“The dress was a nice touch,” Dink said. “The handbag, too.”
“They’re both my mother’s,” Carson said. “Is there somewhere we can go?”
“Yeah, I think the heat’s off for the moment. Come with me.” He walked her slowly toward his cottage, chatting along the way, careful not to seem to be hurrying. He walked her through the living room of the cottage, then into his room, closing the door behind him.
“Does it lock?” Carson asked, pulling the dress over her head. She was naked under it.
Dink put a chair under the doorknob. “We’re okay,” he said, dropping his jeans and pulling the polo shirt over his head. In a flash they were in bed, and for the next half hour Dink devoted himself to pleasing her. When they were done she used the bathroom, then came back and lay down beside him.
“Man, you look good to me,” Dink said.
“I meant to. I’ve been so horny I couldn’t stand it.” She took him in her mouth and got him started, then pulled him on top of her.
HALF AN HOUR later they lay together, catching their breath. “Are you going to the city anytime soon?” Dink asked.
“I can if you like,” she said. “I can go directly from here and stay at our apartment tonight. The folks will be away for the weekend.”
He wrote down a name and number for her and gave her the slip of paper. “This is the lawyer who Dad got to put me in here. I want you to call him and get together with him. Tell him how well I’m doing and how grateful you are to him for helping me and tell him I’m grateful, too. Then fuck him.”
“Am I going to enjoy this?” she asked.
“He’s a decent-looking guy, about thirty, dresses well, smart.”
“Okay, then I’ll fuck him. What then?”
“See him a couple of times. Get him hooked on you, because I’ve got plans for him. I’ll tell you more later.”
“I’d better enjoy this,” she said.
“Sweetheart, you enjoy sex more than any girl I’ve ever known.”
“You have a point there,” she said.
“You’d better get dressed and get out of here. Try not to be noticed until you’re back at the main lounge. If anybody asks about me, say that I went back to my room for a nap.”
“Okay, baby,” she said, planting a big kiss on him. She slipped the dress over her head, zipped it, fluffed her hair, picked up her bag, and was gone.
Dink hid his new cell phone, then fell asleep.
29
Herbie finished up his meeting with the franchise group and asked to see a copy of their presentation before his new client did. Cookie buzzed him.
“Allison on line one,” she said. Allison was Stone’s Woodman amp; Weld associate who worked out of his house. He had been seeing her for the better part of a year.
“Hey, there,” Herbie said.
“Hey. Where are we having dinner tonight?”
“The Park Avenue Cafe all right?”
“That’s fine. I can’t be there before eight,” she said.
“Eight is good. You want me to pick you up?”
“No, I’ll meet you.” She said goodbye and hung up.
That was unusual, Herbie thought. Allison liked being called for. Cookie buzzed again. “Mike Freeman on one.”
“Good morning, Mike.”
“Good morning, Herb. I’m going downtown to take a look at the work my people are doing on the High Cotton Ideas building. Would you like to come along?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ve got time for that. I haven’t seen it since the work began.”
“I’ll pick you up in front of your building in fifteen minutes, then.”
“I’ll be there.”
Bobby Bentley knocked on the door. He had been at the franchise meeting and had asked some good questions Herbie hadn’t thought of.
“Come in, Bobby, and take a seat.”
Bobby sat down. “I had dinner with Dad last night, and he asked me to give you his best regards.”
“That was good of him.”
“He said he wasn’t far from having some business for you.”
“For us, Bobby. The firm wouldn’t be getting this business if it weren’t for you, and Bill Eggers will hear about that, believe me.”
Bobby looked relieved, but now he looked worried again. “Dad ran a background check on you,” he said.
“Oh? I’m sure he found the report very interesting.”
“He didn’t know you killed that guy in Little Italy a few years ago.”
“It was in the papers-it’s no secret. Does he know that the initial charges were dropped?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Next time you speak with him, tell him to ask me about it. I’ll be happy to tell him the whole story.”
“I think that’s a good idea, Herb. Dad is a very conservative guy, a real straight arrow, and the idea that you have an arrest record is alarming to him.”
“That’s why I want him to talk to me about it personally. I’ll answer all his questions.”
“Good, I’ll pass that on to him.” Bobby went back to his cubicle.
Herbie was standing at the curb when Mike Freeman’s car pulled up. He got in, and they headed downtown to High Cotton Ideas.
“How’s the new business thing going?” Mike asked.
“Wonderful! Thank you so much for sending me Joshua Hook!”
“Josh is a hard-ass but a good guy. He told me you advised him to ease off the boot camp atmosphere, and I agreed. He’s even having the accommodations done up a bit to make them more hotel-like, and nobody will be bunking with anybody else.”
“My guess is, he was a Marine before he joined the Agency.”
“Close-he was a Navy SEAL.”
“He asked me how far I could run without passing out. I told him I don’t run.”
“Are you going up there next week?”
“I’m already booked in,” Herbie said.
They arrived at the High Cotton Ideas building, and Herbie was struck by the transformation the stucco had made to the exterior. The lobby entrance to the new penthouse was under construction, and there was a crane in the street, lifting pallets of construction material to the roof.
James Rutledge came over and joined them. “The elevator to the roof will be operating in another ten days or so, then we can run materials up there and get rid of the crane.”
“Sounds good,” Herbie said.
They walked through the open door of the garage and the difference from before was striking.
“We’re installing a new steel garage door that will be veneered in mahogany but will be very secure. We can thank Mike’s people for that suggestion.”
“I’m glad they’ve been of help to you,” Mike said.
“The security systems are in, and, miracle of miracles, they actually work!”
“That’s what we aim for,” Mike replied.
They rode up in the elevator to the floor where Mark Hayes and his people were temporarily working.
“This is pretty much what the lower floors will look like,” James said. “Open plan, unless there’s a need to divide the areas. Now come on up one floor and see what the executive offices are going to look like.” They got back onto the freight elevator and rode up, then exited into a coolly decorated reception room with the High Cotton Ideas logo painted large on one wall.
“We’re creating an elevator stop from the private lobby to the executive floor,” James said, as they walked through the main doors. The floor was plush, compared to the lower floors, but decorated in bright colors, almost like a series of children’s rooms. The office furniture was handsome but spare, of light wood, with small conference tables and sofas in the larger offices. At the rear of the floor was a more open area of low-walled cubicles. “This is programmer country,” James said. “They’ll be in here next week, as soon as the computer wiring installation is complete and tested.”
“Is there anything to see on the roof?” Herbie asked.
“Right now, it’s just a roof,” James said, “and it’s dangerous for us to be up there. Give me a month, and we’ll have something for you to look at.”
Mark Hayes entered the area and took them to his corner office, near the new elevator shaft. Men were carrying pieces of furniture through a set of double doors into the big room.