A Safe House

38

Stone was awakened by Jenna’s cell phone. “Yes? Wow! Will anybody see it? Oh, good! Thanks, Charlie!” She hung up. “That was Charlie,” she said.

“Who else?” Stone muttered, trying to go back to sleep.

“They’re moving us to tonight,” she said.

“Who’s moving us up, and what is it? Have you bought furniture?”

“Sixty Minutes. It was supposed to run next Sunday, but they’ve moved it to tonight, right after the football game. Tom Brady is playing, so they’ll have a huge audience, and they’ll be promoting it at every time-out!”

“Do we have to do anything?”

“Just watch.”

“Good. Wake me when it starts.” He pulled a pillow over his ears.

Jenna elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ooof!”

“I’m hungry.”

Stone picked up the phone and called downstairs. He had just gotten back to sleep when the dumbwaiter went off. Jenna served them and he managed to eat it. They watched CBS’s Sunday Morning, and there were promos for Jenna’s interview throughout.

“Well,” Stone said. “Nobody’s going to get through the day without hearing about your interview.”

“Charlie says that’s the way God intended it.”

“Charlie would know that.”

They watched. Jenna looked just great on television, and she seemed eager to tell her story, and not in the least nervous.

As they got nearer to the conclusion, Lesley Stahl leaned in and said, “Jenna, do you think it’s someone you know who is trying to harm you?”

“Let me put it this way, Lesley,” Jenna said. “I’ve racked my memory and made a list of everyone I know who would want me dead, and there’s only one name on the list, and he’s at the very top.”

The screen faded and went to commercial.

“That was a brilliant last line,” Stone said.

“I worked on it all afternoon,” she said.

“Well, that worked.”

Stone’s phone rang. “Hello?”

“It’s Charlie,” she said.

“Charlie,” Stone said, “take some deep breaths and slow down. You’ll have a coronary!”

“Already been there,” Charlie said. “I’ve got six other network shows who want Jenna. Oprah wants Jenna!”

“Who? I didn’t quite get the name.”

“OPRAH WANTS JENNA. So does Dr. Phil and Judge Judy!”

“What does Judge Judy want to try her for?”

“She has a talk show, dummy!”

“Forgive me, I’m one of the slow few who does not watch afternoon TV. Are you going to get her on a soap?”

“Right now, she could have her own soap, if she wanted it.”

“Do you want to speak to Jenna?”

“I don’t have time! Phil Donahue is on the other line, and he wants to make a comeback! Tell Jenna everything I said, so I won’t have to repeat myself!” She hung up.

“Did you get all that?” Stone asked Jenna.

“I can have my own soap? Wow!”

“Oh, stop it. I think that what Charlie said, in a nutshell, is that your interview touched every base, after you knocked it out of the park.”

“What do you think Wallace will do?”

“My bet is, after this, Wallace Slade will turn himself in and plead guilty,” Stone said.

“Oh, you! I just want to know if this will get him off my back?”

“I think it might get him out of the country,” Stone said. “Does he have his own jet and a condo in the Bahamas?”

“No, but he knows people who do.”

“Then he’s probably on his way.”

Dino called. “That was fabulous!” he said. “I hope the DA was watching.”

“If he wasn’t, the New York Times will explain it to him tomorrow morning.”

“I hope Harley Quince saw it,” Dino said.

That stopped Stone in his tracks. “I’ll give you three to one he was watching the football game, and in that case, how could he possibly miss 60 Minutes?”

“Sometimes I like the way your mind works,” Dino said.

Jenna was waving both hands at Stone.

“What?”

“Was he talking about Harley Quince?”

“Yes, we think he must have seen the interview.”

“He could still be a threat.”

“How?”

“Wallace used to say that Harley was like a firehose. Once he had turned him on, it was impossible to shut him off.”

“I heard that,” Dino said. “Well, Stone, you’re not still knee-deep in shit, but it’s still up to your ankles, and it doesn’t smell any better.”