Never Too Rich (43 page)

Billie nodded.

“
Now, get out of here,” Olympia
said gruffly, waving her away. “And take your pamphlet with you.
I’ve got a lot of damage assessment and explaining to
do.”

Billie pushed her chair back and rose. “I appreciate
your understanding,” she said softly.

“
That makes
one
of us,”
Olympia snapped, shoving her Ben Franklins onto the tip of her nose
with one hand while reaching for the telephone with the other. She
stared questioningly at Billie. “Well? Are you going to stand there
all day?”

“
About your mink coat ...” Billie
began.

“
No.”
Olympia’s voice turned
downright dangerous. “Don’t you
dare
press your luck.” She
pointed a quivering finger at the door.
“Out!
Out out
out,
I say—while you’re still ahead and I don’t drop you
like the hot potato you are!”

Billie left, a slight smile forming on her face
after she snapped Olympia’s door quietly shut behind her. Now, that
wasn’t too bad for starters, she thought, especially considering it
was only the beginning. One little step at a time, that was the way
issues gained momentum. She’d be willing to lay bets Olympia’s mink
would be in mothballs before the year was out.

Chapter 44

“
All right, darling,” Anouk said
calmly. “Before you panic, let’s take this one thing at a time. And
in order of importance.”

Antonio, seated across the table from her at La Côte
Basque, swore softly. “All of these things are important, and you
know it.”

“
Antonio,” Anouk said soothingly,
“let me be the judge of that. After all”—she smiled—”I
am
the damage-control expert.
N’est-ce pas?”

Antonio drank down half a glass of Château Lafite in
a single swallow and then sat back broodingly. He couldn’t remember
a more disastrous morning. First he had walked into the anti-fur
demonstration, then Liz had resigned in a huff, and finally he’d
fired Klas. And as if all that hadn’t been enough to deal with all
at once, Billie Dawn hadn’t shown up for the fur session and
Olympia had called with the most devastating piece of news of all:
Billie Dawn’s outraged comments to the press. Oh, yes, all in all
it had been one lulu of a day—and it wasn’t even half over yet.

“
Darling,” Anouk said, reaching
across the tablecloth and covering his hand with her own,
“trust
in me. There’s no need to be so worried. You know
that I can fix almost anything.” She smiled
reassuringly.

“
Yes, but this doesn’t need a
fixer, it calls for a miracle worker.”

“
And I
am
one!” she assured
him brightly, withdrawing her splendidly manicured hand. “Now,
then.” She clapped her hands together lightly and steepled her
fingers. “I believe I can take care of everything except this fur
business.” She frowned slightly. “I’m afraid you’re going to have
to do that. Call a press conference as soon as you get back to the
office.”

Antonio groaned. “You know how I loathe talking to
the press.”

“
Be that as it may, darling, you
must. There just isn’t any choice.”

“
But what will I tell
them?”

Anouk’s features grew momentarily thoughtful. “Tell
them . . . tell them that you’ve looked into it and discovered that
Palace Furs does
indeed
hold the license and that you’re
planning to sever all ties with them. Not only that, but announce
that you will no longer design furs, period.”

He looked shocked. “Do you have any idea how much
income the fur license generates?”

She waved a hand negligibly. “Not enough to warrant
further involvement with such an explosive issue, that’s how much.
These are changing times, Antonio. The anti-fur movement is
growing, and we might as well deal with it now. Sooner or later
we’d have to anyway.”

Antonio sighed. “Palace isn’t going to take this
lying down. You know that.” He drained the remainder of his glass
of wine. “They’re liable to sue my ass for breach of contract.”

“
So? Better they do that than we
alienate our bread-and-butter consumers—our off-the-rack buyers.
Besides, think of all the free publicity this can generate!” Her
eyes suddenly shone. “If you play it right, every television
station and newspaper will make you out to be a hero.”

He stared at her. “You know,” he said slowly, “you
may have something there.”

