Class Act

49

Stone and Dino met at the bar, as usual, then half a drink later, asked for their table. They settled in and ordered.

Dino looked at Stone. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Wrong?”

“Come on, Stone. You can’t hide it from me.”

“Hide what from you?”

“You’re planning to do something you think I wouldn’t like.”

“That’s a wild guess,” Stone replied.

“But a good one.”

Stone shrugged.

“Why would you hide it from me?”

“Let me ask you a hypothetical question.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Suppose, for a moment, that I was planning to do something illegal. Would you want to know?”

Dino drew a big breath. “How illegal?”

“ ‘Against the law’ illegal. I know you’d try to talk me out of it, but what if you couldn’t?”

“Huh?”

“What if you couldn’t talk me out of it? Would you arrest me?”

“I think I have it,” Dino said.

“Go ahead, guess.”

“You’re planning to kill Sal Trafficante, aren’t you?”

“No, but if he keeps trying to kill me, it may come to that.”

“Is he trying to kill you now?”

“Yes.”

“Then let me put some people on it.”

“It’s in another state.”

“Florida?”

“I won’t be specific.”

“Hilda is in Florida. Is she involved in this?”

“She’s awfully anxious for me to come to Key West.”

“Then don’t go there.”

“If I don’t, she’ll find another way. She may even come here to do it. Then I won’t see her coming.”

“Okay, I see what’s eating you now. You don’t want me to know what you’re planning.”

“It’s for your own benefit. No reason you should have to share the burden.”

“Look. If you and Hilda and I were in the same room, and I thought she was going to try to kill you, I’d kill her.”

“Well, she is going to try. Would you send somebody from New York to take her out before she could take me out?”

“That’s an impossible situation for me.”

“That’s why I’m not involving you, Dino. What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

Dino shut up and looked around the room. “Is anybody in this room involved?”

Stone looked around. “No.”

“So nobody can be listening to us?”

“I’m not wearing a wire, Dino.”

“All right, I’ll go down there and kill her myself,” Dino said.

Stone’s jaw dropped, and he started laughing.

“What? You think I’m kidding?”

“I know you’re not kidding, and I love you for it. Listen to me: the best thing you can do for me right now is to forget about this. Put it right out of your mind, and don’t bring it up again. But I don’t know if you’re capable of that.”

“Of course, I’m capable of that.”

“Capable of what?”

“What you just said.”

“I don’t remember saying anything. What are you talking about, Dino?”

Dino leaned in close. “Offing two people.”

“What are you talking about? Why would I want to do that?”

“You just said...” Dino stopped. “All right, I get it.”

“Get what?”

“I’ll stay out of it.”

“Stay out of what?”

“Whatever you’re doing.”

“Doing? What am I doing?”

“Whatever you want to, and with no interference from me.”

“Sometimes I think you’re completely crazy,” Stone said.

“Sometimes I think so, too.”

They talked about other things.

Jack Coulter’s throwaway buzzed in his pocket. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said to Hillary. He left the table and walked around a corner. “Yeah?”

“I’m leaving the airport,” she said. “I’ll be at the house in ten minutes.”

“Everything okay?”

“I’m all set.”

“Call me as planned.”

“Sure.”

They both hung up.

Cara, as she had begun to think of herself, followed the GPS directions to the house and drove up to the keypad and entered the code. The gate swung open, and the garage ahead of her was empty. She drove in, got her bag from the trunk, and rang the bell.

A smiling woman opened the door. “Cara?”

“And you’re Hilda.”

“I am. Come on in, and let me get you a drink.” She led Cara to the bar. “The photo Stone sent me doesn’t do you justice.”

“Thank you,” Cara said, with a big smile.

“What would you like?”

“That’s a leading question, but let’s start with a Scotch on the rocks. Chivas, if you have it.”

“We have it.” Hilda poured them both a drink.

“Beautiful place,” Cara said, looking around.

“I’ll give you the tour.” She did so, then they returned to the bar and Hilda poured another drink for them both. “Oh, I didn’t show you the master bedroom, did I?”

“No, you didn’t, but I’d like to see it.” She picked up her bag and her drink and followed Hilda down to the end of the main hall, where Hilda opened the door.

“Ah, nice,” Cara said, dropping her bag and sitting on the bed.

Hilda sat next to her. “You’re a beautiful girl,” she said.

“So are you,” Cara replied, bending and kissing her on her bare shoulder. “I think I’d like a shower after my trip,” she said.

“Would you like me to join you?” Hilda asked.

“I’d love that.” She undressed and walked into the bathroom.

“Be right with you,” Hilda called out and got undressed. She bent and unzipped Cara’s Vuitton bag and moved the clothes aside. At the bottom were a silenced pistol and a switchblade knife. She zipped it up, then went into the bathroom, where Cara was already in the shower.

They kissed, then Cara dragged over a stool from a corner and sat Hilda down. Cara knelt and buried her face in Hilda’s lap.

Hilda allowed herself to enjoy it to the point of orgasm, then she reached up to the shelf beside her, behind a row of bottles, and removed a kitchen implement.

Timing her orgasm with her move, she ran her fingers up Cara’s spine until she found the right spot, then in one swift move, plunged the ice pick into her back and her heart. She stood and backed away from Cara, taking the ice pick with her. Cara was on her hands and knees, trying to get up, but she couldn’t make it.

With the ice pick at the ready, should she need it again, Hilda watched Cara finally collapse to the tiled floor. She turned her over to allow her to bleed out faster. It took no more than half a minute.

Hilda left her to drain for another minute, then turned off the shower, got out and dried herself. She went back into the bedroom and searched Cara’s bag more thoroughly, finding bundles of hundred-dollar bills.

Hilda made herself some dinner and poured a glass of wine, thinking about what she would shop for with Cara’s money. She regretted not keeping her alive long enough to learn who had paid her, but there were only two candidates: Sal and Stone Barrington. She wouldn’t have thought Stone had the kind of guts it took to hire a killer, and pay for the job, but it was he who’d sent Cara down. It had to be Stone.

When she had finished dinner, she rummaged in the garage and found some plastic sheeting and a roll of duct tape. She went back to the bathroom and dragged Cara’s body out of the shower and onto the plastic sheeting, then wrapped her and taped the bundle securely. She checked the shower to be sure that all of the blood had run down the drain, then she laid down a large bath towel and dragged her into the bedroom. She found Cara’s car keys, then dragged the body down the hall and into the garage. She opened the trunk and, with considerable effort, got the body inside and closed it.

She looked inside and found a rental car agreement: Cara had picked up the car at the Key West airport and was returning it at the Palm Beach airport. She found the rental car map and looked at the drive: seven or eight hours, she reckoned, and her route took her along Alligator Alley, through the Everglades. Cara could take her final dip there.

Hilda packed her bags, then had a cup of coffee to keep her awake. After a final check of the house to be sure that it was clean of any trace of Cara, she tossed Cara’s bag into the car with her own, then got into the rental, closed the garage door and the gate behind her, and headed up the Keys.