Dirty Work

9

Eggers was not happy. “Have you seen this morning’s Daily News?”

“No.”

“Well, everybody else on the planet has. I don’t know how you missed it.”

“Bill . . .”

“Your guy killed Larry, you know.”

“Bill . . .”

“Elena wanted him caught cold, but not that cold.”

“Bill . . .”

“Explain to me how this could have occurred.”

“Accidents happen?” Stone said hopefully.

“Accident? This was no accident! This was pure, unadulterated stupidity and ineptitude. Do you know that Elena Marks, along with her trust, is one of the largest and most profitable clients this firm has? And now I have to go and explain . . .”

Stone pressed the hold button and buzzed Joan.

“Yes, boss?”

“Please go and get me a copy of the Daily News, right now.”

“Be back in a jiffy.”

Stone pressed the line button again.

“. . . and to every partner in the firm, too. You and I have a meeting with Elena Marks at three o’clock this afternoon at her apartment, and you’d better be ready to pull this out of the fire. And in the meantime, if the press gets wind of your association with this fiasco, you’re going to be looking for a new career or a country that will let you practice law. And when you show up at Elena’s, you’d better not forget those photographs!”

“Bill . . .” But Eggers had already hung up.

When he heard her return, Stone buzzed Joan. “Please get me Tony Levy—try his cell.” He sat staring at the wall, trying to figure out what to do.

“Levy’s on one,” Joan said.

Stone picked up the phone. “You bailed out Herbie for two hundred and fifty grand?” he said.

“Take it easy, Stone,” Levy said soothingly.

“Easy? Twenty-five grand is easy. A quarter of a million is very, very hard.”

“Judge Simpson got sick in court, and Judge Kaplan came in and subbed for him. You know what she’s like: I was lucky to get Herbie bail at all. We’re lucky she didn’t order him executed.”

“Kaplan came in?” Stone said. Tony was right. Kaplan wasn’t just a hanging judge; she was a draw-’em-and-quarter-’em judge. “Did you explain to Herbie how important it is for him to adhere to the terms of his bail?”

“Don’t worry, I scared the shit out of him,” Levy said. “He’s not going to run.”

“If he does, I’m going to let you pick up half the bail,” Stone said.

“In your fucking dreams,” Levy replied evenly. “I did the best I could for him. You and Johnnie Cochran together couldn’t have done better with Kaplan. Where’s my money?”

“It’ll be there at lunchtime,” Stone said.

Joan laid a fresh copy of the News on Stone’s desk.

“I see you’ve been talking to the press,” Stone said, flipping from the page-one lead to the rest of the story inside.

“You don’t see your name anywhere, do you?” Levy asked. “Let me have my little moment in the sun, Stone. It’s all a little shyster like me can hope for. After all, we can’t all do dirty work for Woodman and Weld.”

“This has nothing to do with the firm,” Stone said. “I told you, I was doing a favor for Bob Cantor.”

“Yeah, sure, Stone. And I’ll be representing the Bush girls the next time they get busted for ordering cosmopolitans at the college cafeteria. Don’t worry, buddy, I’m not going to embarrass you or blackmail you. But you’d better have some more work for me soon, or I might weaken.” He hung up, laughing maniacally.

Stone walked into P. J. Clarke’s, waded through the lunchtime bar crowd, and found Dino at a good table in the back room. “Good day, Lieutenant,” Stone said.

“Sit down,” Dino replied, “and shut up.”

“What is it with you today?” Stone asked. “Why can’t I talk anymore?”

“Because I already know everything you’re going to say,” Dino replied, sinking half a draft beer and waving at the waiter. “Two bacon cheeseburgers, medium, and two bowls of chili,” he said, “and bring Clarence Darrow, here, a beer.” The waiter vanished.

“About last night . . .” Stone began.

“I already know about last night,” Dino said. “Everybody who can read at the sixth-grade level knows about it.” He tapped his copy of the News, resting on the table.

“I do have a few questions,” Stone said.

“And I’ll answer them for you. One: The girl got away from my people across the roof. She apparently has the agility of a cat burglar, which is more than I can say for your boy, Herbie. Two: The four suits who got there first work for a foreign intelligence service, and their country of origin shall remain nameless. Three: They and the cops got there so fast because they were waiting on the landing below, laying for one or both of the people in the apartment. Four: No, I don’t know where the photographs are that Herbie took. Any other questions?”

Stone shook his head. “Thank God Herbie kept my name out of it.”

“Yeah? What makes you think that? He was spilling his guts in the patrol car, up the front steps of the precinct, and into an interview room faster than anybody could write it down, and you were the star of his story.” Dino swept a hand expressively across the table, nearly spilling his beer. “Above-the-title billing!”

The waiter set their food before them.

“I’m going to throw up,” Stone said.

“Well, do it in your hat, pal. I’m eating, here.”

“I can’t eat this,” Stone said, beginning to eat the chili.

“Don’t worry, the detective knows we’re friends; he’ll keep it to himself, and I’ve already scrubbed the interview tape clean.”

“Thank you, Dino.”

“Is that all you can say? You ought to be offering me Carpenter’s sweet body on a platter.”

“Carpenter’s in this, somehow,” Stone said. “I have a feeling she knows the country of origin of the gentlemen present last night. When I told her what happened, she started making phone calls, and when I woke up, she hadn’t slept in the bed.”

“Poor you.”

“I don’t think Herbie’s fall killed Larry Fortescue,” Stone said.

“Well, neither do I,” Dino replied, “but we’ll probably never know.”

“Why not? The medical examiner will figure it out.”

“The ME was poised over the corpse this morning, scalpel raised, when two guys showed up with a federal court order and took the body away in a van.”

“Holy shit.”

“My sentiments, more or less.”

“This whole business is completely out of control,” Stone said.

“Well, completely out of our control,” Dino agreed. “But somebody must know what’s going on. Certainly, nobody in the NYPD does.”

Stone finished his chili. “I do know something you don’t,” Stone said.

“What?”

“I know where the photographs are.”

“I want them now,” Dino said, pushing away from the table.

“Just a minute,” Stone said. “You get one set of prints, I get the negatives and all the others.”

“Deal,” Dino said, standing up.

“And I need them processed by two-thirty, with nobody the wiser. You know somebody who can do that?”

“You bet your ass,” Dino said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Stone threw some money on the table, took a quick swig of his beer, grabbed his burger, and ran after Dino.