Unnatural Acts (Stone Barrington 23)

“Why so much?” she asked. “Are we expecting someone else?”

Stone tasted the wine and poured them each a glass. “Nope, but I’ll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow and maybe for dinner tomorrow night, too.”

“How long ago did your wife die?”

“A year ago Christmas.”

“And how long have you been dating?”

“You’re the first woman I’ve asked out in New York,” Stone said.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Stone raised his wineglass. “You have convinced me I’m ready.”

“I’m flattered.”

“I’m flattered that you’re flattered. Try your food.”

She forked a piece of the veal into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully, then tried the risotto. “You’re hired,” she said. “Can you come to the theater and make lunch every day?”

“I work every day,” he replied, “but I appreciate the offer.”

“Your offices are in the Seagram Building, aren’t they?”

“That’s right, but my office is right through that door and through a couple of rooms. It used to be a dentist’s offices, but when I inherited the house, I made it into my workplace. It houses my secretary, an associate, and me.”

“You inherited all this?”

“Yes, from a great-aunt, but it wasn’t in this good a shape. Took a lot of work.”

“I want to see the whole place,” she said.

“After dinner. Besides, I haven’t heard your life story yet.”

“Born in a small town in Georgia called Delano,” she said. “Learned to tap dance at four-a regular Shirley Temple-started ballet at six, and danced my way through school and college. Came to New York, auditioned for thirty-seven shows, finally got one, and I haven’t been at liberty since.”

“That was concise,” Stone said.

“Well, I skipped the early husband, who turned out to be gay, and a few unsatisfactory love affairs. Something I don’t understand about you: how did you make the leap from the NYPD to Woodman and Weld?”

“I graduated from NYU Law before becoming a cop. Then I was wounded and invalided off the force. An old law school friend, who was at Woodman and Weld, took me to lunch and convinced me I should take a cram course for the bar exam and get myself a license. He promised me work.”

“So Woodman and Weld was your first job?”

“Not exactly a job. I was ‘of counsel,’ which meant, in my case, that I handled the cases the firm didn’t want to be seen to handle.”

“Such as?”

“Oh, a client’s wife is involved in a hit-and-run, a client’s son is accused of date rape, that sort of thing.”

“Sounds sordid.”

“Actually, it was very interesting indeed. I had more fun than anybody over at the Seagram Building.”

“Is that what you still do for them?”

“No, I became a partner last year, after I made some rain.”