Contraband

56

Stone and Max had dinner at home and turned in early. They made love only once, a record for them, but they made up for it the following morning. Breakfast arrived via dumbwaiter; before they had finished, Dino was on the phone.

“You’re up early,” Stone said.

“I’m up early every day. I just don’t call you at this hour because I know you’re still snoring away.”

“Horseshit. I’ve been up for two hours.”

“Max woke you up, right?”

“I have no comment on that at this time.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“What’s in your head at this hour, Dino?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but I actually got a call from the FBI guy in Naples.”

“No! Did he have anything to convey?”

“He did. This guy, McWilliam, who owned the shrimper? They ran his prints, and his real name is Capelli.”

“And why are we excited about that?” Stone asked.

“Because Capelli is the bookie Pantero’s wife’s name. McWilliam is her brother and Pantero’s brother-in-law.”

“Aha!” Stone shouted. “Another link in the chain.”

“You bet your ass,” Dino replied.

Stone thought about that for a moment. “So what?”

“So what? We can now connect Pantero to the smuggling operation, that’s what,” Dino said.

“Aha!” Stone shouted again.

“Right! Pantero fenced all the goods that his brother-in-law was importing, so to speak.”

“So he would be the source of all the cash generated,” Stone said.

“And the likely killer of our boy Randy. Pantero decided to keep all the cash himself.”

“What about Robbie? Why is she still alive and throwing cash around?”

“My guys are questioning every friend of hers we can find. Maybe they’ll come up with something.”

“Let’s hope. It would be nice to tie all this up into a neat bundle.”

“Neat bundles is what we specialize in,” Dino said, then hung up.

Stone hung up, too. “That was Dino,” he said to Max.

“I got that,” she said. “I want to meet Robbie.”

“Why on earth would you want to do that?” Stone asked. He did not relish the thought of the two of them in the same room.

“Because, from what you and Dino have told me, I think she’s running rings around you both.”

“And why do you think that?” he asked.

“Is she in jail?” Max asked.

“No.”

“Right. She’s snookering you both. And unless you nail her soon, she’s going to walk on all your possible charges.”

“You’ve never met her. How would you come to that conclusion? Are we talking about that woman’s intuition thing again?”

“I want to meet her to confirm my intuition.”

“I don’t understand,” Stone said.

“I know you don’t, sweetie,” she said, patting his cheek. “Just get us together.”

Stone thought about that. “I can’t think of any plausible excuse for introducing you,” he said.

“How about clothes?”

“Clothes?”

“She makes clothes, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, very nice custom-made clothes.”

“I wear clothes.”

Stone looked her up and down. “I prefer you without them.”

“Stone, call the woman and tell her you have a prospective client for her services, one who has just come into a pile of money.”

“Well...”

“What’s the problem? You’re afraid to get us in the same room, aren’t you? Afraid we’ll start comparing notes about you.”

“That never crossed my mind,” Stone lied.

“My woman’s intuition tells me it did, and you rejected the thought out of hand.”

Stone was cornered. “If I introduce you, will you not bring up the subject of me?”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“All right, then. I’ll see what I can do.”

Later than morning Stone called Robbie.

“Well, hello there,” she said, making her voice husky, something she did when she wanted to sound sexy. “Why haven’t I heard from you?”

“I’ve been out of town,” Stone said.

“Where?”

“Someplace warm. I have a house in Key West.”

“You’ve kept that from me,” she said. “I love Key West.”

“Everybody loves Key West in the winter,” Stone said. “Listen, I have a new client for you.”

“I don’t know, I’m not really taking on any new clients at the moment.”

“She’s just come into a lot of money, and she loves clothes. You’d be crazy not to meet her.”

A brief silence. “Oh, all right. Bring her around this afternoon at three.”

“Will do.”

“What’s her name?”

“Max.”

“She’s a girl?”

“Short for Maxine, a name she despises.”

“And where’d the money come from?”

“A maiden aunt who kicked off at ninety-something and left her everything.”

“How much of everything?”

“Houses, cars, real estate, cash. You name it, she left it.”

“All right, I’ll see you both at three.”

“Why do you need me there?”

“No you, no meeting,” Robbie said firmly.

“Oh, all right, I’ll come, too.”

“Good boy.”

Stone hung up. He was not going to enjoy this. He called Dino.

“Bacchetti.”

“It’s Stone. Max has insisted on meeting Robbie, so we’re going over there this afternoon.”

“Let me see if I understand you,” Dino said. “You’re going to deliberately put Robbie and Max in the same room at the same time?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you’d better go armed, my friend, because you’re going to have to shoot one of them.”