“
Of course I do!” She fell silent
as the waiter brought their plates of
côte de veau à la crème
d’herbes fraîches.
Once he refilled their wineglasses and was
gone, they picked up their cutlery.

“
Now, then,” Anouk continued with a
wave of her knife, “Klas is no problem, at least not anymore. You
did the right thing by firing him. Dead wood needs to be pruned,
and that was what he had become. Needless to say, Dafyyd being his
lover, as well as my walker, makes it a bit unpleasant, but I know
that Dafyyd will understand.” She gave a short laugh. “He, better
than anyone else, knows how trying Klas can be. And as far as a
replacement for Klas goes, I believe Edwina still hasn’t got a
job—at least not in fashion. I’ll simply offer her Klas’s position,
and
voilà!
He’ll never be missed.”

Antonio’s forehead furrowed into a frown. “Do you
think Edwina will really go for it?”

“
Edwina? Darling, she’d be a fool
not to. She’d give her right arm to become your number two. Who
wouldn’t? And that leaves one last little problem: Liz Schreck.
Personally, I can’t stand the woman, but that is neither here nor
there. Someone as efficient and capable as she is impossible to
find. She really is irreplaceable. I will just have to see to it
that she changes her mind.”

“
Then I wish you good luck,”
Antonio said gloomily. “You didn’t see the state she was
in.”

“
Perhaps not, but I’ll do my best.
So. It’s settled, then. As soon as you get back to the office,
you’ll call an immediate press conference. And in the meantime,
I’ll get on the phone at home and do my magic. You see, darling?”
Anouk pushed her unfinished main course aside; she never ate more
than a few choice morsels of any meal. “Between the two of us,
there’s really nothing we cannot do.”

“
I only hope you’re right,” he
murmured.

“
But of course I am!” Anouk said
confidently. “Darling, this
is
your wife you’re talking to.
Remember?”

An hour later, Anouk had changed into a pair of dark
blue silk lounging pajamas and was curled up on the day bed in her
bedroom, a cup of tea at her side and the telephone receiver at her
ear.

“
Edwina?” she cooed, curling the
telephone cord around her index finger. “Darling, it’s
Anouk!”

There was a long silence.

“
Hello, Anouk.”

“
It’s been so long since we’ve
talked! Darling, how
have
you been?”

“
Oh, fine.”

Anouk launched smoothly ahead. “You’re probably
wondering why I’m calling so . . . out of the blue? I mean, we
haven’t talked for ages, and I realize we’ve had our . . . ah . . .
differences
in the past. But I always say let bygones be
bygones! This city really is too small to harbor grudges and wage
feuds.
Sol
What
have
you been doing with
yourself?”

“
Oh, this and that,” Edwina replied
vaguely.

“
Have you found another
job?”

“
A job? No, I can’t really say I
have. At least, not in the usual sense of—”

“
But you have been keeping
busy?”

“
Oh, most definitely.”

Anouk fought to keep a light and cheery tone in her
voice. This conversation was like pulling teeth. Damn that Edwina!
she cursed silently. The woman can be downright infuriating! You’d
think she was guarding King Solomon’s mines, the way she husbands
information. What does she have to guard, anyway?

“
At any rate,
chérie,
since
you
don’t
have a job,” Anouk continued blithely, “and since
Antonio’s number-two position has just been vacated—”

“
Klas has resigned?” Edwina
interrupted in disbelief.

Anouk chimed a tinkly scale of her trademark
glissando. “Well, not in so many words, darling. Let’s just say
that he . . he no longer works for Antonio de Riscal.”

“
I see,” Edwina said knowingly. “In
other words, he was fired.”

“
Hmmm . . . yes, I suppose one
could say that.”

“
And you called to see if I was
available to take the job? Is that it?”

“
Darling! You
must
be
psychic!”

“
I’d love to accept, Anouk. Really
I would.”

“
Maaaaarvelous!”

“
But I regret to say that I
can’t.”

“
But, darling! You
have
to
say yes!”

“
But you see, Anouk, I
can’t.”

