Chapter One
Getty Center, Los Angeles, 2014
Angela Falter Gala reception
The first sign of trouble is a woman wearing a linen suit and no expression.
You are standing at the opposite end of a stone courtyard. The sun is beating down on the back of your neck, because it is Los Angeles in July. A tram from the parking lot is beginning to bring guests as well as staff, and the central open-air space of the museum complex is getting crowded.
You are in the middle of managing a gala event with several hundred incredibly important guests.
But you still notice the woman and her vast, sinister calm. That woman is Charelle Jackson, assistant to the billionaire Angela Falter, who is bankrolling this entire event. Charelle is always professional. The greater the crisis, the calmer she gets.
Right now she looks like a sphinx.
Better See What She Wants