”

“Lola Fabrikant”

Now Philip looked eether anyne “I’m sorry—did I hear you correctly? Did you say you’d just seen her?”

“That’s right In the Mews,” James said “She has no place to live”

“She was supposed to be back in Atlanta With her parents”

“Well, she’s not,” James said “She’s in New York” He would have said more, but Schiffer Diamond came over and took Philip’s hand “Hello, Ja forward to kiss him on the cheek as if they were old friends Death, James supposed, made everyone old friends “Did you know Billy, too?” he asked He suddenly remembered that she had found the body, and immediately felt like an idiot “I’m sorry,” he said

“It’s okay,” Schiffer said

Philip jiggled her hand “James said he just saw Lola Fabrikant In the Mews”

“She was at the funeral,” Ja to explain

“I’lance “Excuse me,” Schiffer said, and moved away

“Nice to see you,” Philip said to James, and followed her

Jane from a tray and stepped into the crowd Schiffer and Philip were standing a few feet away, holding hands, nodding as they spoke to another couple Apparently, Philip Oakland didn’t even feel guilty about what he’d done to Lola, Ja room and sat down on a plushy love seat and scanned the room It was filled with bold-faced names—the art folk and media types and socialites and fashionistas who co classes and had defined his and Mindy’s world in New York City for the last twenty years Now, having been away for a month, he had a different perspective How silly they all seemed Half the people in the roo the men Billy’s death was just another excuse for a party, where they could drink chane and eat caviar and talk about their latest projects Meanwhile, out on the street, ho woman—Lola Fabrikant—who’d been taken up by this crowd and summarily spit out when she didn’t meet the exact requirements

A , “I heard the Rices have a Renoir”

“It’s in the dining rooh-pitched laughter “And it cost ten million dollars But it’s a Renoir So who cares?”

Perhaps he should ask Annalisa Rice for the twenty thousand dollars for Lola, Jaht She apparently had so much money, she didn’t knohat to do with it