Criminal Mischief

16

The following morning Stone called Bob Cantor, who was his go-to tech guy for just about everything.

“What’s up, Stone?”

“Hey, Bob. Have you been following the Viktor Zanian story?”

“Just when it comes on the news.”

“Did you see the shot of him getting off his Gulfstream in Rio?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Did you notice anything odd about it?”

“Funny you should mention that,” Bob said. “I thought it looked a little hinky.”

“Can you take a closer look at it and see if it could have been taken somewhere else?”

“Okay, I’ll have to dig up a copy of the film or tape. Let me call you back later.”

“Great!”

Stone hung up and went back to doing what passed for work. Just before lunch, Joan buzzed him.

“Are you taking calls from Tink Dorsey?”

“Sure,” Stone said, pressing a button. “Hello, Tink.”

“Hi, Stone. Are you speaking to me?”

“I never stopped.”

“I know, I know. It was me. I screwed things up.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You had just had a very bad shock.”

“I read your letter again. It was exactly what a good friend would say to me, and it’s my fault for not paying attention to it. It’s all on me.”

“Have you heard anything encouraging about Zanian?”

“Just form letters from the SEC.”

“You signed up with them?”

“I did. Who knows? I might see some of my money again someday.”

“I hope so.”

“Have you, ah, missed me?”

“Can you be more specific?” he asked, teasing.

“All right, have you missed the fucking? I know I have.”

“I have.”

“Why don’t we see what we can do about that?”

“Well... as nice an idea as that is, I’ve told you I’ve been seeing somebody.”

“Where’d you meet her?”

“A blind date.”

“You think blind girls are a turn-on? That’s sick!”

“You know what I mean.”

“Is she as good as me in bed?”

“Comparisons are odious.”

“I’m prepared to overlook the presence of another woman in your life.”

“That’s generous of you, but I’m not sure she would share your generosity.”

“You mean share you?”

“Well, yes, and I don’t want to raise the subject. It would make me sound greedy.”

“You are greedy.”

“Well, under some circumstances, I suppose so.”

“Tell you what, let’s leave the offer open. You never can tell.”

“No, you can’t, can you? Let’s do that.”

“Bye-bye.”

“Bye.” Stone hung up wondering if he had done the right thing. Then he realized what had been worrying him. Did he have the stamina to keep up with both of them? Probably not, he conceded to himself. That could lead to an early death.

After lunch, Joan buzzed. “Bob Cantor is here. Do you want to see him?”

“Yes, please. Send him in.”

Bob walked in carrying a laptop. “I’ve got something for you,” he said, setting his laptop on Stone’s desk and turning it on. “Look, here’s the shot of Zanian getting off the airplane in Rio. It’s shot from inside his airplane, over his shoulder. And the view is Landmark Aviation, Rio de Janeiro, as it says on the building ahead of him, right?”

“Right,” Stone replied.

“Wrong,” Bob said. He tapped a few more keys. “Look familiar?”

Stone looked at the shot. Everything was the same, except the building he could see had Jet Aviation, Teterboro, written on it. “That’s where I keep my airplane,” Stone said.

“I thought you’d recognize it.” Bob tapped some more keys, and the Rio shot came up again.

“I did some checking on the FAA website. On the day Zanian took a powder, his airplane filed a flight plan to Rio.”

“Did they cancel later?”

“No, the airplane actually flew to Rio and landed. The manifest listed only Viktor Zanian and a Ms. Shelly Summers. I ran her name and she worked at an expensive escort service, called Company On Call, and she quit the day before the feds clamped down on Zanian’s business.”

“And she went along for the ride to Rio?”

“No, neither of them did. There were two other people who took the ride, and came back with the airplane to Teterboro.”

“So, Zanian had all the time it took for the airplane to reach Rio to get lost somewhere else.”

“And five’ll get you ten, the airplane was sold the next day to a Delaware corporation.”

“You check on that. Let’s be sure.”

“And we’ll see, too, if the airplane has flown anywhere since the transfer. I’ve signed up his tail number with an online service that will alert me whenever they file a flight plan.”

“Question, Bob: If you can figure this out in a day, have the feds figured it out, too?”

“I can ask around, but they may be sitting tight on that info. Why don’t you ask Dino to take a look at it, too? Cops don’t like the feds. They like to see them embarrassed.”

“Good idea. You stay on where the airplane has gone, and who’s flying on it.”

“I can do that,” Bob said.