did appear.
24.
TEDDY SHOWED UP in a beret.
Stone and Dino were having drinks on the balcony when the bell to the suite rang. Dino went to the door, looked through the peephole, and opened the door.
Dino surveyed Teddy critically. “I’m not sure it suits you,” he said.
“It would if I changed my appearance, but then I wouldn’t match my credentials.” Teddy took off the beret, and spun it like a Frisbee in the direction of the couch. “Ah, Paris in the springtime,” he said.
“Brings back memories?”
“Yes, and none of them good. ‘Look, honey, there’s the café where I killed the German courier.’”
“Did you accomplish your purpose, whatever it was?” Stone said.
“I stretched my legs. That was the main thing. Where’s my suitcase?”
“In your bedroom. Don’t worry, it hasn’t been touched. I don’t think Houdini could get through that lock you have on it.”
“Even so, I’d feel better not leaving it lying around in the room.”
“I could have the hotel lock it up for you in the safe,” Stone said, “but that would call attention to it.”
“Not if you tell them it’s yours. Put it in your room and change the luggage tag. You’re Mr. Big Hotel Owner, they’ll rent out Fort Knox for you.”
“Fine. Let’s get it.”
Stone and Dino showed Teddy to his room. His mini-suite could have passed for the Presidential Suite in most hotels.
Teddy’s suitcase was in the middle of his bedroom. The lock was clearly undisturbed. He hefted the heavy case onto the bed and punched in a code. Then he put his key in the lock. The sequence was important. Without the code, the key would not even fit. He turned the key a quarter turn, punched in a second code, and turned the key the rest of the way. He punched in a third code, opened the suitcase, and unpacked his clothes.
Next he took out a clear-plastic zippered case, crammed with packets of hundred-dollar bills. Teddy put the case in the room safe. Not that Teddy trusted the safe, but it was only cash. A good deal of cash, but even so.
Last, Teddy unzipped his heavy-duty equipment bag. He selected a spare burner phone, and a gun and shoulder holster.
He left his state-of-the-art, personally designed sniper rifle in the bag. He had no use for it as yet, and he felt better having it under lock and key.
He slipped on the shoulder holster, closed the suitcase, and went through the ritual of locking it again.
When he was done he dragged the suitcase to the front door. Stone was standing there with a luggage tag.
“Take your tag off and hang on to it,” Stone said. “I know you don’t want your tag on my case when I take it to my house.”
“Not exactly the back trail I care to leave,” Teddy said.
A bellboy came up to retrieve the suitcase. He had a hotel security guard with him.
“Excellent,” Stone said. “I need this locked up overnight.”
“Yes, sir.”
Stone slipped the bellboy a bill. The security guard regarded the money enviously. Stone smiled slightly and slipped him a bill, too.
“Was that necessary?” Teddy said, as the men took the suitcase to the elevator.
“What?”
“Tipping the guard?”
“It wasn’t necessary, but when someone tries to take the suitcase away from him, I’d like him on my side.”
“Well, now I need to get a suitcase,” Teddy said.
“What for?”
“To put my clothes in.”
“I could have them sent on.”
“That would be messy. And I need the suitcase as a prop. I’ll pick one up on our way back from dinner.”
“Will anything be open that late?”
“Someone will have a suitcase.” Teddy smiled. “Luckily, it doesn’t matter what it looks like.”
25.
THEY DINED AT L’Abeille at the Hotel Shangri-La, a posh restaurant where dinner clothes were preferred and price was no consideration. At least it wasn’t to Teddy and Dino. Stone was paying.
There was a waiting list for L’Abeille. Dino might have made more of the fact that Stone was able to get a reservation, had he not been distracted by the name of the restaurant. In keeping with its lush garden view, abeille meant “bee.”
“I know it’s the only reason we’re here,” Dino said. “You have it in your mind that B is for Barrington. Like, it’s your own personal restaurant.”
“B is also for Bacchetti,” Stone pointed out.
“Did I make the reservation? Did I order frogs legs? Which are surprisingly good, by the way. Did I choose a place where I have to wear this monkey suit? I don’t dress this well for the mayor’s dinner.”
Stone laughed. “Can