“Yes.”
“Same accent.”
“Now that you mention it.”
Hedger looked at the menu. “I’ll have half a dozen oysters and the Dover sole,” he said to the waiter, “off the bone, and I’d prefer a female, if there’s one available.”
“I’ll have the cold soup and the sole,” Stone said. “Should I order the female, too?”
“If you enjoy roe,” Hedger replied.
Stone nodded to the waiter.
“And bring us a bottle of that lovely Sancerre,” Hedger said. He turned to Stone. “Now, what’s up? Why did you want to see me?”
“Things have taken a rather ominous turn,” Stone said, “and I thought you might have some advice on how I should proceed.”
“Tell me.”
“I followed Lance Cabot yesterday from his house to an antiques market in Chelsea. Do you know his friends Ali and Sheila?”
“Oh, yes; he met them when we were in Cairo. I believe they were complicit in the bombing of my safe house there.”
“Turns out they had a shop in the market. Also turns out that I wasn’t the only one following Lance; so were the two men who abducted me and took me to the interrogation. They were in the same Daimler limousine.”
“Did you make a note of the number plate?”
“No,” Stone replied, a little embarrassed that he had not thought of that.
“Next time you get the chance,” Hedger said. “It would help.”
“Certainly. Anyway, the two men followed Lance into the building. I went inside and found Ali and Sheila’s shop, phoned Lance there, and told them to get out. I got them into a cab, and as we drove around the building, a bomb destroyed the shop.”
Hedger’s considerable eyebrows went up. “Sounds like these people are getting serious.”
“They’re not the only ones,” Stone said. “Lance called Erica and told her to get out of the house; then they went to the home of a friend, and I had a look around Lance’s house; got the keys from Monica, Erica’s sister.”
“Oh, good,” Hedger said, obviously pleased. “I assumed you searched it thoroughly.”
“I did. There was absolutely nothing that revealed anything about Lance or whatever business he’s conducting.”
“I’m not really surprised,” Hedger said. “Lance is too smart to leave sensitive materials lying around.”
“Then I had a look in the wine cellar, where I found a small office, concealed behind a couple of wine racks.” He gave Hedger a description of how he got in. “There was a desk, a computer, and filing cabinets, all secured. As I was trying to get into the computer, I heard someone entering the house; more than one person. I shut myself up in the office and waited for them to leave. After a few minutes, two men came into the wine cellar; a moment later, another person came in and shot them both.” He had Hedger’s undivided attention now.
Their first courses arrived, and Stone waited for the waiter to depart before continuing. “When I got out of the office, they were both dead—two small-caliber shots to the head, in both cases.”
“I hope to God you didn’t call the police.”
“No, I got the hell out of there, after removing any fingerprints I might have left on various surfaces.”
“Good,” Hedger said, relieved.
“The two men were my former abductors.”
Hedger looked surprised. “Oh, really?”
“They were carrying Greek passports.”