Son of Stone (Stone Barrington 21)

“Also, Herbie Fisher’s divorce petition has been granted.”

She handed him a document. “Here’s his copy of the decree.”

“That was unusually fast,” Stone said.

“My information is that a lot of petitions have been withdrawn, pending the new no-fault law coming into effect.”

“Get Herbie for me, please.”

A moment later the phone buzzed, and Stone picked up. “Good morning, Herbie.”

“Good morning, Stone. You got me on the way out to class.”

“I won’t keep you. Your divorce petition has been granted; you’re a free man again.”

“That’s great news, Stone.”

“Try and hang on to your freedom for a while, will you?”

“I’ll see what I can do. Bye.” Herbie hung up.

Stone shook his head. He fully expected to hear soon from Herbie that he had found The One.

Stone walked up the stairs at the Four Seasons and immediately spotted Mike Freeman at his regular table in the Grill, along with another man. As he approached the table, Stone saw a thickly built gentleman in a good suit with short, salt-and-pepper hair, whom he did not recognize.

Mike stood when he saw Stone coming and offered his hand. “Stone, I’d like you to meet Hank Hightower. Hank, this is Stone Barrington.”

Stone shook the man’s hand and sat down.

“Drink?”

“I’ll stick with San Pellegrino,” Stone said.

Mike ordered the water for them all, and menus arrived. He waited until lunch was on the way before continuing. “Stone, Hank is CEO of Steele Security, the insurance company.”

“Ah, of course,” Stone said.

“Steele, as you probably know, is a broad-based insurance company, offering just about every sort of coverage.”

“Yes, I’ve seen the ads,” Stone said. “You’re an old-line company, aren’t you, Hank?”

“Since 1850,” Hightower replied.

Mike continued. “Hank and I have worked out a way for Steele to offer its best customers additional coverage from Strategic Services: personal security, various travel coverages, et cetera. For instance, many of Steele’s clients when traveling domestically or abroad take along expensive items, like jewelry.”

“Yes,” Hightower said, “and these days, with all the terrorism in the world, many of our customers are feeling a bit nervous about the personal safety of themselves and their families-kidnapping, robbery, that sort of thing.”

“I can understand that,” Stone said.

“We’re going to need a legal framework to cover our collaboration,” Mike said, “and we’d like your firm to draw that up.”

“We’d be very happy to do so,” Stone replied. “Hank, can you supply me with an outline of your collaboration, the specific services involved, and your various responsibilities to each other?”

“I can,” Hightower said, “and I will have it in your hands by tomorrow.”

“Then I should think that, in a week or so, Woodman amp; Weld will have a draft agreement for you both to review.”

“Thank you, Stone,” Hightower said. “There’s something else: we’ve been with a large law firm downtown for a dozen years or more, but for the past year or two we’ve been feeling neglected. I know you’ve heard this before: we’re not getting the kind of prompt attention to our needs as in the past, and we’re not getting the attention of the senior partners. In short, we’re being taken for granted.”