“He wouldn’t go for it.”
“At least you’d have your ass covered if this goes wrong.”
“Well,” she said, “there’s a lot to be said for having your ass covered.”
“Call him,” Stone said.
Mitzi took her plate and went into another room.
Rita took a sip of her coffee and looked at Stone over the brim of the cup. “Now she’s going to be all pissed off,” she said. “You’re spoiling her party.”
“I’m trying to protect her from Brian Doyle,” Stone said.
“You think she needs protecting from her boss?”
“Brian is a… mercurial guy, and if this goes wrong, he’s not going to take the blame.”
“And if it goes wrong, what happens to Hildy Parsons?”
“There’s that, too,” Stone said. “And that’s my principal interest in all this.”
“Mine, too.”
Mitzi came back into the room. “Brian says to go ahead with the buy but not to bust Sharpe, just let him walk out with the money.”
“Are the bills marked?”
“If they are, Brian didn’t tell me.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Sharpe owns an ultraviolet light,” Stone said. “He’ll be looking for marks.”
“Too late to change plans now,” Mitzi said. She went to the big Sub-Zero fridge, opened the freezer, and took out a large plastic bag.
“That’s your safe?” Stone asked.
“I’ve got a real safe,” Rita said. “My jewelry’s in it, but there’s room for that, too.”
Stone took the bag and fished out a bundle of hundred-dollar bills. He flipped through them like a deck of cards. “I can’t see anything. I don’t suppose you have an ultraviolet light?”
“Nope,” Rita said.
“Where’s the safe?”
“In the study,” Rita replied.
“Why don’t you put this in the safe and let Sharpe see you take it out? It’ll be good for his morale.”
“What would be good for his morale is for me to fuck him,” Mitzi said. “He’s already made a big pass at me, and I’m expecting more of the same this morning.”
“Slap him hard across the chops,” Stone said.
“I think that would just make him mad.”
“Rita, does the phone system in the apartment allow you to call between extensions?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the extension number for the study?”