“Goodbye, Eduardo.” Stone hung up.
Dino sat down beside him. “You called Eduardo?”
“I felt I had to. He’s sending people down here.”
“Great, now we’ll have goombahs roaming the streets of this piss-elegant town.”
“Dino, you know Eduardo is more subtle than that.”
“We’ll see.”
“He wants your help in finding her.”
“What can I do?”
Stone handed him a Palm Beach classified directory. “Start calling hotels. Flash your badge. Inquire about her under her own name and under the name Portia Buckingham.”
“Portia Buckingham? Give me a break!”
“It’s a name she used to fantasize about having when she was a child, Eduardo says.”
Dino shook his head and took the phone book. “I’ll use the phone in the saloon,” he said.
“Don’t alarm anybody, just find out if she’s registered.”
“Thanks, Stone. I needed that advice.” Dino went into the saloon.
“Leave a description with the desk clerk, too,” Stone called after him.
Stone called his office. “Hi, Joan, it’s me. What’s happening?”
“Amazingly little,” she said.
“Patch me into the dictator,” he said. “I have some documents I’d like you to type up and FedEx to me today.”
“Sure. Anything else?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Here you go.”
Stone heard the beep and began to dictate. When he had finished and given Joan her instructions, he hung up and went into the saloon. Dino was just hanging up the phone.
“I need the phone book for a minute,” Stone said.
Dino tossed it to him. “I’ve called half a dozen places, starting with the Breakers.”
“No luck, I suppose?”
“She’s already checked in and out of two—the Breakers and the Brazilian Court, under Rosaria Bianchi.”
“You’re kidding. That was easy.”
“Not so easy, pal. She’s moving every day, and that’s going to make her harder to find.”
“Oh. Well, at least we know she’s really in town.”
“That, we know.”