Shoot Him If He Runs (Stone Barrington 14)

“I’ve gotta have a look at that; Irene would probably like it, too. By the way, she’s looking forward to having you all for dinner; she’s cooking up a storm. I don’t think she knows all that many locals, so she’s glad of the company.”

“We’re looking forward, too,” Stone said. They shook hands, and Stone walked back to the cottage.

Holly came out of the bedroom, yawning. “Hey, where you been?”

“I took a walk down to the marina; saw Harry’s boat, and we had a nice chat. He pumped me a little, but not enough to be unseemly.”

“Did you pump him, too?”

“Not much; didn’t want to seem too curious.”

“Just as well.”

“Something interesting, though; Harry turns out to be a neat-freak. I’ve never seen a boat that well put together: a place for everything, and everything in its place.”

“You know, when Teddy got away from New York, we found the place he had used as a workshop. It was cleaned out, but I remember one thing: there was a lot of pegboard on the walls, where tools had been hanging, and he had painted the outline of every tool, so he’d know where to replace it after he’d used it. That’s being pretty neat.”

“I think that’s pretty obsessive. I didn’t see anything like that aboard his boat, but I guess he has neatness in common with Teddy.”

“He’s not Teddy; he’s an entirely different physical type. And then there’s the hair, of course. I don’t think Teddy could have learned how to grow hair since he left New York.”

“I have to agree,” Stone said.

“Feel like a swim?” she asked, unbuttoning her blouse.

“Oh, yeah,” Stone

said, shucking off clothes.

12

Lance Cabot sat in his borrowed office at Langley, sifting through his notes. The phone rang. “Lance Cabot.”

“Mr. Cabot, this is Eileen, in the director’s office. The director would like to see you.”

“Of course. When?”

“Right now, if you’re available.”

“I’ll be there shortly.”

Lance closed his notebook, checked his hair in the mirror and slipped into the jacket of his pinstriped suit. He walked swiftly down the hallway, across the building to the director’s office, which was on the same floor, and presented himself to her secretary.

“Go right in, Mr. Cabot,” she said.

“Please, Eileen, it’s Lance.” He flashed her a smile, rapped lightly on the door and opened it.

“Come in, Lance,” Kate Lee said. She rose and walked to a seating area on the other side of her large office and waved him to a chair next to her.

“Good morning, Director.”

“Please, call me Kate, when we’re not in meetings. It makes me more comfortable.”

It made Lance more comfortable, too. He wanted to be on an informal basis with her. There was an office down the hall that he very much wanted to fill. “Thank you, Kate.” Lance liked the idea of working for a woman; he got along very well with women.

“Lance, I believe you’re the best-dressed man at Langley,” she said, smiling.

Lance laughed. “It’s all those years of working out of London.”