Lucid Intervals (Stone Barrington 18)

“Look, Hackett is a very smart man. If he’s protecting Whitestone by faking his death, you may be sure that all the people you want talked to in Maine have been bought.”

“Or,” Felicity said, “perhaps, Hackett and/or Whitestone found a look-alike, murdered him, battered the body and buried him, first taking photographs and Whitestone’s fingerprints. In that case, he wouldn’t need to buy anybody, would he?”

“There are all sorts of possibilities.”

Felicity nodded. “And I don’t like it when there are all sorts of possibilities.”

31

When Stone awoke the following morning, Felicity’s side of the bed was empty. Before he could order breakfast, she returned.

“I’ve used your scanner,” she said. “The fingerprints are Whitestone’s.”

“You’ll have my bill before noon,” Stone said. “What would you like for breakfast?”

“Two fried eggs, wheat toast and blood sausage, please. And English breakfast tea.”

“I don’t believe we stock blood sausage,” Stone replied. “God, but that’s a disgustingly British thing to eat at breakfast.”

“All right, any sort of sausage.”

Stone got Helene on the intercom and ordered for both of them.

“I’ll expedite your check,” Felicity said, “but there’s one more thing I want you to do for me.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you to obtain James Hackett’s fingerprints.”

“He’s a naturalized citizen; they’ll be in the FBI database.”

“No. I want you to obtain them directly from the source.”

“Oh, I see. You want me to go over to his office, hold him down and print him?”

“I would be grateful if you could be more subtle than that.”

Stone thought about it. “All right, let’s invite him to dinner.”

“Here?”

“Why not? I have a dining room, a kitchen and a cook. At a restaurant I might have trouble confiscating his wineglass.”

“All right,” she said.

“And you must be here.”

“Why on earth should I be here?”

“Because it will guarantee his acceptance. If he’s Whitestone, it will be an opportunity to demonstrate his invulnerability to your identifying him.”

“Oh, all right. Who else will you ask?”

“I think Bill Eggers. It would be an opportunity for them to get to know each other better.”

“You need one more couple.”

“How about Dino?”