Shakeup (Stone Barrington #55) - Stuart Woods Page 0,62

help?” she asked. “I can smell it on your breath.”

“It did,” Stone said.

She turned his head to one side. “Take a deep breath and let it out slowly.”

He did so, and she made a quick movement that caused a noise in his neck. She repeated the movement with his head turned the other way, and got the same sound. “Now, sit up,” she said.

Stone sat up and turned his head back and forth. “Much better,” he said. “You freed it up. It’s still a little sore, though.”

“I prescribe another bourbon for that,” she said. She folded up her table, set it on its wheels, named a number, Stone paid it. Then she was gone, leaving her card.

* * *

—

Eddie got out of a cab in front of the Colony Club, a womens’ association that occupied a chunk of Park Avenue, next door to his apartment building. It was raining steadily, and even though he was already wearing a trench coat and a fedora, put up a golf-sized umbrella, shielding him from the view of an unhappy-looking man on the street corner, who had a view of his apartment building’s front door.

Eddie walked through the Colony’s entrance, into an empty lobby, which sported much paneling and marble. His heels echoed as he walked quickly through a door next to the unocupied front desk, past the men’s room in a hallway. He walked farther down the hall and into a scullery, off the kitchen. A solitary man was scrubbing pots and paid him no heed. Eddie took a right turn, opened a larger door, and emerged into the alley between the club and his building, where deliveries were made. It was raining even harder than before, and he put up his umbrella again.

He walked a few yards to a corner and peeked around it, toward Sixty-third Street. The alley rose to a wrought-iron gate, and through its bars he saw another man, dressed much the same as the one on Park, and looking just as unhappy. His back was turned, so Eddie continued to watch him, until he turned and walked toward the entrance of the apartment building. Eddie took that opportunity to run to his building’s alley entrance, past the gymnasium and the laundry room, to the service elevator. He pressed the 14 button and the elevator rose to that floor and disgorged him at the kitchen entrance to his apartment.

He furled his umbrella, stepped to a dry spot nearer the door and took off his shoes, then he unlocked the door and let himself quietly into his kitchen.

52

Eddie walked carefully to the door to the dining room, which also acted as his study. He opened the swinging door a couple of inches and listened. Nothing.

He entered the dining room, which gave him a wide view of his living room, and checked for any differences—cameras, microphones, things moved. Still nothing. He checked both bedrooms and baths and could find nothing that indicated visitors, except for the maid, then he hung his wet coat in the hall closet and stuck the umbrella in a stand by the front door.

Finally, he went into his study, opened the bottom drawer of the little chest next to his reclining chair and removed a throwaway cell phone. He cut away the packaging with scissors and found it forty percent charged. Then he called Shelley’s apartment.

“Yes?”

“Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Come be alone with me. It’s raining like hell, so take an umbrella and use it to shield your face from the two guys watching the building. Don’t walk, get a cab.”

“See you as soon as I can get a cab,” she said.

He hung up, and the housephone rang. “Yes?”

“Welcome home, sir,” the doorman said. “Just checking to be sure you were the one in the elevator.”

“I was, Terry,” he said. “But I’m expecting company. She’ll be in a cab, so greet her with your umbrella, and make it tough on our two visitors outside.”

“Will do, sir.”

Eddie hung up, poured himself a Scotch, sat down in his recliner, plugged in the throwaway to recharge and switched on the TV. The weatherman said it was raining and would continue to do so throughout the day.

* * *

—

The King Air had to fly an instrument approach, something that always set Debby’s teeth on edge, but the runway appeared in the aircraft’s windshield right where it was supposed to, and they landed safely.

Her usual driver was waiting on the tarmac with an umbrella and helped them into the car, then put away