It's fair to say Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, 57, was a little shocked to receive my call on Thursday morning.
I could sense it in the long pregnant pause that followed my opening question.
It was a simple one, mind you. Did he passionately lock lips with
former netball star April Ieremia at Cowboy bar the previous night?
I'd have thought it was pretty straightforward. Witnesses had earlier phoned offering ringside observations.
"They pashed two or three times," said one.
"He was all over her like a rash," said another.
"They sucked face! It was so gross! This is our Foreign Affairs Minister, for god's sake!" squealed another, a person with liberal leanings.
McCully, perhaps sensing my love for a good gossip fire, was quick to dampen any rabble-rousing flames.
"No, no it was just a goodnight kiss," he said, sounding morbidly embarrassed to be discussing any form of private or public displays of affection with a gossip hack.
Minister Gerry Brownlee had his back. "He kissed her good night, that was all."
The minister had earlier been at a Rugby World Cup function and a group of revellers, including Brownlee, had stopped by the Viaduct watering hole for an after-match drink.
McCully insisted Ieremia, 43, was "an old friend." As to any suggestion the lip-locking minister puckered up two or three times, McCully scoffed: "No, it was just one kiss."
But one observer bitched: "It went for a f***ing long time if it was just the once!."
-Herald On Sunday / View
