“Sure.”
“You know P. J. Clarke’s?”
“Of course.”
“Meet us at the bar at six-thirty. Oh, and Dino’s a fount of information on everything cop, so listen to him!”
“Got it.”
They both hung up.
Chapter 17
Carly, characteristically, got to Clarke’s first. She was perched on a barstool, showing a lot of leg, sipping a martini, when Stone walked in with Matilda.
The two women sized each other up as introductions were made.
“How long have you been here?” Stone asked Carly.
“Five, ten minutes.”
“How many offers have you had?”
“About that many.”
“I hope you turned down all of them.”
“Well, not all of them. There were one or two acceptable applicants.”
“Be careful.”
“That’s all you ever say to me.”
“It’s all the words I can get in edgewise when you’re talking, which is all of the time.”
“Stone,” Matilda said. “I’m sure Carly can handle herself. I doubt this is the first time she’s been approached.”
“Oh, no,” Carly said. “Not even close. Would you like an exact number?”
Matilda chuckled as if Carly were joking.
“She’s not joking,” Stone said, then turned to Carly. “Perhaps you should save that information for another time.”
“If you think that’s best.”
“I do.”
Dino joined them.
“Hi, Dino,” Carly said.
“Hey, Carly. Congrats on your graduation, your new job, and whatever you got on the bar exam.”
“I can see that Stone is keeping you up to date.”
“It’s his job,” Dino said, “on those rare occasions when he knows more than I do about something — in this case, you.”
“Where are you living?” Stone asked her.
“On a leather sofa in Murray Hill,” she replied.
“I can do better than that. I’ve got an empty flat next door to my house, where my staff lives. There’s even room for your BMW convertible.”
“Oh, I negotiated for twenty-four-hour parking with Woodman & Weld,” she said.
“Smart move.”
“So, when can I make the smart move to your place?”
“Anytime you like.”
“My suitcase is in the cloakroom, as I was about to jump couches this evening,” she said. “How about after dinner?”
“That will be convenient.”
“Then my life will be complete.”
“You’re even more generous than I thought,” Matilda said to Stone. Though she smiled, there was no hiding her discomfort with the turn the conversation had taken.
“Only to those who’ve earned my generosity.”
“Like me?” She wrapped her arm through his, staking her claim.
“That goes without saying.”
“Please, do say it.”
“Like you.”
Bill Eggers walked in, and they used his arrival as an excuse to sit down at their table.
“What’s new, Bill?” Stone asked.
Eggers looked uncomfortable. “This can’t get out,” Eggers said. “I mean, it’ll be published next week, but it can’t get out until then.”
Stone thought Eggers looked about to bust. “You’ll have to trust us,” Stone said. “Otherwise, you’ll explode.”
Eggers flicked a glance at Matilda.
“Don’t worry, Bill. I vouch for her character. Not a whisper will escape her lips.”
Matilda mimed zipping her mouth closed.
Satisfied, Eggers turned to face Carly. “It’s about you.”
“Oh,” she said. “You’ve found out already?”
“Found out about what?” Eggers asked.
“You, first.”
“All right. You aced the bar exam.”
“I told you I would,” Carly said to Stone.
“I mean,” Eggers said, “that you got every answer right.”
“That’s what I meant, too,” she said.
“The president of the New York State Bar Association called me at the end of the workday. He said that the people who administer the exam said that this has never happened before.”
“Wow,” Dino muttered.
“Is that true?” Carly said.
“It’s true.”
“Oh, well,” she said. “I guess I’ll just have to learn to live with being unique in my perfection.”
Stone winced. “Can’t you think of some way to bring her down a notch or two?” he asked Eggers. “She’s nearly impossible to live with as it is.”
“Don’t worry,” Eggers said. “That will happen eventually, just not tonight.”
“Okay,” Stone said to Carly, “you get to have one free evening, then it’s the real world again. What do you want?”
“Look, I was first in my class at Yale Law, I got a job at the most prestigious firm in town, I drive a snappy car, and as of tonight, I have my own apartment. What else could I possibly want?”
“Well, that was easy,” Eggers said.
“Come to think of it, there is something I’d like,” Carly said.
“Uh-oh,” Stone said.
“If it’s within your gift.”
“Try me,” Eggers replied.
“I’d like a larger office with a leather sofa and a TV.”
“A TV?” Eggers said.
“A big one, that disappears into a cabinet when clients are around.”
“Why do you need a TV in the office?”
“So I can learn when I’m not working. I like to keep it tuned to a news channel.”
“Which one?”
“CNN or, sometimes, MSNBC, when Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O’Donnell are on.”
Eggers chewed on an ice cube for a moment. “Is that it? No afterthoughts?”
“That’s it, no afterthoughts.”
“Okay, you’ll get the office two doors down from Herb Fisher. The guy who sits there is being moved to Estate Planning next week.”
“The poor bastard,” Carly said. “Okay, deal!” She put out her hand and Eggers reluctantly shook it.
Dino turned to Eggers. “Next, she’ll want your office.”
“Not just yet,” Carly said.
“You’re going to have to make a lot of rain before you think about that,” Eggers said.
“Oh,” she replied, “I made a little rain today.”
“What rain?”
“A liquor distributer, Jones & Jones. That’s what I thought you were talking about earlier.”
“Do you know someone there?” Eggers asked.
“I’ve been sleeping on Jones’s sofa,” she replied. “By the way, they spent two million on legal fees last year.”
“Gee,” Eggers said. “Maybe you ought to come and sit next door to me.”
“All in good time,” she said. “Let’s frighten Herb Fisher first.”
“Okay, one more thing,” Eggers said. “It’s traditional that when an associate passes the bar exam on the first try, we give them a ten percent raise.”
“How generous!” she said.
“Because you aced it, and because you’re already making rain, I’m going to give you a twenty-five percent raise.”
“Thank you! I accept with gratitude.”
“You just keep showing me what you’ve got, kiddo.”
“I’ll make a point of it,” she said.
Chapter 18
Carly’s suitcase turned out to be two large ones, but Fred got them into the Bentley without trouble.
“Where were you going to sleep tonight?” Stone asked, when they were on the way home.
“In a hotel, but I didn’t know the name of one,” she said. “That’s why I brought my bags.”
“How convenient,” Matilda said.
“It is, isn’t it? Things always seem to work out.”