Cold Paradise (Stone Barrington 7)

“Hi, it’s me.”

“Hi. How’s Palm Beach?”

“Sunny and warm.”

“Oh, shit.”

Stone laughed. “Joan, have you told anyone I’m in Palm Beach?”

“No,” she said.

“Has anybody inquired about my whereabouts?”

“I don’t think anybody cares,” she said archly.

“Thanks. Will you check my old files for one on the Boston Mutual Insurance Company? There’s an investigator there I’d like to speak to, and I can’t remember his name.”

“You want to hold? I’ve got most of that stuff scanned into the computer.”

“Go ahead and look.” Stone made a couple of turns. He was now in a handsome residential neighborhood off North County Road, which pretty much served as Palm Beach’s main street.

“I’ve got it,” she said. “He’s the chief investigative officer for Boston Mutual.”

“That’s the guy. Name and phone number?” He pulled to the curb and got out his notebook.

“Frank Stendahl.” She gave him the number.

Stone wrote it down. “Any other calls?”

She read him a short list, and he gave her instructions on handling them, then he hung up and dialed Frank Stendahl’s number. He had met Stendahl in St. Marks, when the man had come to investigate the claim on Paul Manning’s insurance policy and had ended up testifying at Allison’s trial. Stone had involved him in the capture of Paul Manning later, but the murder charges against Manning had taken precedence over Boston Mutual’s insurance fraud charges, and, since Allison had made their twelve million dollars disappear before she was “hanged,” Manning had had no money left for them to go after.

“Stendahl,” a gruff voice said.

“Frank, it’s Stone Barrington.”

Stendahl’s voice warmed. “Stone, how are you?”

“Very well, thanks. How’s the weather in Boston?”

“Don’t ask.”

“I won’t. Tell me, Frank, how do you think your company would feel about getting back some of the money you paid out on the Paul Manning policy?”

“You planning to reimburse us, Stone?” Suspicion had crept into the investigator’s voice.

“Certainly not,” Stone replied. “But it might be possible to recover a part of the sum.”

“How?”

“Let’s just say that I have a client who is interested in clearing up the matter. Not the whole twelve million, of course, but a decent fraction.”

“How decent a fraction?”

“How about a million dollars?”

“How about six million?”

“It’s not going to happen, Frank.”