by Stuart Woods
A man wearing a dark suit stepped up to him. “Mr. Barrington?”
“Yes.”
The man relieved him of his case. “Please follow me.” His accent was American.
Stone followed the man outside, where a black Mercedes waited at the curb, a driver at the wheel. Stone got into the back, while the man stowed his luggage in the trunk, then got into the front seat beside the driver. The car moved swiftly away.
“I had expected an American car,” Stone said.
“Too much of a tip-off to the opposition,” the man said. “The Mercedes is more anonymous in London.”
“What opposition?”
“Whoever.”
“Any news on what I’m doing here?”
“Somebody will call you in the morning. I’m told you may be finished in time for an afternoon flight tomorrow. If so, we’ll pick you up at the Connaught.”
Nothing was said for the remainder of the drive into London.
Stone checked into the Connaught and was given a handsome suite on the top floor. He booked a dinner table downstairs, had a nap, showered and changed, and went down to dinner.
Something was wrong. He looked around the handsome, paneled room as he was shown to his table. The big chandelier was gone; there was an odd, contemporary carpet on the floor; there were strange new sconces on the walls; the waiters were not dressed in their usual tailcoats; Mr. Chevalier, the restaurant manager, was nowhere to be seen; the elaborate menu had been replaced by a much shorter one.
“Where is Mr. Chevalier?” he asked the captain.
“He has left the Connaught. I understand he’s at Harry’s Bar now.”
“What about the chef?”
“Gone, too. We have a new chef.”
Stone’s dinner was good but different. It wasn’t the Connaught dining room anymore. He felt as if he’d lost an old friend.
Stone was wakened at seven a.m. by the telephone.
“Hello?”
“It’s Carpenter.”
“Hello. How’d you know I was here?”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t because you called me, was it? You needn’t have spent the evening alone.”
Stone didn’t know what to say.
“A car will pick you up at eight-thirty this morning,” she said. “Please be out front. And think carefully before you speak.”
“Speak about what?” But she had hung up.
Stone had a full English breakfast, then dressed and went downstairs at the appointed hour. The doorman opened the door to an anonymous black sedan, a Ford, Stone thought, and he got inside.
“Good morning, Mr. Barrington,” one of the two men in the front seat said. His accent was Cockney.
“Good morning. Where are we going?”
“We have a twelve- or fifteen-minute drive, depending on traffic,” the man said.
“But where?”
“Please make yourself comfortable.”
Stone looked out the window as the car drove down to Berkeley Square, up Conduit Street to Regent Street, down to Piccadilly Circus, then Shaftsbury Avenue to Cambridge Circus. They turned off into a side street, then into an alley, and the car stopped.
The man got out, looked carefully up and down the alley, then opened Stone’s door. “Just here, Mr. Barrington,” he said, indicating an unmarked door.
Stone got out, and the door was opened for him just before he reached it.
“Please follow me,” a young man in a pin-striped suit said. His accent was upper-class. Stone followed the young man to an elevator with unmarked buttons, and they rode up a few stories and got out. He was shown into a small room containing a leather sofa and some chairs.
“Please be seated, Mr. Barrington. You’ll be called in a few minutes.”
“Called for what and by whom?” Stone asked, but the door had already been closed. He felt as if he were in the waiting room of a psychiatrist’s office.
Stone rummaged through a stack of old Country Life magazines and chose the most recent, which was more than a year old. He sat down and leafed through it, reading about country houses for sale in Kent and the Cotswolds. Perhaps twenty minutes passed and then a door at one side of the room opened.
A middle-aged man in a good suit stood in the doorway, holding a file folder under one arm. The shrink? “Mr. Barrington, will you come in, please?” He stood back to let Stone pass.
Stone walked into a conference room. Four men, ranging in age from their early fifties to their early seventies, sat at the opposite end of a table that seated twelve. A chair was pulled out at Stone’s end, and he sat down.
“Good morning,” said a gray-haired man seated down the table from Stone.
“Good morning,” Stone said. He had the feeling that either he was present for a job interview or he had done something terribly wrong and was being called to account. Then the man who had shown him into the room handed him a Bible and a sheet of cardboard.
“Please take the Bible and read aloud from the card,” he said.
Stone took the Bible and read, “I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I am about to give in this proceeding is the truth.”
The man took back the Bible and the card.
Was this a court? A grand jury? He noticed for the first time that a woman sat in a corner before a stenographic machine.
The man at the other end of the table answered Stone’s unasked questions. “This is an inquiry,” he said, “into the events which occurred at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City earlier this year in your presence, Mr. Barrington. Also present were a Lieutenant Dino Bacchetti and a person you know as Carpenter. Do you recall the occasion?”
“Yes,” Stone said, “I believe so.”
“The three of you were in pursuit of a young woman named Marie-Thérèse du Bois?”
“Yes, we were.”
“We have heard testimony that Mademoiselle du Bois took refuge in a hotel room.”
“That is correct.”
