“Yes?”
“We don’t know each other – not really, I mean, but I thought we should talk.”
“Talk? About what?”
“Well, Amanda, you and I are the principal targets of this DIRT scandal sheet, aren’t we?”
“So?”
“So, I thought perhaps we should compare notes.”
“I don’t have any notes, I’m afraid,” she said. And if I did have any, she thought, you’re the last person on Earth I’d share them with.
“Tell me, have your telephones been bugged?”
She paused. “Why do you ask?”
“I thought so. Where can we meet?”
“I suppose you could come to my office.” She certainly was not going to be seen in public with this man.
“Oh, no, I’m not talking anywhere that might be bugged.”
“Just what is it, exactly, you want to talk about?” she asked.
“I’m not going to talk about it on the phone.”
“How long are you in town for?”
“Until the day after tomorrow.”
“I’ve got somebody working on this; I’ll have him get in touch with you.”
“Listen to me, Amanda; I probably know more about this than you do, but I’m not talking to anybody else. It will have to be you and I, face-to-face.”
Amanda thought for a moment. “You be on the corner of Madison and Seventy-second Street, outside the Ralph Lauren sports store, on the west side of the street, at four o’clock today. I’ll be in a black Mercedes Six Hundred.”
“Fine.”
She hung up. “God,” she said aloud, “some of the people you have to deal with in this business!”
Chapter 33
Dino showed up at the hospital as Stone was getting dressed to leave. “Where are you going?” he demanded.
“Home. I can’t stand it here anymore.”
“Are you nuts? You look rotten.”
“I’m fine.” He didn’t really feel all that great, but he thought he would feel better in his own bed.
“Has a doctor discharged you?”
“Yes; I didn’t give him any choice. Can you give me a lift?” he asked, holding up his slippers. “I don’t have any shoes.”
“Yeah, okay. At least I’ll know you didn’t pass out on the street.”
The phone rang, and Stone picked it up.