“
But why
not?”

“
You mean you haven’t
heard?”

“
Darling, I don’t understand.
What
haven’t I heard?”

“
That 550 Seventh Avenue has a new
tenant.”

“
Oh? And who might that
be?”

“
Why,
me!”
Edwina said,
choking back the laughter in her voice. “Would you believe I’m a
designer now? With my very own label?”

“
No,” said Anouk from between
clenched teeth, “I would
not!”
And slammed down the
receiver.

Anouk waited five minutes to regain control before
making her second call. She took a series of deep breaths to
fortify herself before using her gold pen to dial the number. When
Liz Schreck answered, she said brightly, “Liz? Darling, it’s
Anouk!”

There was a dead silence.

“
Liz? Are you there?”

“
Yes, Mrs. de Riscal,” Liz rasped
tartly in her smoker’s voice. “I am.”

“
Good. Listen, darling, I just had
lunch with Antonio, and he told me of the . . . ah . . .
unfortunate incident that transpired this morning. I really
couldn’t believe my ears!”

“
Well, trust them. They heard
right.”

“
Liz, we really must meet to
discuss this in person. As you well know, you are like family to
us—”

“
Well,
you’re
no family of
mine,” Liz snapped.

Anouk stifled the urge to lash back. Instead, she
assumed a hurt tone. “Liz! How unlike you!”

“
Mrs. de Riscal, look. If you
called about luring me back to that lunatic asylum, forget it.
You’d only be wasting your time and mine.”

“
Liz! Surely you’re not
seri—”

“
In other words, you can take that
job and shove it.
N’est-ce pas?”

That did it for Anouk. The woman could go to
hell—and straight-away. She wasn’t about to put up with her any
longer. Nor was there any reason to be civil.

“
You’re finished!” Anouk hissed,
dropping all pretenses. “See if you get any references!”

“
For your information, Mrs. de
Riscal, I don’t need any,” Liz sniffed. “I’ve already found another
job.”

Anouk was speechless.

Now that Liz sensed she had hit home, she decided it
wouldn’t hurt to twist the blade in the wound a little ... let
Anouk be on the receiving end of a knife thrust for once.

“
As a matter of fact,” Liz said
conversationally, “we’re sure to run into each other every now and
then, since I’ll still be working at 550 Seventh Avenue. Isn’t it
ironic? To think I should have been hired by Edwina Robinson, of
all peo—!”

Anouk couldn’t slam the receiver down fast enough.
It was as if it had scorched her.

Chapter 45

“
Les,” Hallelujah sighed in the
gloomy monotone of depression, “how are we supposed to get those
two back together again when she won’t even talk about
him?”

They sat atop a graffiti-sprayed boulder in Central
Park, eyeing the buttery twin towers of the San Remo with a mixture
of hope and disgust.

Leslie Shacklebury sighed and shrugged. “Beats me.
She’s your mother. You know her better than I do.”

Hallelujah narrowed her eyes painfully against his
nerd’s outfit: a crisply ironed checkered shirt, a slide rule
sticking up out of the shirt pocket; a pair of long and loud
Hawaiian shorts; mismatched white socks—one with blue stripes and
one with red; all topped off with a striped baseball cap with one
of those funny propellers whizzing around and around the top. If
this wasn’t a real dweeb outfit, she didn’t know what was.

“
D’you know,” she said, dismissing
his bizarre clothes and chowing down on a Sabrett wagon hot dog,
“he sent another giant bunch of flowers this morning?” She gave him
a wide-eyed look.

“
He did?”

“
Yeah.” She nodded. “He did. An’ I
mean, it was
big.
It was the flower arrangement that ate New
York!”

“
That big?” Leslie was
impressed.

“
All pink an’ white. Roses, mostly.
But get this, Les. What do you think Ma did with it?” She chewed on
her hot dog heartily. “Made Ruby throw it out and then went on and
on
about all those flowers gobbling up oxygen!” She rolled
her eyes. “It’s totally beyond me.”