“Please tell us what transpired after you and Lieutenant Bacchetti and Carpenter arrived at the room.”
“Think carefully before you speak,” Carpenter had said.
Stone took a breath; he would keep his account to a minimum. “Marie-Thérèse du Bois emerged from the room, riding on the back of a large man, using him as cover.”
“Was she armed?”
“Yes, she was pointing a semiautomatic pistol at the man’s head.”
“Were the three of you armed?” the man asked.
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
“The large man surprised us by slamming Mademoiselle du Bois against a wall, stunning her.”
“Go on.”
“She raised her pistol as if to fire at us, but Carpenter fired first.” This statement obscured the truth somewhat.
“Did Mademoiselle du Bois fire her weapon?”
“No, there was something wrong with it, I think.”
“Do you know what?”
“I suppose it jammed or misfired.”
“We have heard testimony that her weapon contained no ammunition. Do you know if that was the case?”
“I did not examine her weapon,” Stone said, avoiding a direct answer.
“Mr. Barrington, did you feel that your life was in danger during these events?”
“Yes,” Stone said.
“How many times did Carpenter fire?”
“Twice, I believe. I’m not entirely sure.”
“Did Lieutenant Bacchetti fire?”
“No.”
“Did you fire?”
“No.”
“If you felt your life was in danger, why did you not fire your weapon?”
“Carpenter was quicker than we were, and it was obvious that further firing was unnecessary. Mademoiselle du Bois had been shot in the head.”
“Do you feel that Carpenter was justified in shooting Mademoiselle du Bois?” the man asked.
Stone hesitated only a moment. “Yes,” he lie
d.
“Have you anything to add to this statement?” the man asked.
Stone looked down at the table for a moment, then at the man again. “No,” he said.
“Thank you, Mr. Barrington,” the man said, “that will be all. We are grateful for your testimony.”
Before Stone knew it, he was back in the alley, in the car. Fifteen minutes later, he was back at the Connaught. As he walked into the room, the phone was ringing. He picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Thank you,” Carpenter said.
“Did you get the job?”
“I’ve been acting in the job since returning to London,” she said. “This morning’s proceeding was part of an investigation to determine whether I shall keep it.”
“I lied,” Stone said. “You didn’t have to kill her.”
“Yes, I did,” Carpenter replied. “But thank you. I hope I’ll see you again before long.”
“Good luck.”
“Thank you. Goodbye.” She hung up.
Stone was back at home in Turtle Bay by late afternoon, New York time.
Holly greeted him warmly. “That was quick,” she said. “What was it about?”
“I have a feeling I’m not supposed to tell you,” he said. “You want to go to Elaine’s for dinner?”
“Dino called and suggested we meet there; so did Lance. I said yes to both of them.”
20
LANCE’S CADILLAC WITH the diplomatic plates was double-parked outside Elaine’s, and the man with the briefcase with a hole in it was back in his old spot by the awning. Lance got out of the car almost as soon as Stone and Holly got out of the cab. They all shook hands, and, as they entered the restaurant, Lance whispered something to Holly.
Before they could sit down at their table, Holly said, “Excuse me, I have to go to the powder room.”
Stone and Lance sat down. “Did you send her to the powder room?” Stone asked.
“Yes. How’d it go in London this morning?”
“You mean you don’t already know?”
“I’d like to hear it from you.”
“I lied for her. You knew I would, didn’t you?”
“You might recall that not only did I not ask you to lie, I didn’t even tell you why you were going. Should anyone in an official position ever inquire about the hearing, you might remember to mention that.”
“Is anyone in an official position likely to inquire?”
“In the words of the immortal Fats Waller, ‘One never knows, do one?’ ”
“Will she get the job?”
“There will have to be a cabinet meeting on the subject, but I’m reliably informed that she is being favorably considered. Your testimony this morning was the final piece of evidence taken. She will be the first woman to hold the job, but her credentials are as top-notch as those of any man they could have considered, including the fact that both her father and grandfather were in the service, going back to the Second World War.”
“She mentioned that once.”
“The father mostly fought his battles with the IRA. It was the grandfather who was the swashbuckler. Did she tell you about him?”
“Not much.”
“He spent half his childhood in France—his father was a diplomat assigned to the Paris embassy—so he had the language. He was parachuted in not long after France fell, with instructions to organize and arm resistance units. He was captured twice by the Gestapo, with all that that entailed, and escaped twice. On both occasions he killed several of his captors with his hands. On D-Day, units he organized blew up roads and railways that the Germans could have used to bring in reinforcements and armor. I met him once; he was the perfect English gentleman: erudite, courteous to a fault, and, it was said, the most cold-blooded killer anybody could remember from the war.”
“I guess that’s where Carpenter gets it,” Stone said.
“She won’t be Carpenter anymore; she’ll be Architect, if all goes well, and it should. I’d like you to make it your business to keep in as close touch with her as you can manage. Consider it an assignment.”
