“No, nothing like that. Just do it, Hank.”
“I’m going to need written confirmation; can you fax me something?”
“In five minutes; go stand by the fax machine.” Stone hung up, then went upstairs to his room and opened his briefcase. He took out a sheet of his letterhead, wrote a letter of instructions, then took it down to James Cutler’s study and faxed it to Richardson. Then he went back into the drawing room.
Carpenter was on her cellphone, and she waved him to a seat. She ended the conversation, snapped the phone shut, and turned to Stone. “Did you get it done?”
“The money will be in Zurich within the hour.”
“Good. What are you supposed to do when it’s there?”
“Lance is to phone me on my cellphone tomorrow morning and tell me where to transfer it. I’m not going to do that, of course.”
“Why not?” she asked, alarmed.
“Are you kidding? It’s a quarter of a million dollars that I worked very hard for. You think I’m going to flush it down some cockamamy security operation I don’t really give a damn about?”
She looked miffed. “I quite understand; I’ll do something about getting hold of some funds tomorrow. Obviously, if we don’t transfer the money, Cabot isn’t going to go through with the buy.”
“He said that everything will have to be done at precise times from then on.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get the money. And we’ll put someone on his house, to keep track of him.”
“I wouldn’t do that; he might spot your people, no matter how good they are. He’s been trained for that, you know.”
“Yes, you’re probably right,” she said.
“Why did you want me to think Mason was in charge?”
She smiled. “The less you know, the better.”
“Carpenter and Mason,” Stone said. “I’ll bet you have a colleague named Plumber.”
She laughed. “Let’s just stick with those names for the moment, shall we?”
“What are you doing for dinner, Carpenter?”
She blushed. “Maybe when this is over,” she said. She stood up. “Now I have to go find that money.” She walked into the dining room, dialing her cellphone.
50
CARPENTER AND MASON MADE MORE phone calls, then Mason made ready to leave. “I can be in the director’s office at Eastover by five,” he said.
“Wait until half-past. Give the building time to empty out after work,” Carpenter said. “Is everything in motion?”
“Our people are meeting at a country hotel a few miles from Eastover,” he said. “When we’ve identified our man, I’ll get them cracking.”
“Good. Call me if there are any problems.”
“Where will you be?” he asked.
“At the end of my cellphone,” she replied.
“All right; will you need transport?”
“If I do, I’ll use Barrington’s Jaguar.”
Mason nodded and left.