“Amanda, you got the surveillance reports on your people, the ones I sent you?”
“Yes, and they both look innocent enough to me.”
“To me, too; that leaves Martha.”
“Stone, I’ve told you, it couldn’t be Martha.”
“We’re running out of suspects; there’s only the maid and Martha. I want your permission to check out both of them. Oh, and the chauffeur, too.”
“I hate paying for work that I know will turn up nothing.”
“That’s understandable, but anytime you investigate a group of people, you have to investigate them all. That’s the only way it will work. So, have I your permission to investigate these three people?”
“Oh, all right, but for God’s sake, don’t let any of them know. It would be so embarrassing for me if they found out.”
“Not as embarrassing as what DIRT is publishing.”
“You have a point. Do it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her voice changed, be
came lower. “I thought you were going to call me for a get-together.”
Better bite the bullet, Stone thought. “I’m sorry, Amanda, but I have to be frank with you. I’m seeing somebody, and she’s taking all my… attention.”
“Shit,” Amanda said, and hung up.
Tiffany was next.
“I’m calling from a pay phone,” she said.
“Good girl.”
“That Bob says that somebody can hear every word that’s spoken in my apartment or on my phone, and that he’s not fixing it.”
“If we fix it, Tiff, whoever is listening will know that you know.”
“Stone, you told me to find a boyfriend, so I did. Now when I bring him home, somebody’s going to hear us in bed.”
“You’re an actress; think of it as a performance.”
She was quiet for a moment. “I hadn’t thought of that,” she said finally. “Come to think of it, that could be a turn-on.”
“Whatever works for you, Tiff.”
“I wish there was a way I could turn the bug off for a few minutes at a time, though.”
“Does the boyfriend have a home?”
“Yeah, but it’s way down in the Village.”
“The Village is charming; a great place to make love.”
“Mmmmm,” she said.
“And Tiff, for God’s sake, stay away from Dick – no hotels of anything; it’s for his own good, tell him that.”