“I’ll give you a lift home,” she said. She lowered the partition window slightly and gave the driver the address.
“You know my address?”
“You’d be amazed at what I know about you.”
Shortly, they stopped in front of his house. “How about dinner tomorrow night?”
“Let me call you when I see how my first day is going,” she said. “Will you take me to Elaine’s? I’ve never been.”
“Sure.” He gave her his card. “The cell-phone number is on there, too, if I’m not in my office. But then, you probably already know my cell-phone number.”
“Of course I do,” she said, pecking him on the cheek. “Thanks for squiring me tonight; I’d have felt awkward alone.”
“I doubt if you’ve ever felt awkward in your life,” Stone said. He slid out of the car and ran up the front steps, carrying his coat.
7
WHEN STONE got to his bedroom, Billy Bob’s house present was stacked up at the foot of his bed, and Stone was confused. Maybe Joan had worked late and moved the luggage, but how had she even known about it?
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Stone woke at his usual seven o’clock, and this time, to the smell of frying bacon. He got into a robe and went down to the kitchen. Billy Bob was at the stove again, and his date of the night before was perched on a stool at the counter. Stone wondered if they had the mayor tucked away somewhere.
“Hey, Stone,” Billy Bob said. “You’re out of steak.”
“Sorry about that,” Stone said.
“This here is Tiffany,” he said, nodding at the young woman.
She extended a hand. “Charmed, I’m sure.”
Stone wasn’t sure he could stand another Tiffany in his life. “I thought you’d gone to a hotel,” he said to Billy Bob.
“Well, I thought so, too, but the Four Seasons won’t have my suite until tomorrow night. I still had your key; I hope it ain’t too much of a imposition.”
“Oh, no,” Stone said. “Make yourself at home. You, to
o,” he said to the new Tiffany.
“I already did,” she said. “I fucked Billy Bob’s brains out last night in your guest room.”
Billy Bob laughed loudly.
“I’m so pleased for you both,” Stone said. “Billy Bob, I’ll eat two of those eggs and two strips of bacon, and no more. I still have indigestion from yesterday.”
The phone rang, and Stone answered it. “It’s for you,” he said. “Warren Buffett again.”
Tiffany Two held the phone to Billy Bob’s ear, so he could talk and cook at the same time. “You got it, Warren? Good. Everthing all right, then? Good. We got to talk about that other deal pretty soon. Yeah, I’ll be at this number until tomorrow, then at the Four Seasons. Watch your ass, Warren; bye-bye.”
Stone hung up the phone, feeling this was all wrong. One didn’t tell Warren Buffett to watch his ass. Or did one? He didn’t really know.
STONE WAS READING in his study when Tiff called. “How’s your first day going?” he asked.
“Meeting after meeting, mostly just to get introduced to everybody. I’ve been brought up-to-date on a couple of cases.”
“You sent up Martha Stewart, yet?”
“I told you, I’m keeping my distance from that. I didn’t even ask about it.”
“My guess is, you’re going to get your ass kicked.”