“We don’t provide that service,” the other voice said. “You’ll have to talk to a bellhop about that.”
“Herbie,” Stone said soothingly, “there’s nothing you can’t get sent to a hotel room. You can order Chinese or pizza; you can order a girl with her own donkey.”
“Donkey? Why would she want a donkey?”
“Herbie, it’s just an illustration of the wide world that’s available to you from a hotel room. Tell you what, I’ll call the D.A. and see if I can get you a suite.”
“Well, that would be better,” Herbie said, but he still sounded doubtful. “Can my girlfriend visit me?”
“Do you have a girlfriend, Herbie?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Well, then, whether she can visit you is kind of a moot point, isn’t it? You remember moot, from law school?”
“Uh, yeah, sure. What about my clothes?”
“I’m sure the nice policeman would be happy to stop by your apartment and let you pick up some essentials. My advice is, take lots of pajamas. Pajamas are good to wear when you’re swanning around a hotel suite.”
“Sort of like Hef, huh?”
“Exactly like Hef, Herbie. Look at it this way: You’ll be safe, you’ll be comfortable and you can have anything you want to eat, and the D.A. pays the bills. All that and cable with pay-per-view movies.”
“Will the D.A. pay for the movies, too?”
“Just charge it to the room, Herbie. And when you’re all settled in, you might give me a call and let me know what hotel you’re in.”
“Okay.”
“But Herbie, it’s very, very important that you don’t tell anyone else but me what hotel you’re in. You see that, don’t you?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Enjoy, Herbie.” Stone hung up and called Dierdre Monahan. “Dierdre, your men have located Herbie Fisher.”
“I heard, Stone; they work for me, remember?”
“Of course. Listen, kiddo, the boy is going to need a suite.”
“A suite? Are you kidding me? We’re not springing for a suite.”
“Dierdre, the kind of hotel you stash witnesses in doesn’t charge much more for a suite than for a room, and you’re going to have to have a couple of cops on duty there, and they’ll want someplace to hang out. You don’t want to trap them in one room with Herbie Fisher; they’ll blow their brains out.”
She was silent for a moment. “You have a point there.”
“And I’m sure the D.A.’s office can get a really good rate from the hotel.”
“I guess.”
“And Dierdre, don’t take the kid’s cell phone away from him. It’s a throwaway and untraceable, so Dattila can’t find him that way.”
“I got Dattila held without bail,” she said.
Stone could hear her grinning. “That’s great, kiddo!”
“When are we going to, you know, again?”
“Whenever you say; just call.”