“Was another lawyer sitting at the table?”
“No.”
“So the lawyer she consulted was you?”
“That would be a conflict of interest, Bill.”
“It certainly would, Stone. Did you advise her to dump Harlan?”
“Certainly not! Why would I do that? Marrying Harlan looked like a pretty good deal to me.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should have.”
“I couldn’t give her advice, Bill; she wasn’t my client.”
“And what, exactly, is she to you?”
“Harlan Deal’s ex-girlfriend, what else?”
“Which is a good enough reason for you to steal her from Harlan.”
“If she had already dumped him, she couldn’t be stolen, could she?”
“This conversation is exhausting me,” Eggers said.
“Me, too.”
“What do you want me to tell Harlan?”
“Tell him? I don’t want you to tell him anything.”
“All right, I’ll tell him you didn’t steal his girlfriend.”
“That would be the accurate thing to tell him. Now I have to go, Bill; I have a date.”
“I hope to God it isn’t with Harlan’s ex-girlfriend, because he’ll find out.”
“Good-bye, Bill!” Stone hung up, then he picked up the phone and called Harlan Deal’s ex-girlfriend. “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Meet me in the garage, instead of on the street, okay?”
“Okay,” she said.
30
Stone pulled into the Hotel Carlyle garage and looked around. No Carla.
The attendant approached. “Parking, sir?”
“Picking up,” Stone replied.
The attendant looked around. “Anyone in particular?”
“A lady.”
“There’s no lady, sir.”