“Oh. What were Parisi’s instructions to these two guys?”
“He was a little cagey about that, but I gathered that, based on previous experience working for Gino, they knew what he meant.”
“What did he mean?”
“Let’s put that in the category of ‘undesirable.’”
“You’re being pretty cagey yourself.”
“No, I’m just being delicate.”
“I hate it when you’re delicate. You never used to do that.”
“My new job requires a lot of delicacy. I’m practicing on you.”
Caroline did something that caused Stone to make a small, animal-like noise.
“Is there a prairie dog in bed with you?” Dino asked.
“No comment.”
“Are you on that island in Maine?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because these two guys, whose names are Frank and Charlie, chartered an airplane earlier today at the Essex County Airport in New Jersey.”
“Sweetie,” Caroline said, “you stopped moving.”
“Sorry,” Stone said, and began to move again.
“Sorry for what?” Dino asked.
“Not you.”
“Not sorry for me?”
“Do you have any further information about the two guys, like if they filed a flight plan?”
“All we know is that the airplane landed at an airport called five seven bravo.”
“That’s the airport here.”
“I kind of thought it might be. And, after being on the ground for about an hour and a half, the airplane returned to Essex County, where Frank and Charlie had left their car, which now has a tracking device planted on it.”
“Is that legal?”
“It is if we think they are about to commit a crime.”
“And you do?”
“Let’s just say they could do time for what they do to you, if they do to you what they usually do to people who annoy their employer.”
“Were they in the airplane when it returned to New Jersey?”
“Apparently so, because their car is now parked in the garage next door to Gino Parisi’s office.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Not the relief you’re apparently seeking at the moment, but it will have to do, until the real thing comes along. I’m quoting from a popular song of the 1940s.”
“Thank you for the attribution.”
“I wouldn’t want to run afoul of the copyright laws.”
“It sounds as if I’m all right, for the moment,” Stone said, then he let out a gasp.
“I don’t know about ‘all right,’” Dino said. “You sound as if you should be on oxygen.” He hung up.
“Who was that?” Caroline asked, without breaking stride.
“That was Dino.”
“Who is Dino?”
“The police commissioner of New York City.”
Caroline suddenly climaxed, with the attendant noises, and he quickly caught up.
After another minute or so she rolled off him and snuggled up. “Do you only deal with people at the top?”
“Whenever possible.”
“Why did you call the police commissioner?”
“He called me.”
“All right, same question.”
“He called to say that we were followed to Maine by two men in another airplane.”
She sat up in bed. “Are these the two men we’re trying to avoid?”
“Yes.”
“And they’re here?”
“No, they stayed about an hour and a half, then they flew back to New Jersey.”
“What did they do while they were here?”
“I don’t have any hard evidence, but I imagine they were looking for us.”
“Did they find us?”
“Apparently not, or we would now be duct-taped naked to chairs while they burned us with cigarettes.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, that was an unfortunate metaphor.”
“A metaphor for what?”
“For whatever they intended to do to us—sorry, to me.”
“Should we get out of here?”
“No, they have already done so.”
She fell back onto the bed. “Thank heavens!”
“May I go back to sleep for a little while?”
“Of course,” Caroline said. “I can wait.”
Gino Parisi’s face had turned puce. “You chartered what?”
Frank gave a dismissive little wave. “An airplane.”
Gino was sucking in air fast now. “What kind of an airplane?”
“A small, cheap one,” Frank replied.
“How cheap?” Gino demanded.
“Six hundred bucks, cash,” Frank replied, handing him the receipt. “It’s deductible as a business expense.”
Gino’s jaw was working, but no words were coming out.
“Gino,” Frank said, putting a hand on his shoulder, “should I call the paramedics?”
Gino still couldn’t speak, but he shook his head slowly. “I’m all right,” he said finally.
“I’m glad to hear it. You shouldn’t get all worked up about a necessary business expense, Gino. It’s not good for your health.”
Gino’s color was nearly normal by now. “Tell me what’s necessary about chartering an airplane.”
“The person you asked us to . . . ah, meet with, shall we say, got into an airplane and flew to a little airport on an island in Maine. I know this, because I tracked his flight on my iPad.”
Gino’s face screwed up into a knot. “An I what? What are you talking about?”
“It’s an electronic device in common usage these days. It does lots of things—ask your grandchildren.”
“And how much did that cost?”
“A few hundred. Don’t worry, it’s included in our fee.”
“Well, un-include it! I’m not paying for any electronic crap.”
“I paid for it myself, Gino, and for the electronic tag I put on Barrington’s car.”
“Let’s get back to the airplane: You flew it to Maine?”
“That’s right. We landed where Barrington landed—his airplane was on the ramp there.”
“And what did you do to him?”
“Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned. We were unable to find him.”
“On an island? How many people on this island?”
“I don’t know, not many. None of them knew Barrington, though, and he wasn’t in the phone book. We searched the whole island and couldn’t find him. These things happen, Gino. We could be in Manhattan and not be able to find him on a given day.”
“I’m not paying for things that didn’t happen,” Gino said firmly.
“We’re not charging you by the minute, Gino. Our deal was our fee, plus expenses. This was an expense. It’s the cost of doing business.”
“But why Maine? Why didn’t you just wait for him to come back?”
“Think about it, Gino. Maine is better—it’s farther removed from you. And us, for that matter. Cops are going to get involved, eventually. Would you rather they be hick cops on a little island in Maine, or real cops in New York City?”
Gino’s features softened. “You got a point there.”
“In my judgment Maine was worth a shot,” Frank said. “One of the things you’re paying me for is my judgment.”
“Okay, how long is he gonna be in Maine? Maybe you could go back.”
“There’s no way of knowing that, but I’m working on finding out where he is on the island. If we find out where he is, we can go back and, ah, meet with him there.”
“Okay, that’s good,” Gino said. “You do that, and let’s deal with the hick cops.”