“Call me when you have a time for the meeting.” The two walked away from the house.
Stone went back inside, called Marie-Thérèse and asked her to call back from a pay phone. When she did, he read her the text of the letter and told her about the money.
“The letter and the sum are both inadequate,” she replied.
“Listen to me, Marie-Thérèse. This is the offer, and it won’t change. It’s more than you ever expected to get, and I advise you in the strongest terms to accept it.”
She was quiet for a moment. “All right, but Sir Edward will have to apologize to me in person when we meet.”
“We can make that demand at the meeting, but don’t expect it to happen.”
“All right. Now, how are we going to prevent these people from trying to kill me at the meeting?”
“I have some ideas about that,” Stone said, and he explained.
“I like it,” she said. “Tell Sir Edward to be at the Rockefeller Center skating rink tomorrow at three p.m.”
“All right,” Stone said, and hung up. Then he called Dino.
43
Stone was halfway through his first bourbon when Dino arrived at Elaine’s.
Dino gave Elaine a kiss and settled into a chair opposite Stone. “A Laphroaig on the rocks,” he said to a waiter.
“You’re drinking single malts now?” Stone asked.
“Only when you’re buying,” Dino replied. “And it’s better than that corn whisky you drink.”
“Corn liquor aged in oak barrels for ten years,” Stone said. “And bourbon is a patriotic American libation.”
“Then you ought to get the Medal of Honor. What’s going on?”
“I need your help.”
“So what else is new?”
“You’ll be preventing a killing on the streets of New York, so just think of it as doing your job.”
“I’m real anxious to hear what your idea of doing my job is.”
“All right, pay attention, this is complicated.”
“I’ll try to follow,” Dino said, “if you’ll keep it to words of two syllables or less.”
“Actually—”
“That’s four syllables.”
“Dino, shut up and listen.”
“Can I have another Laphroaig on the rocks?” Dino asked a passing waiter.
“You haven’t finished the one you’re drinking,” Stone pointed out.
“Yeah, but you’re going to talk for a long time, and I don’t want to interrupt you by ordering another drink.”
“You just did.”