Carnal Curiosity - Stuart Woods Page 0,58

to issue his orders for the Barrow Street location. “Don’t let them drive away,” he told his people. “Take them when they look loaded up.” He hung up. “You want to go to a movie?”

“Sure, why not, it’s Saturday afternoon.”

They took a cab up to Third Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, where there was a cluster of theaters, and found a movie, then after that, found another one.

Viv met them at P.J. Clarke’s, and they were having dinner when Dino got the call on his cell. He listened quietly, then said, “Good job,” and hung up.

“What?” Viv asked.

“The art squad busted Anita Mays and Bill Murphy,” he said. “They had a stolen motorcycle in their van and a lot of antique jewelry.” He paused for effect. “And a little more than four hundred thousand dollars in cash.”

Viv and Stone applauded.

“The boys are cataloging the shop’s inventory now, and they say it looks like running into the millions.”

“Good bust!” Viv said.

“And all because Stone had his mother’s pictures stolen,” Dino said.

“And they’re back on my walls.”

“You’ll get your hundred grand back,” Dino said.

“My insurance company will be delighted to hear that, since they won’t have to reimburse me.”

“So everybody’s happy,” Viv said.

“Only thing wrong with that is Dugan and Crane are still happy,” Stone pointed out.

“I’ll see that there’s nothing released about your pictures,” Dino said, “so they still won’t know what happened to them and their van.”

“I hope it drives them crazy,” Stone said. “Go ahead and report their van stolen, Dino. If you recover it, I’d like to see the expressions on their faces when they get the call.”

47

Ann arrived at Stone’s house in a state of excitement. She kissed him and threw her bag into the elevator. “Come on,” she said, “we’ve got to change.”

“Are we going out?”

“We’re having dinner at the Carlyle apartment with the president and Kate.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“The Times story—the big one on Marty Stanton—is going to break tonight, and she wants to be incommunicado when it does, but they don’t want to be alone, so we’re company.”

They took a shower together and used the tiled seat in the stall to good advantage, then Ann spent the better part of an hour doing her hair and makeup, while Stone watched the news.

“There won’t be anything on the air about it yet,” Ann said, “unless there’s a leak, and the paper has gone to some lengths to see that there isn’t. The story goes into the early Sunday edition, which won’t hit the newsstands until the middle of the evening.”

“Tell me again why we’re excited about this?”

“All I’ve got is a rumor that there’s something big in the story.”

“Suppose it’s something big about Kate?” Stone shouted over her hair dryer.

Ann turned off the hair dryer and faced him. “What?”

“If they had big news about Kate, wouldn’t this be a good place for it—in a story about Stanton?”

Ann thought about it. “No, if they had something on Kate, it would be its own story.” She turned the hair dryer back on.

“If you say so.”

She turned it off again. “What did you say?”

“I said if you say so.”

She turned it back on.

—

They arrived at the Carlyle on time and rode up in the elevator with two Secret Service agents, who escorted them to the apartment’s door, where the butler greeted them and took their drink orders. They sat in the living room and waited.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous before,” Stone said.

“I’m not nervous.”

“Then why are you tapping your glass with your fingernails? You never do that.”

“All right, I’m a little nervous. I just have the feeling that something’s about to change in the campaign. Call it a premonition.”

“A premonition about what?” Kate said as she swept into the living room, a half-finished martini in one hand. She administered kisses and sat down. “Will’s on the phone about something,” she said. “He’ll join us in a few minutes. Now, what premonition?”

“I was just telling Stone that I have a feeling that the campaign is going to change when this story hits the streets.”

“You know, I have the same feeling,” Kate said. “That’s why I’m drinking martinis. I know I’m not going to make any statements tonight, no matter what it says, so I can relax.”

A man came into the living room. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said. He went to a computer set up on a table next to the big flat-screen TV and typed in some keystrokes.

Will Lee came into the room. “Have you got