Stone gave him a quick version of the story.
“Ah,” Dino said, “if he’s got the secretary, and he found the die in the drawer, then he can afford to be magnanimous about the coin deal, since he’s in a position to make his own coin and repeat the deal.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Stone said.
Cantor shook his head. “Just because Charlie had the die wouldn’t make him magnanimous; he would want to gloat. No, all this seems logical, but it’s not right. It’s not Charlie. He doesn’t want the reunion; he wants something else.”
“Wants what?” Stone asked.
“Who knows? It could be something completely off the wall.”
“Maybe he wants to impress the Colonel with how well he’s done over the years,” Stone said.
Cantor nodded. “Now that makes sense, showing off for the Colonel. Funny, though, he didn’t mention the Colonel. I brought up his name.”
“Did you agree to the reunion?” Dino asked.
“Yeah, I said okay,” Cantor replied.
“Dino,” Stone said, “have your people tailed Charlie Crow yet?”
“Yep,” Dino said. “In fact, they planted a very nice little GPS device on the Rolls. I can follow it on any laptop.”
“Dino, you said you weren’t going to put anything on a computer.”
“Nah, this device is off the books, an
d so is the website that tracks it.”
“So, where’d he go?”
“His lawyer’s office, for a little over three hours, then his own office, then home. He and his wife ordered in Chinese.”
“Pretty dull life,” Cantor said.
“Yeah,” Stone agreed, “but I wonder about the trip to his lawyer’s office. Two hours is a long time for a client to sit with his lawyer. Three is forever.”
“Maybe he’s got a deal cooking,” Dino offered.
“Still, three hours is a long time. I can’t ever remember meeting with a client for three hours.”
“Yeah,” Dino said, “but it’s hard to spend three hours talking about a DUI or a divorce. Crow has a business, remember?”
“My clients have businesses, too,” Stone said defensively. “I met with Harlan Deal yesterday, and it didn’t take three hours.”
“Harlan Deal is your client?” Dino asked.
“He is.” Long pause. “Well, I consulted on a matter.”
“For how long?”
“Well, the meeting lasted only a few minutes, but I had to spend several hours sewing up everything.”
“Sewing up what?” Dino asked.
“That’s privileged,” Stone replied. “Let’s just say that I completed a negotiation that Harlan couldn’t, and in the process, I saved him a substantial chunk of his fortune.”
“That sounds like a paternity suit,” Dino said.