Chapter 10

MY PHONE RANG about half an hour before Lissa and I were ready to leave for my painting gig.

“I’ll drive,” Clarice started. I’d noticed she never said hello when she called. It was like joining a conversation halfway through. “Give me your address and I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”

“Uh, hi, Clarice. Lissa and I were going to drive over together. She’s my chaperone today.”

“Good. I’ll pick you both up. What’s the address?” I stumbled through the address and she hung up before I thought to ask why she was coming or to ask Lissa if it was okay to ride with her. I figured I’d better remedy that last bit right away. I went into the kitchen.

“Sweetheart?”

“Yes?” chimed both my sweethearts at once.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” they chorused.

“Lissa, I just got informed that Clarice is picking us up to go to the appointment this morning.”

“What?”

“Uh ... Clarice...”

“I heard what you said. Why? Is this really necessary?”

“I have no idea,” I confessed. “Sometimes talking to her is like listening to music with just one earbud. I miss half the stuff I’m supposed to hear.”

“I’m not happy, Tony.”

“I know, love, but let’s at least figure out what’s going on, okay? It’s my first gig. She probably wants to make sure everything goes well.”

Lissa sat in the back seat of Clarice’s Audi. I pulled my seat forward as much as I could to give her room.

“Clarice, why are you driving this morning?” I asked. “We were practically ready to go.”

“Did you look at the address?” she asked.

“Someplace in Bellevue. I was going to look up directions.”

“Yes. Someplace in Bellevue called Medina. Someplace in a gated community of multi-million dollar homes,” Clarice said. “I did a little research. That check Sharon wrote us was nothing compared to what she and her friends could be paying. It’s no wonder she didn’t mind just paying the whole tab up-front. Her husband is among the high and mighty at Boeing. I want to make absolutely positive nothing goes wrong. I’m not slighting you, Lissa, but I’ve got more experience in this kind of thing.”

“Right,” Lissa answered shortly. It was clear she was unhappy.

“Please, Lissa,” Clarice said. “I only want what is best for Tony. We can agree to that, can’t we? Can’t we work together on this?”

“As long as you don’t think what’s best is taking him away from us.”

“That was a long time ago and I didn’t know you and Jack had married. For god’s sake, let it go.”

“Sorry, Clarice. I just never got over it. I’ll try to do better. I don’t want Tony to end up...” I turned my head and looked at Lissa, but she turned her head away.

“Would someone like to tell Tony what the hell is going on?” I asked. “I’m sitting right here in the fucking car with you.”

“Tony, there are predators in the world. Some of them are agents. Not all agents want to marry their clients ... or to put a leash on them,” Clarice said with an apparent dig at Jack, but also something else was going on that I couldn’t figure out.

“Brandon Michaels,” Lissa said.

“Precisely.”

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“Brandon Michaels is a dancer who is currently residing in Spain with his mistress.”

“What’s having a mistress got to do with anything? I’m happy with what I’ve got.”

“Not that kind of mistress,” Lissa said.

“Brandon’s agent, Doña Caliente, is also his lover, his patron, and his mistress ... as in master,” Clarice proceeded to explain.

“You mean he’s a slave?”

“In a manner of speaking. More like a pet. He wears a collar at all times and a leash whenever he is not working. She leads him to the theater where he is working and lets him off-leash while he is dancing. When he is finished, he comes like a good boy and she leashes him again,” Clarice explained. “The world is a strange place. I think that both Lissa and I want to protect you from some of the stranger aspects.”

“Lissa? Is that why you don’t want me to be around Clarice?”

“Yes ... but not exactly. Tony, it worries me to have you under the influence of anyone. The fact that Clarice and I got off on the wrong foot several years ago doesn’t have anything to do with it. I jumped at the opportunity to chaperone today because I don’t trust what a rich woman might try to do or offer.”

“We’re in agreement there,” Clarice said. “I don’t think there will be anything untoward with Sharon Reeves. But people at her level of society sometimes don’t think the rules apply to them. I wanted to make absolutely sure you were surrounded. We can stay out of the way, but even if we can’t see Sharon while you are sketching, it is imperative that we be able to see you at all times.”

“Holy shit. What did I get myself into? And why did you not think Lissa was enough?”

Clarice looked in the rearview mirror at Lissa. I turned back to her and she was meeting eyes in the mirror.

“Frankly, I wasn’t sure that Lissa wasn’t a Doña Caliente,” Clarice said at last. “But even though she isn’t, I wasn’t sure that the client wouldn’t assume the wrong thing about her. A young man with a beautiful older woman at his side? Should be easy to take her place, don’t you think?”

“Lissa?” I said. “Can you help me make this work? I’m in way over my head here.”

“You have a handle on all the important things, darling,” she answered. “I’ll work with Clarice and we’ll keep you safe. We’ll all learn better as we go.”

Do people really keep people as pets? Isn’t that some kind of slavery? Still, there has to be something in the person that makes them want to be a servant or something. If someone tried to enslave me, what would they have to threaten to get me to obey them? That was pretty simple. Threaten my family and I’d do anything. I had a lot of learning to do.

I’d never thought of art as being a dangerous profession. When we got to Sharon’s house, it started almost faster than I was ready. A woman who introduced herself as Rebecca answered the door. She said that she was Sharon’s chaperone for the sitting. Okay. I could see that. Seems like we were setting up sides for a war, though. We went to the sitting room where Sharon met us wearing an elegant robe that dragged along the floor. Her hair was freshly done and the ghastly white streak was gone. She was wearing no makeup as far as I could tell. Well, her eyebrows did look kind of bald.

It took half an hour to decide what type of pose she wanted, how big the final picture was to be, and where she planned to hang it. We reminded her that it would also be displayed at my exhibition in the winter. She said that while she wanted something classically nude or nearly nude, that she would like to be discreet and not full frontal.

“I didn’t wear makeup. Your sketch took it all off of me last week anyway, but I already feel naked,” she said. “Do you mind if I use some foundation?”

“No, I certainly don’t mind. You should be comfortable,” I said. Lissa leaned over and whispered in my ear. I looked at her, surprised, but nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind,” I continued, “my assistant could help with your makeup. She knows what I’m looking for and is skilled in applying makeup.”

“Would you?” Sharon sounded truly excited for the first time since I’d arrived.

“Certainly,” Lissa said. “It will take Tony a few minutes to set up to do the sketch, so why don’t we get you ready?”

“I’d like to watch this,” Rebecca said. The three women went off to Sharon’s dressing room and Clarice nodded her approval.

Windows over twelve feet tall overlooked Lake Washington from the sitting room where we’d work. I estimated that any time after about one in the afternoon, the light would be too strong to pose there. All I would see was a silhouette. I was getting antsy to get started.

I set the chair and table about six feet in front of the window so I didn’t get a reflected image in the glass. I used Clarice as a stand-in for Sharon and she sat where I told her to. The chair was positioned three-quarters away from me to appear that she had been looking out the window. When Sharon reappeared, her makeup was perfect. Lissa always had a light hand when applying her own makeup and what I saw was a youthful but mature woman of means enjoying her morning coffee and looking out at the world. I showed her where to sit, how far to turn, and how to look back in such a way that she appeared welcoming. She crossed her legs and the near side of her robe fell open, exposing her thigh and calf. I suggested that if she was comfortable with it she should loosen the robe and let it fall from her left shoulder as she pivoted her torso toward me.