An Artful Corpse by Helen A. Harrison

Author:Helen A. Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Five

After his phone conversation with Fitz, Kaminsky looked over the duty roster and picked the sorry bastard.

At twenty-nine, Angelo Valentino was the youngest detective in the precinct. With the movie-star looks and suave manner of his namesake, he’d been dubbed Sheik by his fellow cops. Kaminsky figured he should be able to penetrate Warhol’s headquarters, known as the Factory, without attracting any negative attention. He hit the intercom buzzer.

“Sheik in the squad room?” he asked the desk sergeant. “Good, I got a job for him. Send him in.”

Casually dressed in a sports jacket, open-necked shirt, and slacks, Valentino looked like an NYU grad student—which in fact he was, putting himself through law school at night. His apparent informality disguised a formidable talent for evidence gathering, backed up by remarkable intuitive powers of deduction. If he graduates from law school and becomes a prosecuting attorney, thought Kaminsky, defendants beware.

“Detective Valentino front and center,” he said, coming to what passed for attention and shooting Kaminsky a saucy salute. “What’s up, Jake?”

“Take a load off, Sheik,” said the inspector, pointing to a chair. “I got a case I think will interest you.” Valentino raised his eyebrows and lowered his body onto the offered seat. He crossed his legs, leaned back, and listened attentively as Kaminsky ran through the case history.

“We gotta check out this Warhol business,” he said, “and that’s where you come in. I want you to go over to the Factory and nose around, see if you can get an account of what went down at the Whitney. Ever been there?”

“The Whitney, or the Factory?”

“Either or both.”

“Matter of fact, I’ve been to the Whitney and seen the Benton show. I took my kid there to see the toy circus by Alexander Calder, the guy who makes the mobiles. They told her about it in school, and she nagged me until I gave in. Actually it’s a really clever thing, all handmade. They got a TV monitor with a film of Calder playing with it, so you can see how it works, and we both thought it was fun. Since we were there we had a look around the museum and kinda stumbled onto the Benton show. Angie, that’s my girl, she liked Benton’s pictures but I didn’t go for ’em. Anyway, that’s the first time I been in the new building, which I also wasn’t crazy about. You been there?”

“No, not yet, but I’ve seen it from the outside. Not very inviting, is it?”

“All the charm of a bunker, outside and in.”

“Been to the Factory?”

“Nope, but I’ve heard plenty about what goes on there. They’re making porno films and trying to pass them off as art, for Chrissake. Add the drugs, and you got a heavy scene, man. The boys in the Seventeenth have raided it a few times.”

“See if you can find out who threatened Benton. Supposed to be a woman, but could be a tranny. It helps that you’ve actually seen the show. Maybe you can get them talking about it.

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