“Be right there,” Stone said. He retrieved the 9mm automatic from under his pillow and tucked it into his waistband in the small of his back. He wasn’t expecting visitors.
His visitor turned out to be Dan Griggs, and Stone was relieved until Griggs started to talk. He looked very serious. “Stone, there was an attempted shooting in a parking lot downtown, and one of my people saw you leaving the scene. You want to tell me about that?”
“Don’t worry, Dan. They weren’t shooting at me.”
Griggs didn’t smile. “I thought maybe it was you doing the shooting.”
Stone shook his head. “No, Dino and I were shopping on Worth Avenue, when we heard gunfire. Dino was armed, and we ran around the corner and saw the car with the bullet holes in it. That’s all we saw. We told the parking lot attendant to dial nine-one-one, then left.”
“Did you see the occupants of the car?”
“No.”
“Did you see the shooter?”
“No.”
“Witnesses said there were three men in the car, out-of-towners, by the look of them, and the shooter was a good-looking woman.”
Stone said nothing.
“Why did you leave the scene?” Griggs asked.
“We didn’t see anything. It’s not like we were witnesses. There was nothing there for us to do.” Stone was relieved that he could tell the truth about this, even if he was withholding information.
Griggs sighed.
Stone was about to say something, when he looked over Griggs’s shoulder and saw Dolce standing in the garden, maybe two hundred feet away. Griggs was about to turn and follow his gaze, but Stone took him by the shoulder and led him toward the afterdeck banquette. “How about a drink, Dan?” he said.
Griggs pulled away from his grasp, but did not look toward Dolce. “Are you nuts? I’m on duty. I thought that was obvious.”
“How’s Lundquist?” Stone asked, desperate to keep Griggs looking in his direction instead of Dolce’s. He couldn’t allow himself to look that way, either.
“I put him on a medivac plane for Minneapolis this morning. He’s recovering, and his department sent the aircraft.”
“He’s going to be all right, then?”
“Didn’t I just say that?” Griggs asked, irritated.
“Sorry, Dan. I just wanted to be sure.”
“Something else: You still looking for that Manning fellow?”
“Not really,” Stone said. “I pretty much straightened that out in a favorable manner.”
“Favorable? Did you shoot him?”
“No, no, I just sorted out the differences between him and Liz, and I think he’s out of our hair now.”
“Maybe not,” Griggs said.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve had two reports from my men of a man answering his description being in town.”
“Well, if he’s in town, I’ve got no quarrel with him, nor him with me.”
“Does he have any quarrel with Liz?”