From Portrait of an Unknown Lady, a novel, which will be published next month by Catapult. Translated from the Spanish.
I had been working in the art valuations department at Ciudad Bank for a year when I got up one Sunday morning to a message on my answering machine saying I was to meet Enriqueta, my boss and the country’s preeminent expert in art authentication, at 5 pm on the corner of Suipacha and Sarmiento, and to bring my swimsuit. Like a good soldier, I readied my kit and, approaching the appointed address, was reminded…