bargain. Where’d she get it?”
“I’m working on that. She has a shop in Barrow Street, in the Village, and she says the guy she bought it from may have others. I’ve made a date to go down there Saturday at noon.”
“Mind if I come along?”
“I was hoping you would. I’m going to take a lot of cash with me, just in case.”
“Should I set up a bust?”
“No, I don’t want the neighborhood swarming with cops. I have a better idea. At least, I hope I do.”
“Okay, we’ll do it your way.”
“Meet me here at eleven. We’ll have Fred drive us.”
“You’re taking the Bentley to the Village?”
“We’ll get out a couple of blocks away and walk. I’m taking a lot of cash, so come armed.”
“Okay.”
“Listen, I need a favor.”
“Shoot.”
“I want to get Fred Flicker a carry license. Can you manage that?”
“Let me see if I can think of a way of doing it without my fingerprints all over it. You can download the application online. Have him list his job as personal assistant and security guard.”
“Got it.” They hung up. His phone rang; Joan was gone for the day, so he picked it up. “Stone Barrington.”
“Hi, it’s Ann.”
“Hi, there.”
“You good for dinner on short notice?”
“As short as you like. We talking about tonight?”
“We’re talking about in an hour.”
“Bring your toothbrush?”
“See you in an hour.”
Ann looked freshly showered when she arrived; her hair was still wet. She gave him a big kiss. “Sorry for the short notice, but I found myself without half a dozen people wanting something from me. I thought we could order a pizza and watch the debate.”
“God, I forgot about the debate. What time?”
“Seven on PBS.”
Stone phoned for a pizza, then hung up. “Let’s have a drink while we’re waiting for it.”
“Good thinking. Have you had a good week?”
“No, but it’s getting better.” He told her about the theft of his paintings and his effort to recover them.
“This sounds like an art-theft-caper movie,” she said.
“I hope it has a happy ending.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Because I can’t control what happens—all I can do is react, and hope nobody gets hurt.”
“Why do you think somebody might get hurt?”
“The total value of the paintings is probably at least twenty million dollars.”
“Holy shit!”
“I didn’t pay that for them. They’ve appreciated markedly over the years. Anyway, with that at stake, anything can happen.”
“Obviously the woman you bought the one painting from didn’t have any idea of its value.”
“And the person she bought it from doesn’t, either. If he did, we’d be in a very different ball game.”
“Do you think he’s the guy who stole them from you?”
“No. Whoever did that knew who I was, where I live, and where the pictures were. And the pictures were all that was taken.”
“Do you have any idea who was behind it?”
“Yes, but I can’t prove it.”
Shortly, the pizza arrived, and Stone met the deliveryman at the door and paid him. They took the pizza and a bottle of wine upstairs, put the electric beds up, and settled in to watch the debate. Jim Lehrer introduced the vice president, Martin Stanton, Kate Lee, Senator Mark Willingham, of Virginia, and the governor of New Mexico, Peter Ortega, and each of them had a two-minute opening statement.
“Thank you,” Lehrer said, then began the questioning.
“Vice President Stanton, you were recently involved in an incident at your La Jolla, California, home that has received a great deal of coverage in the press. Do you have anything new to add to what you’ve already said?”
Stanton looked unperturbed. “I think that’s been fully addressed elsewhere,” he replied. “I have nothing whatever to add.”
“Director Lee, any comment?”
“Jim, as Johnny Carson used to say, ‘I wouldn’t touch that one with a fork,’” she replied.
“Good one,” Stone said.
“Well planned,” Ann said.
“Both of them.”
The senator and the governor declined the opportunity, as well, and the questioning moved on to more mundane subjects, such as foreign and domestic policy.
“This is turning out to be a yawner,” Stone said.
“That’s how we’d like it. Kate sounds smart and knowledgeable, and that’s all we need to convey at this point.”
The pizza and the wine were half gone.
“Have you ever made love to the sounds of a political debate?”
“No, I think I would remember.”
Stone set down their wineglasses, put the pizza box on the floor, and came for her. They finished about the same time as the debate did.
“I think we did better than the debaters,” Ann said.
“Oh, we did a lot better than the debaters. We touched on every available point.”
They awoke