QUINN: You mean he hasn’t run that gallery into the ground yet?
AGENT: Why do you say that?
QUINN: Hold on for a second. I need to cut more honeysuckle.
(She needs to dowhat? I hear a door slam. Did she leave? Another door slam. She’s back.)
QUINN: Sorry. Just brewing myself some tea.
AGENT: Oh. You were saying that you’re surprised the gallery is still around?
QUINN: (Pause.) What did you say your name was?
AGENT: Megan Greer. And I’m writing—
QUINN: I remember that part. Have you talked to Ben himself?
AGENT: Not yet. First I’m talking to people who know him.
QUINN: So you’ve probably heard Ben is a mean, self-serving son of a bitch.
AGENT: Yes. And that those are his good points.
QUINN: (More laughter.) Well, I’m not sure how much I can add. We haven’t talked in quite a while. No idea what he’s up to now.
AGENT: What about when you knew him? (Long pause. So I decide to add…) This is all confidential, by the way. I won’t use your name.
QUINN: Well, anyone who knows Ben knows he’s a hothead. Did I sayhothead? Make thatshithead. Determined to open his own business but totally unsuited for the corporate world. Eventually settled on a high-end art gallery and took all the money we had, about eight hundred dollars, out of the bank.
AGENT: But that’s not enough to start a gallery. Where do you think he got the rest of the money?
QUINN: No idea.
AGENT: Really?
QUINN: Well, he knew a lot of… let’s call themfriends. Maybe they helped.
AGENT: Who were thesefriends?
QUINN: (Another pause.) Not my kind of people. Can we just leave it at that?
AGENT: Okay. But he seems to be doing well.
QUINN: For a guy who knows nothing about art? Yeah. But so much of the art world is smoke and mirrors.
AGENT: How so?
QUINN: You tell people about an up-and-coming artist, how they must buy his work now because it’s bound to appreciate over time. Tell that to enough rich people, and it comes true.
AGENT: Always?
QUINN: No. But Ben knows how to turn on the charm. His own mother used to say Ben could charm the glue off stamps.
AGENT: And he’s been successful.
QUINN: Yeah. A lot of shitheads are. (More laughter.) My daughter is okay dealing with him—Hailey can give as good as she gets. But I feel bad for his wife. Met her once. Nice lady. For her sake, I hope he’s changed.
AGENT: Do you think he has?
