Cold Paradise

27

Stone drove to the airport, and the rain had still not let up. At times he was driving through three and four inches of water in the street, and the wind had started to get up, as well. At the airport, he parked at the curb and ran inside, and the hell with tickets.

He found Dino in baggage claim, just getting his golf clubs off the carousel.

“You didn’t tell me it was hurricane season,” Dino grumbled, handing Stone two bags and hoisting the clubs onto a shoulder. “I should have brought fucking scuba gear!”

“Oh, I just wanted you to see that Palm Beach is a city of contrasts,” Stone said, running for the car and getting soaked while stowing the bags in the trunk. The golf clubs had to go in the backseat. Finally, they were under way, with the windshield wipers trying hard to keep up with the deluge, and losing.

“I’m soaked to the skin!” Dino complained. “You might as well put the top down!”

“I don’t understand it,” Stone said. “The weather was glorious, until you decided to come.”

“Oh, right, I brought the weather with me; it’s all my fault.”

“Thank you for pointing that out. So, how are things at home?”

“Oh, just great. Dolce is out.”

Stone nearly wrecked the car. “What do you mean, 'out'?“

“Out. She set a fire in her room, which set off the alarm, and while her nurses were preoccupied with that, she got out of the house, took one of Eduardo’s cars and vanished into the world.”

“When did this happen?”

“This morning, apparently. Mary Ann called me on my pocket phone just as I was getting on the airplane. Eduardo is going nuts.”

“She won’t get far. Eduardo will have her back in no time. What, is she running around in her nightgown?”

“She packed three bags, according to the housekeeper, who counted the luggage. I’d say she has clothes for any occasion. Dolce is nothing if not organized.”

“But she doesn’t have any money or credit cards; she can’t travel.”

“Dolce has money of her own, you know, and quite a lot of it. Eduardo settled two million bucks on each of the girls when they turned twenty-one. And she took her purse, too-credit cards, even her passport. There’s nowhere you can run.”

“Oh, shit,” Stone said, his heart sinking. He dug out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial button for his office.

“The Barrington Practice,” Joan said.

“Hi, it’s me. You might get a call from Dolce sometime soon. Can you recognize her voice?”

“Sure I can. I heard it less than ten minutes ago.”

“What did she want?”

“You, I expect.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That you were out of town.”

“Did you tell her where?”

“No.”

“Thank God for that.”

“Bill Eggers told her that.”

“What?”

"As soon as she hung up I called Bill’s office, but he was on the phone. I held, and when he came on the line, he told me Dolce had called, and they’d had a nice chat. I take it Bill isn’t fully informed about Dolce’s condition.“

“Wonderful. If she calls back try and get a number where I can reach her.”

“Okay.”

Stone hung up and punched the button for Bill Eggers’s office at Woodman amp; Weld.

“Bill?”

“I take it from Joan’s reaction that I did something stupid?”

“It’s not your fault, Bill, but just how stupid were you?”

“Stupid enough to tell her you were in Palm Beach, before I noticed something about her. I stopped just short of telling her where you’re staying.”

“Thank God for small favors,” Stone muttered.

“What’s the matter with her, Stone? I thought she was just sick, but she sounded…”

“Exactly how did she sound?”

“Well, not deranged, exactly, but sort of otherworldly.”

“Does she know I’m doing work for Thad Shames?”

“I didn’t mention that.”

“Okay, Bill, thanks, and I’ll be in touch.” Stone punched off. “She doesn’t know where I’m staying.”

“Her sister does.”

“Oh, no. Mary Ann wouldn’t…”

“No, of course she wouldn’t, not if she were tortured, and Dolce is perfectly capable of torturing somebody to find out where you are.”

Stone turned into the driveway of the Shames mansion.

“Hey, pretty nice,” Dino said. “Do we have it to ourselves?”

“We’re not staying in the house; we’re out back.”

“Guesthouse?”

“Not exactly.”

“Uh-oh,” Dino said.

“Come on, let’s get the car unloaded and make a run for it.”

Two minutes later they had dashed up the gangplank of Toscana and were standing, panting, on the afterdeck, while puddles formed around them. Juanito appeared with some towels and two thick terry robes, and took the luggage.

“Maybe you could change into the robes here?” he said, as he padded off toward Dino’s cabin.

Stone and Dino emptied their pockets onto the table, including Dino’s badge and gun, and stripped. They had just kicked their clothing into a sodden pile when Carrie appeared.

“Well, hi there, sailors!” she said to the two naked men.

Dino grabbed for his robe.

“This must be Dino,” Callie said. “I can always recognize a naked policeman.”

“Dino, this is Callie Hodges,” Stone said, getting into his own robe.

“How do you do,” Dino said, trying to muster some dignity.

“We have a ten-thirty tee time at the Breakers tomorrow,” she said.

“Great,” Dino said. “We can go there on the boat.”

“Don’t worry, the front will pass through tonight. Tomorrow will be beautiful, I promise. The greens may be a little slow, but Palm Beach is thirsty and will soak the rain right up. I’m surprised your plane was able to land.”

“It took the pilot two tries,” Dino said. “I was ready to bust into the cockpit with my gun and order them to fly back to New York.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Callie said, smiling sweetly.

Juanito came back with a tray of steaming mugs.

“We fixed you a little toddy,” Callie said. “Figured that, with the temperature thirty degrees below normal, you might need it.”

Everybody sat down, and Stone and Dino gratefully sipped their drinks, which were laced with rum.

“Well,” Dino said to Callie, “any more at home like you?”

Callie laughed. “Don’t worry, we’ve got you a date for dinner.”

“Oh?”

“Allison Manning,” Stone said. “Although she’s called Liz Harding these days; you might remember that.”

“I’ll try,” Dino said.

“Callie, have there been any phone calls for me?”

“No.”

“If anyone besides Thad, Bill Eggers, Chief Griggs or my secretary, Joan, calls, will you tell them I’ve gone back to New York?”

“Sure. Who are you avoiding?”

“Mrs. Stone Barrington,” Dino said.

She turned and looked at Stone, and her eyes narrowed. “Who?”

Dino set down his cup. “Well, I think I’ll go get into some dry clothes.”

As soon as he was gone, Stone began explaining to Callie who Dolce was. When he had finished, he waited for a comment.

“Well,” she said finally, “hanging around you is never dull.”