“I’ll leave you with one, but you are not, repeat not, to kill anyone, even if you think it’s absolutely necessary. Fire into the floor to scare him. I live a quiet life when I’m here, and I don’t want to get to be known as the owner of the house where the guy got blown away by the giant girl.”
“I understand,” she said. “But what if Devlin does find me?”
“That’s very unlikely, but worse come to worst, I’ve got a house on an island in Maine that my cousin left me, and I can guarantee you he won’t find you there.”
“Maine sounds nice.”
“It’s a little early in the year for Maine; you can still freeze your ass off up there, but the house is comfortable.”
“How would I get there?”
“I have an airplane. I’ll fly you, if necessary, but believe me, Devlin is not going to find you in Washington, Connecticut.”
“What if I run into somebody I know?”
“Tell them you’re up here doing some antiquing, and you’re going back to the city almost immediately. Then go back to my house, lock yourself in and call me.”
“You think of everything,” she said, smiling sweetly. “I’m going to have to think of something to do for you.”
The thought made Stone squirm in his seat.
27
Stone drove back to the city early the following morning, trying to remember every detail of what he and Celia had done to each other for much of the night, right into the dawn. Occasionally, he had to slap himself to stay awake through the drive. Once, he stopped for coffee.
Back at home, he pulled the car into the garage, let himself into the house and went to his office. Joan heard him and came down the hall.
“I hope the lovely Celia is safe and sound.”
“She is, indeed, but I would be neither safe nor sound if I had spent another night there.”
“You do look a little peaked,” she said. “Nothing much to do today. Sam Teich says he’ll have an accounting to you by close of business, which probably means tomorrow morning, and he needs five days to liquidate assets and produce a check, unless you want to just divide some of the assets, like the stocks. He says to give him a call tomorrow and let him know how you want to handle it.”
Stone shook his head, “Frankly, I can’t believe how cooperative Bernie is being.”
“I bet it’s not Bernie, but Sam, who is doing the cooperating. I bet Bernie is screaming bloody murder.”
“You’re probably right. I assume Bob Cantor came and took his nephew away.”
Joan looked at the floor. “Well, there was a teensy problem with that.”
Stone’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by a ‘teensy’?”
“Well, Bob is actually in Atlanta for a couple of days, and he doesn’t want Herbie in his house while he’s gone, for fear that Herbie will hock everything and bet on the ponies.”
“So, where is Herbie?”
“In the third-floor guest room.”
“My third-floor guest room?”
“He’s so sweet; I couldn’t just throw him into the street and let Dattila’s thugs get him again.”
“You’re fired.”
“Okay, but who’s going to do everything for you?”
“All right, you’re hired back, but how cou