“I gotta run. Call me when you’re back in New York and over your Gulfstream lag.”
“Will do.” They both hung up. Stone had been feeling relaxed, but now he was nervous again.
58
Stone called Lance and got a voice mail beep. “Trouble at home,” Stone said. “Call me soonest.” He hung up and finished his sandwich, then the phone rang.
“Lance?”
“Dino.”
“Sorry about that, pal. I had a call in to him.”
“Where the hell have you been? You’ve checked out of the suite, and your cell phone hasn’t been working.”
“I’m sorry about that—it got wet, and I had to get it replaced.”
“Are you okay? The Russians haven’t kidnapped you?”
“I’m reliably informed that the Russians are no longer a threat.”
“Oh? Are they all dead?”
“I’ll tell you more when I see you. Are you done with your conference?”
“A couple of days ago. We stayed over to see some sights and get the free ride home after the big do.”
“Why don’t the two of you come to dinner tonight?”
“Come to dinner where?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell you—I bought a house.”
“You’re insane.”
“You won’t think so when you see it.” Stone gave him the address. “Seven-thirty?”
“Okay. Then I want to be brought up to date.”
“I’ll tell you everything.” They hung up, and Stone called Holly, got the beep. “I’ve invited Dino and Viv to dinner tonight at seven-thirty. Stop by Fauchon again and pick up something delicious for four, okay? If you can’t do it, let me know and I’ll pick it up.” He hung up.
—
TWO HOURS passed before Lance returned his call. “All right, Stone, who’s after you now?”
“Not I—Kate. Someone in your bailiwick has leaked to a reporter that you’re spending outrageous money on protecting my ass.”
A brief silence. “Any idea who?”
“Of course not—you should have a better idea than I.”
“Any idea which side of the Atlantic we’re talking about?”
“Nope, but how would anyone on the other side know what’s going on over here?”
“It would have to be someone highly placed,” Lance said.
“Ann Keaton said she got it from a reporter who got it from a source inside the Agency.”
“That is disturbing.”
“The reporter is treating it with caution, but the election is Tuesday. This would not be a good time for you to have to deny it.”
“Deny it? I don’t deny things, except before a congressional committee.”
“There are Republicans on congressional committees,” Stone said. “In fact Henry Carson is on the Senate Intelligence Committee.”
“You have a point. Let me see what I can learn.” Lance hung up without further ado.
Stone washed the dishes from breakfast and went in search of a book in his new library. He settled on an old biography of Huey Long, but he had trouble concentrating.
—
HOLLY BUSTLED into the house bearing four shopping bags and a wine carton slung over one shoulder. “Good thing I got your message,” she said. “We would have starved.”
“Have you talked to Lance today?”
“Yes, this morning, but he suddenly got busy after lunch and has been cloistered for the rest of the day.”
Stone told her his news.
“Well,” she said, “this could hardly have come at a worse time.”
“No kidding.”
“Lance badly wants Kate elected,” she said.
“I didn’t know he was sentimental about politics.”
“He’s sentimental about his job. He wants to keep it when the next administration comes in, and he’s not real close to Carson.”
“I feel helpless,” Stone said.
“You’ll have to rely on Lance.”
“Now I really feel helpless.”
“Did he express any ideas?”
“Not really.”
“Lance is at his best when he’s in personal jeopardy. He’ll come through.”
“Time is short.”
Holly looked at her watch. “You’re right. Dino and Viv will be here in twenty minutes, and I have to make it look as though I prepared all this food.” She ran for the kitchen while Stone tidied the living room.
Dino and Viv were on time.
59
Dino walked into the house and looked around the living room. “Holy shit!” he said. “How the hell did you find this?”
“You might say Lance found it for me, though he didn’t mean to.”
Dino accepted a scotch and Viv a martini. “Explain.”
“It was a CIA safe house, belonged to a former station chief here, and the Agency bought it.”
“And you bought it from the Agency?”
“From an Agency foundation, the same one that I bought my cousin Dick Stone’s house from. I think I’ve discovered that the foundation would rather have cash than real estate. My local attorney says it’s a bargain.”
“What’s upstairs?” Viv asked.
“A master suite and three bedrooms. There’s a garage and a staff flat on the other side.”
“I’ll buy the staff flat from you,” Dino said.
“Think of the place as your own, whenever you want it.”
Holly came in with hors d’oeuvres.
Viv bit into one. “This is delicious,” she said.
“Oh, it’s just a little something I whipped up,” Holly replied.
“The hell you say.”
“All right, everything’s from Fauchon.”
“What’s Fauchon?”
“A kind of heavenly grocery store that sells the groceries already cooked.”
“I like the sound of that,” Viv said.
“Okay, enough about groceries,” Dino said. “I want to know what’s been going on. Why were you in a safe house, Stone?”
Stone took a deep breath and gave Dino and Viv an account of his time.
“Well,” Dino said, when he had finished, “you’ve been having a lot more fun than I have. Has Jacques Chance been arrested?”
“As far as I know, no.”
“The guy’s a nutcase,” Dino said. “Somebody ought to throw a net over him.”
“I look forward to that happening,” Stone said.
“I’ve had a couple of long conversations with his old man, Michel.”
“What’s he like?”
“He’s a stiff, but he’s a smart one. Very old-school, but a cop all the way through.”
“Did he say anything about his son?”
“I was present when somebody brought up the subject. He just turned and walked away. Like I say, very old-school. Rumor around the conference was that Jacques is being searched for, but quietly. Apparently, removing the prefect of Paris police is complicated.”
They finished their drinks and moved to the dining table at one end of the room, where Holly had distributed Fauchon’s finest.
Stone tasted and poured the wine, and they sat down to dinner. Stone’s phone rang. “Hello?”
“It’s Lance.”
“Hang on.” He excused himself and took the phone into the study. “Okay,” he said.
“Your little insight turned out to be correct,” Lance said.
“What insight was that?”
“The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence—a staffer who had formerly worked in Carson’s office.”
“How did you deal with that?”
“Had a chat with Henry Carson, who denied all knowledge, said the woman was acting out of her own enthusiasm for his candidacy, nothing to do with his campaign.”
“Do you buy that?”
“No, it’s not necessary to buy it. He said all that before I had a chance to brief him. He mentioned the woman’s name.”
“Funny how he already knew about it.”
“I thought so, too. I had a chat with the reporter in question. He’s willing to hold the story.”
“What did you have to give him?”
“An interview—or at least the promise of one—after the first of the year. I don’t give many interviews, so it will be something of a coup for him.”
“Thank you, Lance.”
“You’re quite welcome.” Lance hung up.
Stone returned to the table. “It looks as though Lance has the story contained.”