“I got it, and I apologize for not responding.”
“Hardly anyone else did, either.”
“Vanessa, has it occurred to you that she wasn’t anybody’s friend? She committed treason, and even if she had lived through the raid she would have been convicted and sentenced to death. At least, she was spared that fate.”
“I suppose you’re right,” she said. “Frankly, I wouldn’t have been there myself, except that she was my mother, and I loved her.”
“I can understand that. Dino and I are having dinner here tonight. Would you like to join us?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’d love to. I need to get out of the house.”
“It’s casual, come at six-thirty for drinks.”
“All right. See you then.” She hung up.
He buzzed Joan and asked her to let Helene, his housekeeper and cook, know they’d be three for dinner.
His cell phone rang again, and he picked it up. “Scramble,” Lance said.
Stone scrambled. “Yes?”
“I had a word with our tech guy who straightened out your security system. He tends to agree with you, that your interloper might, indeed, have worked for us at one time. He says that you said the man had plans of the house.”
“That is so,” Stone replied. “Where else could he have gotten those, except from the people who did the work, namely you and yours?”
“I’ve got people working on the records of everybody who has left us in the past few years.”
“It occurs to me that he could have been a member of the team who installed the equipment,” Stone said.
“That occurred to us as well, and the thought makes me very uncomfortable.”
“You must have people leave you all the time for work in the private sector,” Stone said.
“Yes, but not as many as you might think. Our people who are contentedly employed here tend to stay for the pension. They’re civil servants, after all. It’s those who are malcontented in some way — maybe they’ve been treated in ways they think are harsh; maybe they didn’t get a promotion they wanted, that sort of thing.”
“Understandable,” Stone said. “Let me know what you come up with.”
“I’m sure you’ll be speaking to Dino,” Lance said. “Please ask him to send me the ballistics report in the case of the dead adman.”
“All right.”
Lance hung up.
That evening, Dino arrived first. Stone passed on Lance’s request for the ballistics report.
“I think you and Lance could be on the right track,” Dino said. “A witness to the shooting said the pistol was silenced, and I’m sure Lance’s armory is bulging with that sort of thing. I’ll get the report to him first thing in the morning.”
The doorbell rang, and Stone checked the video screen on the phone before buzzing in Vanessa. He greeted her at the study door, then fixed her a drink. She and Dino embraced.
“I’m sorry about your mother,” he said.
“Thank you.”
“Did you have a lot of press at the funeral?”
“No, the incident doesn’t seem to have made the papers yet. I guess Lance is keeping it quiet, and I’m grateful for that.”
“How are you feeling?” Dino asked.
“Perfectly normal, physically,” she said, “but a little depressed.”
“That’s to be expected in the circumstances,” he said.
Stone fixed Dino another drink, and Fred appeared in the doorway. “Dinner at seven,” he said.
“Thank you, Fred.”
“I read in the paper about this list Stone got,” Vanessa said. “Have you two made any headway on that?”
“Not yet,” Stone said. He told her about the security tech.
“That’s scary,” she said.
“Lance is working on it from his end. He thinks the man might be ex-Agency.”
“No,” Dino said, “that’s what you think.”
“Let’s just say that Lance is coming around to my way of thinking,” Stone replied.
Dinner arrived, one of Helene’s Greek creations that everyone enjoyed.
“Stone,” Vanessa said, “do you think the Russians could be behind this death-list thing?”
Stone shook his head. “I don’t think so. After all, the only Russian I’ve had anything to do with lately is Yevgeny Chekhov, and Lance has him locked up.”
“Locked up where?” Dino asked.
“My best guess is Guantánamo,” Stone said.
“Then he’s been out of touch with his fellow countrymen since Lance’s people arrested him on his yacht.”
“I expect so,” Stone said. “Though it was more like a kidnapping. Lance must have had a plane waiting.”
They were on coffee in the study when Dino’s phone went off, and he answered it. “Bacchetti. Where? Be there in five.” He hung up. “You’re going to have to excuse me, but we’ve got another hit from your list.”
“I want to come,” Vanessa said.
“So do I,” Stone echoed, rising.
“No,” Dino said. “It will shock you, Vanessa, and it will bore Stone. I won’t be long. This is currently our most visible case, and I have to make an appearance. Save me some dessert.”
Dino left, and they sat down again, Vanessa in Stone’s lap. “I’m glad Dino’s gone,” she said. “I’ve missed you.”
Stone kissed her, then picked her up and set her next to him on the sofa. “Dino’s coming back. We don’t want to start something now and shock him when he walks in.”
7
Vanessa ignored his instructions and climbed back aboard, straddling him. “I’m not wearing any underwear,” she said, going for his belt buckle. Before he could stop her he was inside her.
“There!” she said, moving slowly.
“You’re too quick for me,” he said, helping.
“I am. Remember that.”
“How could I forget it?”
They were at the point of climax when the doorbell rang.
“Don’t answer it yet,” she said, moving faster.
“Dino has a key,” Stone replied. “Ringing the bell was his way of being polite.” He picked her up and set her aside again, adjusted his clothing, and managed to be pouring three brandies when Dino walked in, having made coughing noises as he crossed toward the study.
“Gee, I hope one of those is for me,” he said.
Stone handed them each a snifter and took one for himself. He buzzed Helene and told her that now was a good time for dessert.
Dino reached over and adjusted Stone’s necktie. “There, that’s better,” he said. “I hope.”
“Everything is fine, Dino,” Stone replied. “Now, tell us what happened.”
“Trisha Marshall happened,” Dino. “Number nine on your list, right before you.”
“Where?”
“Would you believe the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, and with two cops watching her?”
“You have cops on skates?”
“Not exactly,” Dino replied. “They were watching from the perimeter when she seemed to trip and fall. Then they saw the blood. They both fell down, running across the ice. She’d taken a round in the back of the neck at the top of the spine. She never knew what hit her.”
“Anybody hear a shot?”
“No, but it came from above, at street level, and nobody heard anything or saw it fired. At this time of night the crowds are thinning out.”
“Please add the ballistics report on that one to the other one you’re sending to Lance.”
“Sure. It’s gotta be from the same gun.”
“And the gun is probably from Lance’s armory, down in technical services at Langley.”
“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves,” Dino said.
Fred entered with a tray of Greek pastries, rich with honey, and gave them forks.