Cary laughed. A wonderful sound, Stone thought. “Do you deal much with Mafia guys?”
“Not unless there’s a homicide. My partner, Dino, grew up with them, though. Dino says that everybody he was in school with is either dead, in prison, or has his phones tapped by the FBI.”
“I’d like to meet Dino.”
“He’ll charm you right out of your pants,” Stone said.
She leaned close. “Only you can do that.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
They dined well, and Cary pointed out the regulars to him, told him who the producers and directors were. When coffee came, she was quiet for a while.
“That’s really strange, Barron not telling me that Sasha and I were going to be next-door neighbors,” she said finally.
“It really seems to bother you,” Stone said.
“It does. During the time I’ve been with Barron, he’s come to trust me on just about everything, I think, and then, when there’s something you’d think he would just naturally tell me about, he clams up. If Sasha’s stuff hadn’t got moved in there, I’d never have known about her buying the place.”
“Is Barron married?”
“Sure. He and Charlotte celebrated their twentieth anniversary last year. Now, that could have something to do with it. Maybe he didn’t want Dolly to know – but hell, that doesn’t make any sense either. How could he move her into the building and expect to keep it from Dolly? And why would he think I would tell her, anyway? I’ve never told her about anything else he’s done. I hardly know her.”
“What’s Charlotte like?”
“Straight arrow; utterly conventional. They were college sweethearts, and she worships the ground he slithers on.”
“Now, that is the first hard word I’ve heard you say about him. He slithers, does he?”
“Oh, I guess I’m just mad because he didn’t tell me about Sasha’s moving into the building.”
“Was Barron fucking Sasha?”
She turned and looked at him. “Are you on the job, Stone, or is this a personal conversation?”
He didn’t blink. “Every cop is always on the job. There are times when I can’t separate my work from my personal life. This is one of them.”
She didn’t blink either. “If you want to interrogate me about my boss, see me at my office. And I might lie to you.”
“You should never lie to a policeman,” he said.
“I will if I feel like it,” she replied evenly.
The evening suddenly turned cool.
Later, when her black car stopped in front of the Turtle Bay house, she declined to come in with him.
Before he got out, he turned to face her. “I’m sorry. I apologize. I stepped over the line, and I’ll try not to do it again.”
She nodded, but didn’t say anything.
He kissed her on the cheek, got out of the car, and closed the door.
She rolled down the window. “Stone,” she called after him.
He turned and walked back to the car, leaned down close to her.
“Barron was fucking Sasha,” she said. “Secretly, regularly, and for a long time. And I think I’m falling in love with you.” She rapped on the back of the front seat and the car drove away, leaving Stone standing in the street.