Suddenly overcome with the panic of not only her mother discovering her fake co-op letter, but her whole plan misfiring, Lucie found herself blurting out, “Ms. Ferrer, there are some things I think you ought to know about Rosemary Zao!”

“Oh, and what might that be?”

“She’s not the woman you think she is.”

“What do you mean? Aren’t your families very close?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it that. Rosemary has been trying to cultivate my mother all summer, and as you know, Mom just tries to be polite to everyone.”

“She does, doesn’t she? Your mother is very polite.”

“If you must know, Mrs. Zao is very social—when I first met her in Italy, she told me about all the wild parties she used to go to in Lan Kwai Fong,” Lucie said, taking her own liberties with the truth.

“What’s Lan Kwai Fong?”

“It’s the red-light district of Hong Kong.”fn1

“My goodness! Was Rosemary one of those Suzie Wong party girls?”

“I don’t know what that is, but she did party. She partied very hard.”

“I can’t even imagine. She seems so fastidious and well put together. I love her understated elegance.”

“Let me show you something, Ms. Ferrer.” Lucie took out her phone and found a group photo she had taken at the Peking duck dinner. She zoomed in on Rosemary striking a flamboyant pose in one of her signature rainbow-colored sequined caftans.

“That’s Mrs. Zao?” Ms. Ferrer stared at the screen in disbelief.

“Uh-huh.”

“Why is she wearing kabuki makeup?”

“She’s not. That’s how she normally looks.”

“You don’t say! And those Christmas ornaments around her neck … this wasn’t some theme party?”

“It was just a family dinner, and those aren’t Christmas ornaments, Ms. Ferrer. Those are real rubies and diamonds, and that’s how Rosemary dresses when she’s not attending co-op board interviews.”

“How interesting …”

Just then, a flush could be heard in one of the toilets connected to the powder room, and Cornelia Guest emerged from behind the door. Acknowledging Lucie and Ms. Ferrer with the briefest of smiles, she quickly washed her hands and left the powder room.

Ms. Ferrer continued. “Well, Lucie, I am quite astonished. Thank you for letting me know all this.”

“You’re quite welcome. Ms. Ferrer, can we keep this conversation totally between us?”

“Absolutely. I take my duties very seriously. Any information provided to the board president shall remain private.”

“Even from my mother?”

“Of course.” Ms. Ferrer patted Lucie’s hand as she left the room.

Lucie leaned against the sink, letting out a groan. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How much did Cornelia overhear? What would she think now?

Collecting herself, Lucie left the powder room in search of the guest of honor. She had to do as much damage control as she could. She couldn’t let Cornelia, of all people, get the wrong impression of her. Entering the drawing room of the manor house, she found herself face-to-face with Rosemary Zao, who stood chatting with Ms. Ferrer.

Fuck me again, Lucie moaned to herself.

“Lucie! We were just talking about you,” Rosemary said in her usual excitable tone.

“You—you were?” Lucie stammered, noticing that Rosemary was still sporting her new look in a sophisticated but subdued champagne-colored Akris pantsuit accessorized with a stunningly simple amber bead necklace.

“Yes, we were. Actually, Ms. Ferrer, could you excuse us for a minute? I have something important to discuss with Lucie.”

“Certainly,” Ms. Ferrer said, arching an eyebrow.

Rosemary and Lucie went into the adjoining sitting room, and taking a seat on one of the armchairs, Rosemary gave Lucie a sad look. “So, I need you to be very honest with me …”

Lucie took a deep breath, steeling herself. “Okay?”

“Are Freddie and George fighting?”

Oh thank God, I thought Ms. Ferrer ratted on me. “Freddie and George? Not that I know of. Why?”

“George refused to come with me to this gala tonight. In fact, he hasn’t been out to East Hampton two weekends in a row. Normally he can’t wait to drive out the moment he gets off work on Fridays. He said he has too much work, but I don’t believe it.”

“Well, maybe he does have too much work.” She doesn’t know. She doesn’t know one thing that happened between me and George.

“But it’s so strange that he would miss this weekend, especially because he’s been so excited for your mom’s charity gala all summer. Do you know he found the jazz band for your mom? They are the band from the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, and he flew all of them here to New York first class and paid for them to perform tonight.”fn2

“I had no idea …” Why would he do all that for Mom?

“He’s been even more quiet than usual. I can sense that something’s wrong but I don’t know what. So I thought maybe it had something to do with Freddie. They have become such good friends. They even went skinny-dipping in some pond the other day with Auden Beebe.”

“I wish I could help you, Mrs. Zao, but I’m as much in the dark as you are.”

“Well, if you get the chance to talk to George, can you try to find out for me what’s bothering him?”

“Mrs. Zao, I’d like to help, but you know I’m going to Mongolia next week. I might not be back till Christmas.”

“Not back till Christmas! Is Cecil going with you?” Rosemary asked in surprise.

“Excuse me, but I need to take care of something for my mother before the dinner starts,” Lucie said awkwardly, as she got up from her armchair and rushed off.

She couldn’t find Cornelia anywhere as she wandered through the various rooms, inner courtyards, and the stables, her panic growing with every minute. She knew she needed to get to her before the dinner began. Finally, she found Cornelia in the indoor ring, crouched down on the floor playing with her dogs.

“Hi, Cornelia!” Lucie chirped.

“Oh, hi,” Cornelia answered as she gave Olive, her Westie, a big kiss. “I’m sorry you’ve been banished here, but you’ve all been naughty dogs tonight!”

“I, um, just wanted to … to explain …,” Lucie stammered.

Cornelia looked up with a diplomatic smile. “Lucie, it was none of my business. There’s nothing you need to tell me.”

“Oh. Okay. But I just wanted to say, in case you might have heard some things out of context, it really isn’t what it looks like.”

“It’s fine, Lucie. Shall we go in to dinner?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I’m told the dining tent is down by the ocean.”

“Yes, I’ll show you the way. But I just wanted you to know that I was actually trying to help my mother in there. I’m just trying to protect her from this woman who’s …”

Cornelia put down her terrier, stood up, and looked Lucie straight in the face. “Lucie, I’m really trying to stay out of your business, but it seems like you won’t let it go. Who are we kidding here? You were in the middle of a takedown, a total smear campaign. Now, I don’t live in your building, I don’t know any of these people and this really doesn’t concern me, but please have some self-respect and stop trying to bullshit me. Because the only person you’re deceiving is yourself. And from the looks of it the only thing you’ll succeed in doing is pissing off your mother.”