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“I want you inside, where you can see them.”
“I can’t do that. He already knows what I look like, and I told him I had a date when I left Sardi’s.”
“Then you’ll be on them when they leave for the apartment.”
“I will, boss, don’t worry.”
Viv walked into Antoine’s with Abney and looked around. It must be good, she thought, because it’s packed. “Looks like we’re not going to get a table,” she said.
“Not to worry,” Abney said, as a headwaiter approached.
“Good evening, Mr. Abney,” the man said. “Your usual table is ready upstairs.”
Abney took Viv’s arm and steered her toward the stairs. “It’s nicer up there,” he said.
“I need the ladies’ room,” Viv said, not sure what to do.
“There’s one upstairs.”
At the top of the stairs they turned left, and she could see a room ahead. They walked into it, and it seemed to be a comfortable sitting room. Their table had been set at the center, and behind it was a large sofa. Uh-oh, she thought. “And where is the ladies’?”
“Just over there,” Abney said, pointing at a door.
Viv let herself into the powder room and locked the door behind her. She fished her cell phone out of her bag and pressed the speed dial button for Rosie’s phone. Nothing happened. “No signal,” Viv muttered to herself. She stood on the toilet. Still no signal. No part of the small room would produce one. Well, she thought, she still had the panic button on her wristwatch. She peed, flushed the toilet, then looked at herself in the mirror.
“You dead in there?” Abney shouted.
Viv opened the door. Abney had opened a bottle of champagne and was holding out a flute to her.
“To new friends,” Abney said. He sipped from his glass, then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
Viv tried not to flinch. “I’m starved,” she said. She reached for her cell phone. “Mind if I make a quick call?”
“It won’t work here,” Abney said. “Antoine has the place electronically blocked. He hates cell phones.”
“Well, I guess that makes for a quieter dinner,” she said, wondering if it would block the panic button, too.
“Have a seat,” Abney said. ?
??I’ve already ordered for us.”
“How nice of you,” Viv said as he pushed her chair under her.
Dinner was three courses, and it was good. Abney kept filling her champagne glass.
“So, Viv, what brings you to the big city?”
“Just a vacation,” she replied. “A friend of mine lent me her very nice apartment while she’s on a European vacation.”
“Sounds nice.”
“It is. I’ll give you a nightcap there when we’ve finished dinner.”
“Maybe,” Abney replied.
She had thought that he would jump at the opportunity. Maybe this was going nowhere.
They finished dessert, and Viv began to wonder if she had drunk too much. “You have a heavy hand with the champagne,” she managed to say, but she slurred her words.
