“Excuse me,” Stone said to Sarah, taking his drink with him. He went into the front hall and was shown to a phone booth. “Hello?”
“It’s Dino; I hear you’re driving something alarming.”
“Entirely so; I’ll show you the first of the week.”
“Okay; how’d it go with Mitteldorfer?”
“It didn’t.”
“Warkowski wouldn’t let you see him?”
“He wasn’t there to see.”
“I don’t get it.”
“He’s out.”
“Paroled?”
“Unconditionally released.”
There was a long silence before Dino spoke again. “Well, the little shit. He must have spent the last twelve years bending over for Warkowski.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. I went by the stationery store where he bought supplies and found out that Mitteldorfer was keeping an office there.”
“An office? What the hell for?”
“That was pretty much my reaction. The lady in charge said he had a computer in there and that he was trading stocks.”
“Holy shit, and I bet I know who for.”
“Warkowski.”
“Damn right, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t for the warden, too.”
“The lady said he gave her and the store’s owner a few hot tips.”
“You ever hear of anything like this?”
“Never.”
“So where’s Mitteldorfer now?”
“Nobody knows, or, at least, nobody’s saying. The lady in the store said he said he was going west.”
“Jesus, I hope so,” Dino said. “I never want to see the little bastard again.”
“Somebody came up with a black van and took his computer and his files away.”
“So he’s not without friends.”
“Not while Warkowski’s alive. I wouldn’t be surprised if the captain helped him move. What have you got to report?”
“I’ve had two detectives going through every case we worked as partners, and I’m damned if there’s anything that looks good. Just about everybody we sent up for anything serious is still inside.”
“You had any new experiences that would indicate that our guy is still out there?”
“Nah. I think he’s licking the wounds that Mary Ann gave him. He’d be pretty noticeable with a big bandage on his ear.”
“Nobody followed us out of town that I could see.”
“That’s what Krakauer said.”
“And once I was on the West Side Highway, nobody could have kept up.”
“What are you driving?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
“How’s the inn?”
“Perfect, except that I’m talking to you when I should be talking to Sarah.”
“Bye-bye.”
“Bye.” Stone hung up and returned to the bar.
“That was Dino, wasn’t it?” she asked.
“It was.”
“Dino knows before I do where I’m spending the weekend?”
“I wasn’t surprising Dino.”
“Good point.”
“You hungry?”
“You bet.”
“Miss, could I have a menu and a wine list, please?”
They polished off a dinner of smoked salmon and roast pheasant and a bottle of very good cabernet, then, sated, went back upstairs.
Later, after they had made love again, Stone said, “I like having you around. I’d like to have you around all the time.”
“I hope to God that’s not a proposal,” she said, lifting her head from his shoulder.
“Not yet.”
“Not for a long while,” she said.
“As you wish, but I would like to point out that you are, technically, at least, homeless.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Mine, entirely mine. And I want to make up for it by offering you a bed… home, rather.”
“And a very nice home it is,” Sarah said. “Your house was a shambles when I left for Italy.”
“Do you think you could feel at home in it?”
“I think I could feel at home with you.”
“Then there’s nothing more to say.”
“Yes, there is.”
“What?”
“I told you before, I’m a country girl; I need a place outside the city.”
“Where would you like to have a place?”
“Not the Hamptons; I’ve had too much of that crowd.”
“Where, then?”
“Maybe here.”
“I don’t think I could swing the inn, even with a mortgage.”
“A house, silly, and not a big house; a cottage, perhaps.”
“Sounds good,” he said. “Why don’t we find a real-estate agent tomorrow morning?”
“Do you mean it, Stone?”
“Do you think I’m saying this just because you got me into bed?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re a rotten judge of character.”
“We’ll see in the morning,” she said, snuggling her naked body against his.
Stone fell asleep wondering where Herbert Mitteldorfer was.
22
STONE SAT IN THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT of a black Range Rover and tried not to fall asleep. The car was being driven by a real-estate agent named Carolyn Klemm, and she had already shown them half a dozen houses, all charming, but not quite right. Sarah dozed in the rear seat. The car stopped, jarring Stone fully awake.
“What do you think of that?” the agent asked.
Stone focused on a very large, very beautiful shingle-style house in the medium distance.
“I’ve got the key in my pocket,” Carolyn said.
“Carolyn, I don’t want a house tour,” Stone grumbled. “I want to see houses I can afford.”
“Not that,” Carolyn said. She pointed. “That.”
Stone turned his head to the right. There, much closer, was a very much smaller relative of the large house.
“The big place is called The Rocks,” Carolyn said.“The little place was originally the gatehouse.”
Sarah spoke up. “Let’s see it.”
Carolyn pulled into the driveway, past a row of evergreens that partly shielded the little house from the road. It was a Victorian, or perhaps a Queen Anne, style, shingled, with a turret taking up half the front facade. “Two bedrooms, two and a half baths, garage, and in back, a very nice little pool.” She got out of the car, led them up the front path, and opened the front door.
Stone and Sarah stepped into a larger room than he had expected. A new-looking kitchen occupied a rear corner, and the wooden floors looked recently refinished.
“It was built in 1889, at the same time as the house,” Carolyn was saying. “When the original owner left, he sold it separately from The Rocks, and it’s changed hands two or three times since.”
“Let’s see the upstairs,” Sarah said.
They followed the agent up a handsome staircase and were shown a large master bedroom with a new bath and a second, smaller bedroom, with only a shower. They poked into closets and looked out windows. The bedrooms overlooked The Rocks, and the front windows took in the Gunnery School, across the street. They went back downstairs.
“This whole area is called The Green,” Carolyn was saying. “It’s the oldest part of town and the most sought-after.”
“What are they asking for the house?” Stone asked.
“You could get lucky here,” Carolyn replied. “The couple who own it are divorcing, and they’re highly motivated sellers. They want to get their money out and divide it.” She named a figure.
Stone looked at Sarah inquiringly; she responded with an almost imperceptible nod. Stone turned to Carolyn and quoted a figure twenty percent lower than the asking price.
“Let me use the upstairs phone,” Carolyn said.
When she had gone Sarah grabbed Stone by the lapels. “If you hadn’t made the offer I would have! It’s absolutely beautiful, and it’s just been renovated.”
“There are still a few things that need doing, but I could do them myself,” Stone said.
“And there’s a lovely little garden out back. Do you know what that means to an Englishwoman?”
“I can imagine. The garden’s all yours.”
Carolyn came back down the stairs. “Did you plan to pay cash or finance it?”