Loitering With Intent (Stone Barrington 16)

“Given the circumstances,” Stone said, “that’s not an outrageous assumption, even though Manny’s evidence for it is pretty slim.”

“Manny always had good instincts,” Wally said. “I wouldn’t dismiss this out of hand, if you want the kid to stay alive.”

“I wouldn’t like to see anybody take a hit,” Stone said, “so I’ll try to find the kid and let him know what’s going on.”

“That’s all anybody can do,” Wally said. “Just tell the kid to watch his ass.”

“I’ll do that, if I can find him, Wally. Thanks for letting me know.”

Stone hung up and turned to Dino. “The short version: Somebody who sounds like George Plimpton called Manny White and 119

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intimated that he wanted somebody popped. Manny hung up on him, but he inferred—and I know this is a leap— that Warren Keating wants Evan dead.”

Dino thought about this for a minute. “The second part of that makes perfect sense, if you consider that a guy who is getting eight hundred mil in a business deal and who is supposed to share it with his father and son might want both of them dead.”

“Yeah, but what about the first part? He didn’t give Manny his name before Manny hung up on him.”

“Manny’s kind of weird l

ike that. I remember a time when we had a robbery to deal with, and before Manny looked at any of the evidence, he named the perp. We all thought he was crazy, but he turned out to be right, and we would have saved a lot of man-hours if we had just busted the guy right away. So I think you should let Evan Keating know that something might be afoot.”

“I’d love to, Dino, but I don’t know where he is, and I don’t think we’re going to find him by puttering around the marinas in a Whaler.”

“Then we’ll have to find another way, won’t we?”

“Suggest one, please.”

“Didn’t Evan tell you he was going to buy a new cell phone?”

“Yes, but you can’t call information and get a cell phone number.”

“Maybe Bob Cantor can fi nd it.”

Stone thought about this. Bob Cantor was a techie whom Stone had used for years for all sorts of electronic, computer and surveillance and phone problems. “Dino,” he said, “that is a very good idea.”

Stone called Bob Cantor, got his voice mail and left a message.

“Dino, do you think Evan might really be in Miami? I mean, he did leave that as a forwarding address.”

“Who knows? I guess it’s possible.”

“I think I’m going to call Manny White.”

“This is going to be entertaining. Can I listen in?”

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L o i t e r i n g w i t h I n t e n t

“Sure.” Stone called Manny White’s number and put the phone on speaker.

“Yeah?”

“Manny?”

“Yeah?”