28
BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER, THEY HAD DINNER IN
THE yacht’s dining room, which was a symphony of mahogany and teak.
Juanito had set a small table for the four of them, and candlelight
gleamed on fine silver, as he served the dinner Callie had cooked
for them. Dino had taken a shine not only to Callie, but to Liz as
well, and they to him.
“What, exactly, do you do on the police force,
Dino?” Liz asked him.
“Well, you know how on the TV cop shows there’s
always these two detectives who are out there busting their balls
to solve the case?”
“Yes.”
“That used to be Stone and me.”
“Oh.”
“And you know how the two detectives come back to
the station house and report to their lieutenant, and he criticizes
them and second-guesses them and ridicules them and sends them back
out onto the street to do it all over again?”
“Yes.”
“That lieutenant is me, now.”
“Was Stone a good detective?” Callie asked.
Stone shifted his weight uncomfortably.
“He wasn’t all that bad,” Dino said, “but he was
hard to keep alive. I was always having to shoot people so they
wouldn’t kill him.”
“Nonsense! I was a very good detective,”
Stone said, “but that second part is perfectly true, which gives
you a pretty good indication of what percentage of Dino’s
statements you can believe.”
“Tell us about when you saved Stone’s life,” Liz
said.
Dino took a big sip of his wine. “Well, let’s see,”
he said. “The first time was when we had chased this guy down in a
car, and he came out shooting, got Stone in the knee. I put one in
the middle of his forehead.”
“Goodness,” Callie said. Both the women were
rapt.
“Then there was the time Stone had to jump out of a
helicopter because people were trying to kill him. I used a shotgun
that time; didn’t kill anybody. Then—oh, this is my favorite—this
very strange guy had Stone strung up by his heels, naked, in this
old slaughterhouse, about to cut him a few new orifices, and I put
two in him.”
Liz blinked rapidly. “Strung up by his heels,
naked? Whew! If I had a folding fan, this is where I’d use
it.”
“And there were probably a couple of other times,
but you get the idea.”
Callie spoke up. “The idea seems to be that Stone
needs his hand held.” She took his hand and squeezed it.
“That’s about it,” Dino said. “Stone has good
instincts, but he never listens to them. He’s so curious that he
doesn’t notice when people are trying to kill him.”
“Tell us about Stone and women,” Callie said.
Dino rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me started.”
“No,” Stone said, “don’t get him started. You keep
this up, Dino, and I’m going to start telling them the truth about
you.”
Dino held up a hand. “Peace,” he said. “Anything
else you girls want to know about Stone, you’re going to have to
ask him.”
“Well, Stone,” Callie said. “Will you sit still for
some personal questions?”
“As long as you don’t expect an honest answer,”
Stone replied.
Juanito suddenly appeared, the cordless phone in
his hands. “Miss Callie,” he said, then mouthed, “It’s for him,”
pointing at Stone.
Callie took the phone. “May I help you? And who is
this? I’m sorry, Mr. Barrington left this morning. I believe he was
headed for California somewhere, before returning to New York. No,
I’m sorry, I don’t have his schedule. Why don’t you call his New
York office? Goodbye.” She punched the off button.
“Was it a woman?” Stone asked.
“No, a man. He wouldn’t give his name. He sounded a
little like Paul Bartlett, but I can’t be sure about that.”
“That was a nice touch, about California,” Stone
said. “I’ll have to remember what a good liar you are.”
“I was lying for a good cause,” Callie replied.
“Dino needs help in keeping you alive.”
“Like Regis says, ‘I’m only one man,’” Dino
said.
The phone rang again while still in Callie’s hand.
“Here we go again,” she said. “Hello? Oh, yes, Chief, I’ll put him
on.” She handed the phone to Stone.
“Hello, Dan.”
“Hi, Stone. Our friend from the frozen tundra,
Lieutenant Lundquist, has arrived. Could we have a word with you
tonight?”
“Sure,” Stone said. “Give me half an hour, then
come over to the Shames house. We’re on the yacht moored out
back.”
“See you then.”
Stone hung up. “Well, ladies, you’re going to have
a couple more cops on your hands shortly.”
“I’d better finish dessert,” Callie said, rising
and heading toward the galley.
“What cops?” Dino asked.
Stone explained about Griggs and Lundquist, and
about Paul Bartlett’s sojourn in Minneapolis.
“God, I love catching murderers,” Dino said, “don’t
you?”
“Not as much as you, Dino, but I’ll admit, it’s
satisfying. What I don’t like about murderers is that time after
you’ve figured out what they did but before you arrest them. They
tend to be touchy during that period.”
“So you think Bartlett is dangerous?”
“I certainly do. Griggs has assigned somebody to
keep an eye on him, but Lundquist has asked us not to crowd him
just yet.”
“I hate not crowding them,” Dino said.
Callie returned to the table, followed by Juanito
carrying a tray of flaming desserts.
“Something old-fashioned,” she said. “Baked Alaska.
I thought, given the weather, we could use the extra warmth.”
“Mmmmmmm,” Dino said, plunging into his. “We may
keep you on here.”
“Why, thank you, sir.”
Liz was toying with her dessert. “Stone,” she said,
“am I ever going to be able to leave this boat again?”
“Sure you are, but right now is not a good time.
Paul doesn’t know you’re here, at least not for sure.”
“We could stake her out, like a goat for a lion,”
Dino said.
“Thank you, Dino,” Liz said. “That was so
beautifully put.”
“Don’t mention it,” Dino said, grinning.