said.
As they drove away, Stone saw Dugan and his attorney standing on the courthouse steps, shouting at each other.
14
Fred dropped Stone at his house first. “Dinner tonight?” he asked Crane.
“If you don’t mind, I think I need a night off.”
“Of course.”
“And I think you can call off the security, since I have the protection order now.”
“Okay, if you think so.” He got out of the car, and Fred drove off to deliver Herbie and Crane to their offices.
Joan was laying for him with a fistful of messages. “Where have you been?”
“In court.”
“For what? You don’t have any cases at trial.”
“I sat in on Crane’s hearing. She’s now a free woman.”
“Bill Eggers has called you three times. You’d better get back to him first.”
“All right. Please call Bob Cantor and tell him Crane doesn’t need protection anymore. He can call off his men.” Stone went into his office and called Eggers. “Hi, Bill.”
“I had a call this morning from Jeb Barnes at Steele Insurance,” Eggers said.
“How is Jeb?”
“Mad as hell.”
“About what?”
“He says you robbed him of one of his favorite employees.”
“And who would that be?”
“Somebody called either Hart Crane or Crane Hart, I can’t remember which. Who is the gentleman?”
“Crane Hart, and it’s a lady.”
“And how did you engineer her departure from Steele? Did you get Mike Freeman to hire her away?”
“I certainly did not. I took her to an event at Strategic Services—you were there, you saw her.”
“The dishy blonde?”
“If you say so.”
“And did you ask Mike to hire her?”
“I did not. He called and asked me what I thought, and I told him I had no knowledge of her professional qualifications, except for a single meeting we had when she was adjusting my insurance claim.”
“This sounds fishy to me.”
“I stayed out of any business Mike had with Crane, I promise you.”
“Then I think you’d better call Jeb Barnes and tell him that.”
“I will, if you like.”
“I like.” Eggers hung up.
Stone buzzed Joan. “Get me Jeb Barnes at Steele Insurance.”
Barnes was shortly on the line. He was not Stone’s favorite insurance executive. Fortunately, he was not the client, his boss was.
“Jeb, I hear you’ve lost an employee and you’re blaming me.”
“I damn well do,” Barnes replied.
“Well, you’re wrong.”
“You got Mike Freeman to hire her, didn’t you?”
“I did not. I took her to an event at Mike’s office, but that was it. In fact, I was in court with her this morning, and she didn’t mention changing jobs.”
“In court? What for?”
“She was getting a divorce.”
“How did you know that?”
“I recommended an attorney to represent her.”
“She sent me her resignation in the interoffice mail this morning.”
“Perhaps you can make her a counteroffer,” Stone suggested.
“She just got a raise ten days ago.”
“Money works wonders, Jeb.”
“That woman was the best piece of . . .” Barnes didn’t finish the statement.
“What?”
“Never mind. Goodbye.”
Stone tried to imagine Crane in bed with Jeb Barnes, but he couldn’t, fortunately.
Stone began returning his other calls, but the thing with Crane ate at him all day. His last call of the day was to Viv Bacchetti.
“Hey, Stone.”
“Hey, Viv, sorry to take so long to get back to you. I was in court.”
“How long since you’ve been in court, Stone?”
“Long time.”
“You free for dinner tonight? Dino has a big cop dinner, and I’m at loose ends.”
“Sure.”
“Meet me at P.J. Clarke’s at seven-thirty, then.”
“Will do.”
—
Viv was already at the table when he got there, sipping a scotch.
“Am I late?”
“No, I’m early. I had to take a dress back to Bloomingdale’s, so I just walked down here after that.”
A waiter brought Stone a Knob Creek.
“Tell me,” Viv said, “did your being in court today have anything to do with Crane Hart?”
“Yes, Herb Fisher was handling her divorce hearing, and I spectated.”
“How did it go?”
“Herb handled it brilliantly.”
“I’m so glad,” she said.
The waiter took their orders.
“Something you’re not telling me, Viv?”
“Did Mike Freeman call you about Crane going to work for him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you recommend her?”
“No, I told him I didn’t know her qualifications well enough to do that, and I suggested he have some other people in his office interview her.”
“Did he do that?”
“I don’t know, but . . .”
“She got the job, didn’t she?”
“Yes. I spoke to her boss—her ex-boss—about that. He was pretty upset.”
“Is his name Jeb Barnes?”
“Yes. What’s going on, Viv? Do you know something about all this that I don’t?”
“Did she tell you she got a job with Mike?”
“No.”
“Does that strike you as odd?”
“Well, sort of. She had the opportunity to tell me but didn’t. I asked her to dinner,