“At my contract daily rate?”
“I won’t be charged for phone calls; you’re not being used as a lawyer. But I’ll consider dinner with her a day’s work. Anything beyond that you can think of as a bonus.”
Holly came back from the ladies’ room. “Was I gone long enough?” she asked Lance.
“Quite,” Lance said, offering her a wide grin. “Stone has been debriefed.”
“So happy to have been of service,” she said. “By the way, when will I actually be of service?”
“Be patient,” Lance said. “Your time will come.”
“Is patience the most important attribute of an agent?” Holly asked.
“No. Suspicion is. One must doubt everybody.”
“That sounds like a corrosive way to live.”
“If you say so.”
They were ordering drinks when Dino arrived, looking tired. He sat down and loosened his tie. “A double Johnnie Walker Black,” he said to the waiter.
“What’s happened?” Stone asked.
“A cop got killed today, in Little Italy.”
Holly spoke up. “Not at the La Boheme coffeehouse, I hope?”
“No, but not far away.”
“Somebody undercover?” Stone asked.
“Nope, a beat patrolman. He’d parked his squad car and was ordering coffee at a deli, when somebody walked in and put one in the back of his head. An assassination, pure and simple.”
“Of a beat cop?” Stone asked. “That doesn’t sound right.”
“No, it doesn’t. We’re looking at, maybe, a gang initiation, or maybe just somebody who hates cops.”
“How are you involved with something so far downtown?” Stone asked.
“I’m not, really. I was at a meeting with the chief of detectives when the call came in, so we both went to the scene. I loaned them a couple of detectives. How was London?”
“Quick. In and out.”
“Did you see Carpenter?”
“I spoke to her, briefly.”
“What were you doing there?”
“You’ll have to ask Lance.”
Dino looked at Lance.
“None of your business,” Lance said. “Why don’t we order dinner?”
Holly spoke up. “Did you get a description of the shooter?”
“White male, six feet, maybe more; well built. Black ponytail.”
“It’s Trini Rodriguez,” she said.
“Why the hell would your perp kill a New York City cop?” Dino asked.
“For the fun of it,” she replied.
“Excuse me.” Dino got up and walked away, his cell phone clamped to his ear.
Stone looked at Holly. “Your chances of nailing Trini have just gone up,” he said.
“No,” she replied, “Dino’s chances have. I’ll never take him home now.”
21
STONE WAS HAVING breakfast the following morning when Holly and Daisy returned from the park.
“I had a call on my cell phone this morning,” she said. “My FBI ex-friend, Grant Harrison, is in town, and he wants to see me; says it’s business.”
“So, see him,” Stone said. “You want to ask him over here?”
“I said I’d meet him for lunch, but I didn’t know a good place.”
“Tell him La Goulue, Madison at Sixty-fifth. I’ll book a table for you.”
“Will you come along?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, I’m just not comfortable with this. He’s less likely to shout at me if you’re along.”
“Oh, all right.”
Grant Early Harrison was standing in front of La Goulue when their cab stopped.
“That’s him,” Holly said, pointing.
He was better-looking than Stone had imagined.
They got out of the cab and approached him.
“Hello, Grant,” Holly said, “this is my frie
nd Stone Barrington.”
Grant managed a perfunctory handshake. “I thought I was seeing you alone.”
“Why did you think that?” Holly asked. “Anyway, anything you have to say, you can say in front of Stone. He’s also my lawyer.”
Grant cut Stone a sharp glance. “Do you need a lawyer?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Holly said.
Stone kept a straight face. “Shall we go in?”
They were greeted by Suzanne, and Stone gave her a kiss. “Something in the back, I think,” he said.
“Right this way.” She led them to a table.
“Does this place get crowded?” Grant asked.
“It’ll be jammed in fifteen minutes,” Stone replied.
They ordered a glass of wine and looked at menus. When they had ordered lunch, Grant started in. “I got a call from our New York office last night,” he said. “The NYPD is all over them about Trini Rodriguez. What did you have to do with that?”
“Last night, Trini apparently shot a New York City cop, in a deli in Little Italy,” she said. “I had nothing at all to do with that.”
“Why do they think it was Trini?” Grant asked.
“Oh, I had something to do with that. The perp’s description matched Trini’s, and I mentioned that to an NYPD detective.”
“Great, thanks a lot.”
“What, you wanted nobody to bother Trini? Gee, I’m awfully sorry about that.”
“He’s working something very important to us.”
“So, he killed a cop on his coffee break?”
“You don’t know it was Trini.”
“You don’t know it wasn’t.”
“He denies it.”
“So you’ve talked? What did you expect him to say?”
Grant turned to Stone. “How do you come into this?”
“Holly is staying at my house,” Stone said, “and I sometimes give her legal advice. Otherwise, I’m not in it.”
“Then that’s where you should stay,” Grant said, “not in it.”
“Leave Stone out of this, Grant,” Holly said.
“That’s what I’m hoping to do.”