“Bully for you!”
“Then a call went in to the Torrington law firm, and one of their attorneys hotfooted it to the courthouse, armed with a court order freeing Eli and negating Warren’s guardianship, and barged in on the local judge. He also took an affidavit from me, saying that Eli is compos mentis and desires to leave Happy Hills immediately.
“Then I went down to Eli’s room, which was little more than a cell, really, stuffed his clothes into a suitcase and drove him to his home. By this time, Warren had found another lawyer and was arguing with the judge, but by the time we got to Eli’s place, the judge had signed off on it, a little late perhaps, but Eli is back in charge of his life.”
“Hallelujah!” Stone shouted.
“Eli called his old secretary, got her out of retirement and over to his house, and she’s taken charge of running his life. Warren will never get hold of him again, if I have anything to say about it, and Eli has withdrawn his permission for the deal to go through. In fact, he says he never signed it, so that means that Warren or somebody who works for him forged the document.”
“What happens now?”
“Eli likes the sale, but he’s going to be dealing directly with the buyers, and distribution of the proceeds will be made according to the original will of Elijah Keating.”
“I hate it that Warren will still get a bundle.”
“I’m going to see what I can do about that,” Eggers said.
“I’m really delighted to hear all this, Bill.”
“I’m pretty delighted with it myself,” Eggers said. “Warren may sue the firm, but with everything we’ve got on him, we’ll have him for lunch.”
“I’ll be very happy to testify to my part in this,” Stone said.
“Now, this is the sad part, Stone,” Eggers said. “Tonight is your last night in Key West on my dime. You get your ass out of there tomorrow or start using your own credit card, you hear?”
“I hear you, Bill.” Then he thought about that. “Dino and I may stick around for a couple more days and start enjoying ourselves, instead of working so hard.”
Dino had to put a hand over his mouth to keep from hooting.
“Do whatever you like,” Eggers said. “Oh, you might spend the rest of your time today trying to find Evan Keating and telling him to get in touch with his grandfather.”
“I’ll do that,” Stone said.
“Now I have to get back with Eli and paper over any cracks in all this,” Eggers said. “So bye-bye.” He hung up.
“Isn’t that great?” Stone said to Dino.
“Couldn’t be better,” Dino said. “We’re going to stick around for a couple more days?”
“Have you got the time?”
“I’ve got the days, and my captain is on vacation in the Bahamas, so he can hardly squawk. You still want to find Evan, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. I’d like to wrap this up neatly before we abandon ship.”
“Nah, you just want to see the Swede a couple more times,” Dino said.
“Well,” Stone replied, “there is that.”
27
STONE AND DINO were enjoying a drink on their front porch when Stone’s cell phone buzzed. “Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Wally Millard.”
“Hey, Wally, how are you?”
“I’m okay, but I don’t think everybody else is.”
“What do you mean?”
“What’s this kid’s name you’re looking for?”
“Evan Keating.”
“That’s the one. I got a call from Manny White in Miami, and he was steamed, which isn’t unusual for Manny.”
“I guess not. What’s his problem?”
“Well, Manny doesn’t like to hear from people who want to have some dirty work done.”
“Okay. Who asked him to do what?”
“Somebody called him and hinted that he needed somebody hit.”
“I can see how that might steam Manny. Who was the caller?”
“He’s not positive, but he thinks it was the guy who hired him to fi nd Keating.”
“He thinks it was Warren Keating?” Stone didn’t like the sound of this.
“That’s right, he wanted Manny to find his son. I passed it on to him after Eggers called me.”
“Why does he think it was Warren Keating?”
“He had an upper-class New England accent; Manny doesn’t get many calls from people who talk like George Plimpton. That’s who Manny said he talks like.”
“When you referred Keating to Manny, did you make the call, or did he?”
“I did.”
“Then how can Manny recognize his voice?”
“It was the accent. Manny can’t think of anybody else who would call him who has an accent like that. And George Plimpton is dead, God rest his soul.”
“Okay, I get all of that.”
“Did you find the Keating kid?”
“Yeah, but I’ve lost him again. Why?”
“Well, Manny cut the guy short, but after he hung up, it occurred to him that what might have been going on was that old Keating wanted young Keating taken out.”
“Given the circumstances,” Stone said, “that’s not an outrageous assumption, even though Manny’s evidence for it is pretty slim.”
“Manny always had good instincts,” Wally said. “I wouldn’t dismiss this out of hand, if you want the kid to stay alive.”
“I wouldn’t like to see anybody take a hit,” Stone said, “so I’ll try to find the kid and let him know what’s going on.”
“That’s all anybody can do,” Wally said. “Just tell the kid to watch his ass.”
“I’ll do that, if I can find him, Wally. Thanks for letting me know.”
Stone hung up and turned to Dino. “The short version: Somebody who sounds like George Plimpton called Manny White and intimated that he wanted somebody popped. Manny hung up on him, but he inferred—and I know this is a leap— that Warren Keating wants Evan dead.”
Dino thought about this for a minute. “The second part of that makes perfect sense, if you consider that a guy who is getting eight hundred mil in a business deal and who is supposed to share it with his father and son might want both of them dead.”
“Yeah, but what about the first part? He didn’t give Manny his name before Manny hung up on him.”
“Manny’s kind of weird like that. I remember a time when we had a robbery to deal with, and before Manny looked at any of the evidence, he named the perp. We all thought he was crazy, but he turned out to be right, and we would have saved a lot of man-hours if we had just busted the guy right away. So I think you should let Evan Keating know that something might be afoot.”
“I’d love to, Dino, but I don’t know where he is, and I don’t think we’re going to find him by puttering around the marinas in a Whaler.”
“Then we’ll have to find another way, won’t we?”
“Suggest one, please.”
“Didn’t Evan tell you he was going to buy a new cell phone?”
“Yes, but you can’t call information and get a cell phone number.”
“Maybe Bob Cantor can fi nd it.”
Stone thought about this. Bob Cantor was a techie whom Stone had used for years for all sorts of electronic, computer and surveillance and phone problems. “Dino,” he said, “that is a very good idea.”
Stone called Bob Cantor, got his voice mail and left a message.
“Dino, do you think Evan might really be in Miami? I mean, he did leave that as a forwarding address.”
“Who knows? I guess it’s possible.”
“I think I’m going to call Manny White.”
“This is going to be entertaining. Can I listen in?”
“Sure.” Stone called Manny White’s number and put the phone on speaker.