“Like a nightcap? I’m still wide awake.”
“Sure,” Stone said, and they rode up to her floor.
Her apartment was smaller than Dino’s, but beautifully furnished, with good pictures. “Looks as though your grandmother left you more than jewelry,” he said, looking around.
“Yes, this place is furnished almost entirely with things she left. I had a chance to cherry-pick the furniture and pictures before her house was sold.”
She poured them a cognac, and they sat on the living room sofa. “I fully expect you to make a major pass at some point,” Ann said, “and I’d be disappointed if you didn’t, but please, not tonight. I’m still awake, but I’m tired.”
“Would you normally be in bed by this time?”
“Yes, but with a book or, more likely, some campaign document. I have to be in the office by nine, but I sleep only about six hours. How about you?”
“More like eight—after all, my office is in the house.”
“I remember, I was there.”
“Of course. Would you like to come to dinner tomorrow night? I promise we won’t be visited by men with shotguns.”
“Sure.”
“Come at seven, then.”
“All right.”
Stone polished off his cognac and said good night.
Fred was waiting. “Did you have a good evening, Mr. Barrington?”
“An interesting one, Fred. The dinner guests were robbed of their jewelry at gunpoint.”
“I saw the police arrive, but I didn’t know they were headed for your floor. I didn’t see anyone arrive or leave who looked like a robber.”
“They probably came in through the basement garage,” Stone said. “Apparently, it’s accessible via an alley.”
“I did notice that the doorman disappeared. I thought he had gone home for the night, but then he turned up again later. I guess he was having his dinner.”
“No, he was locked in a closet with the receptionist, until the police freed them.”
“Well, you never know, do you?”
“No, you never know.”
20
Stone had finished breakfast and the Sunday New York Times and was watching The Chris Matthews Show on television while idly working on the Times crossword when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Stone Barrington?”
“Speaking.”
“This is Don Dugan.”
Stone was stunned into silence. Why would this jerk be calling him? “Yes?” he said finally.
“I know that you and I got off on the wrong foot, and I’m sorry about that. Why don’t we have lunch one day next week and talk? I’m really not such a bad guy.”
“That remains to be seen,” Stone said.
“I know that Crane probably said some things about me that weren’t entirely true—that’s the way a relationship can go when it’s on the rocks. I think you and I might have more in common than you think.”
“I can’t imagine what,” Stone said. “I’m not interested in having lunch with you. Anything else?”
“Now, don’t be that way. Let’s talk, see if we can get along.”
“Let me set you straight once and for all, Mr. Dugan: since the first moment I laid eyes on you I haven’t seen or heard a single good thing about you, not one. On the other hand, I’ve heard a lot of bad things about you, enough to make me believe that you are someone I want nothing to do with. Crane is a big girl, but she seems to have trouble learning from experience. I expect that she will soon regret becoming reacquainted with you, and when she does I hope no harm will come to her, because if that happened I would start to take a much deeper interest in you and your affairs than you might find comfortable.”
“That sounds like a threat,” Dugan said.
“Then you’re more perceptive than I thought. Don’t contact me again.” Stone hung up. He was too angry to concentrate on either the television program or the crossword. He needed a change, and he called Ann at home.
“Hello?”
“So you’re not working?”
“I’m reading the Times, that’s work for me.”
“I had a thought. It’s a beautiful day, and I have a pretty little house in the upper left-hand corner of Connecticut. Why don’t we drive up there, have dinner in a very good restaurant, and stay the night. I’ll have you at your office by noon tomorrow.”
“You know, I just had a call canceling a meeting for tomorrow morning, so I’ll hardly know what to do with myself. You’re on.”
“Then I’ll pick you up in an hour. Bring a toothbrush and a change of socks.”
She laughed. “I’ll be downstairs in an hour.”
Stone showered and shaved, got dressed, threw some things into a valise, put on his best tweed jacket, and left a voice mail message for Joan. “I have