“Sounds as if you want to sever all ties.”
“I would if I could, but we can reduce the number of ties to as near zero as possible.”
The phone rang again.
“Dino,” Joan said.
“Hi, there.”
“Dinner, Clarke’s, seven o’clock?”
“Done.” They both hung up.
Stone arrived a little late at P. J. Clarke’s and found Dino at the bar, chatting with Eddie Jr.
“Ah, Stone,” Dino said. “I’ve just met your new client.”
“And who might that be?” Stone asked.
“This guy,” Dino said, pointing.
Stone turned to Eddie. “Who are you?”
Eddie’s jaw dropped. “It’s me, Eddie.”
“Eddie who?”
“Edwin Charles Jr.”
“I have no such client,” Stone replied. “Dino, I think this guy is running a scam. Isn’t that illegal in New York?”
“You want me to run him in?”
“I’ll leave that judgment to you.”
“Now wait a minute,” Eddie said, tugging at Stone’s sleeve.
Stone pointed at his sleeve. “I believe that action constitutes assault,” he said to Dino.
“You want me to bust him?”
“I’ll be content if he just dematerializes.”
Dino took a small radio from an inside pocket. “Charlie?”
“Yes, Commissioner?”
“There’s a guy in here at the bar harassing Mr. Barrington. I’d like for him to go away.”
Eddie witnessed this exchange wide-eyed. Then, before he could speak, a uniformed patrolman entered the bar and walked over. “Is this the guy?” he asked, pointing to Stone.
“No, that’s Barrington.”
“Sorry, Mr. Barrington,” the man said with a little salute.
“This is the guy,” Dino said, pointing at Eddie, who had started to walk backward.
“Sorry for the intrusion,” he said, then turned and fled.
“Thank you, Charlie,” Dino said. “Please see that he doesn’t make any U-turns.”
Four
Stone and Dino were polishing off their steaks when Stone’s cell phone rang. He answered it automatically. “Hello?”
“Why did you act as if you don’t know me?” Eddie Jr. asked.
“Hello? Hello?”
“It’s me, Eddie.”
“Hello? There’s nobody here,” he said to Dino, then hung up. “How the hell did he get my cell number?”
“There are ways,” Dino said. “You employ them all the time. Don’t worry, he’ll call again, and you can ignore the call.”
Stone took out his cell phone and turned it completely off.
“Now he’ll go straight to voice mail,” Stone said.
“Good thinking.”
They ordered cheesecake and were nearly finished when Eddie Jr. appeared at their table and stood there, glaring at Stone. “Well?”
“Did you hear something?” Stone asked Dino. He took a sip of his red wine and set it down near the edge of the table. Then he reached over, took Dino’s half-full glass, and poured it into his own.
“Hey!” Dino said, waving at a waiter for two more glasses.
Stone reached for a paper napkin on the table and used his forearm to tip the wineglass over. The wine struck Eddie’s leg at about the knee and ran down his tan trouser leg.
Eddie made a loud noise and jumped backward into the waiter who was carrying two more glasses of wine, which spilled onto Eddie, too.
“Hey, watch it!” Dino said. “You’re making a mess!”
Eddie was grabbing paper napkins and dabbing at his trousers.
“You did that on purpose!” he said to Stone.
“I didn’t do anything. You backed into the waiter. If you’ll stand still for a minute, I’ll order two more glasses, and you can try to spill those.”
Dino made a shooing motion with his hands. “Get out, or I’ll have you arrested for disturbing the peace.”
The headwaiter came over, waving a cloth napkin at Eddie. Then he took Eddie by the elbow and led him away. He came back after a moment. “I’m sorry about the nuisance,” he said. “Every time that guy comes in here, he starts something.”
“I shouldn’t think you’d want him back in your restaurant,” Stone said.
“I’ll eighty-six the guy,” the maître d’ said. “You won’t see him again in here.” He went back to his desk to receive another party.
“I wish we could get him eighty-sixed from Manhattan,” Stone said.
“Is Rikers Island far enough away?” Dino asked, referring to the city jail facility.
“Almost,” Stone said. “Can you get him arrested in New Jersey?”
“Who is that guy?” Dino asked.
“His stepmother, Annetta Charles, widow of the recently deceased Edwin Charles, is a new client of mine. She’s pretty much fenced him off from her presence.”
“Yeah? Edwin Charles was very rich, wasn’t he?”
“He was. Now his widow is. She’s quite a number. Have you seen her?”
“I think on Page Six.” Meaning the gossip column in the New York Post.
“She’s sixty and looks forty.”
“Watch out,” Dino said.
“Don’t worry, the bar association of New York has fenced her off from me. Legal ethics require me not to diddle my clients.”
“Has that ever stopped you before?”
“Always,” Stone replied.
“It’s a pity the bar association can’t protect you from — What’s-his-name?”
“Eddie Jr. I’m counting on the NYPD for that assistance.”
“I don’t think a charge of disturbing the peace will keep him far enough away,” Dino said. “Dream up something with some jail time attached, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“I guess that assault on my jacket sleeve wasn’t enough, huh?”
“Get him to assault you with something in his hand, like a baseball bat.”
“I’m not sure I would survive that sort of assault.”
“Okay. How about a closed fist?”
“I think he’s too much of a coward to try that,” Stone replied. “Joan says he’s devoid of any moral character, so I’m sure he’ll think of something we can nail him for.”
“Your police department remains at your beck and call,” Dino said.
Five
Stone had breakfast in bed, as always, then showered, shaved, dressed, and went downstairs to his home office.
Joan came in from her office. “Have you called a press conference for this morning?”
“Press conference? Me? What about?”
“My very question,” Joan replied.
“What are you talking about, Joan?”
“There’s a little knot of seedy-looking people with press badges gathered on our doorstep, and they seem to be waiting to be spoken to.”
“Thank God I don’t have a hangover,” Stone said, “or I wouldn’t be able to gather myself to address them.”
“Well, since you don’t have a hangover, why don’t you go outside and disperse them.”
“Because I pay you for that sort of chore.”
“I tried speaking to them, but they ignored me.”
Stone got up from his desk, put on his jacket, and walked outside. “Disperse!” he said to the gathering, making shooing motions. They ignored him and continued to chat among themselves.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” a voice behind Stone said. They all snapped to something like attention.
Stone turned to find Eddie Jr. standing on an upturned flowerpot, from which the flowers had been cast aside.
“I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve called you all together,” Eddie said. They became reverently silent.
“Put that flowerpot back where you found it,” Stone said to him, “and put the flowers back into it.”