Lucid Intervals

42

The following morning Stone was loading their luggage into the 1938 Ford when Mary called to him from the house. “Phone for you, Mr. Stone.”

Stone went back into the living room and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“It’s Jim Hackett,” a voice said. “When are you planning to return to New York?”

“In a matter of minutes,” Stone said. “One of my clients is in a jam, and we’re just leaving for the airport. Do you need the airplane?”

“No, no, it’s not that. I have a G-550 for long-distance travel; the Mustang is for personal pleasure. I’m calling from the Gulfstream now, on my way home. There are some things I want to discuss with you.”

“I’ll be in the city by noon,” Stone said.

“Then come and see me in my office tomorrow morning at eight,” Hackett said. “Where are you staying?”

“In my own home,” Stone replied.

“Not a good idea; the crazy lady is still on the loose. The company keeps a suite at the Plaza for important guests. Tell them I sent you, and stay there until it’s safe.”

“How will I know when it’s safe?”

“I’ll tell you.”

“All right, Jim. See you tomorrow morning.” Stone hung up and went back to the car.

At the airport, after a long preflight inspection and a careful reading of the checklist, Stone positioned the airplane at the very end of the runway, did his pre-takeoff check, then shoved the throttles to the firewall while standing on the brakes. When the instruments showed the engines were producing every drop of available power, he released the brakes and the airplane pressed him back into his seat. He kept one eye on the rapidly disappearing runway and the other on the airspeed tape until the little R landed on the pointer, then he put both hands on the yoke and pulled it back until the flight director told him he was at the correct angle for takeoff.

The airplane rose, just as it seemed there was no runway left, and climbed as it had been designed to.

“Well,” Felicity said, “it’s reassuring to know this little airplane can do that. For future reference.”

“I always knew the airplane could do that,” Stone replied, “because it’s in the flight manual.” He climbed to altitude and moved the throttles back to the cruise detent. “By the way, Jim has suggested that, since Dolce is still at large, we stay in his company’s suite at the Plaza. That okay with you, or do you want to move into the embassy?”

“I’ll stick with you,” she replied. “The ambassador’s wife drives me mad.”

“Good.”

“I’m going to need more clothes, though.”

“Give me a list, and I’ll have Joan pack a case for both of us and messenger them over to the Plaza.” Stone used the sat phone to call Joan.

“Did Dino get hold of you?” Joan asked.

“Yeah, I’ll go see Herbie this afternoon.” Stone gave her a list of what to pack for both of them.

THE PLAZA SUITE had one bedroom and a large living room, both overlooking Central Park. Felicity approved. “No good sniper position out there,” she said, peeking through the sheer curtains.

“Are you often the victim of sniper attacks?” Stone asked.

“It’s just a standard security concern,” she said. “After a while, the handlers get you trained; makes their work easier.”

The cases Joan sent over were already in the bedroom, and Stone and Felicity unpacked. Then they lunched on room service, and Stone left Felicity, who was watching a movie on the large TV screen in the bedroom.

HERBIE LOOKED AWFUL, and the orange jumpsuit didn’t help. “Where have you been?” he demanded of Stone. “I’ve been in here for nearly a whole day!”

“I was several hundred miles away when I heard, Herbie. I got here as soon as I returned to town. Now tell me, what happened?”

“It was yesterday morning,” Herbie said. “Sheila and I had breakfast in bed, and we were watching some morning TV when we got into an argument about you.”

“About me?”

“Yeah. This is all your fault.”

“Herbie, calm down and tell me what you’re talking about.”

“You know what I’m talking about, Stone. It was you who insisted.”

“Insisted on what?”

“On the prenup.”

“Ah, yes. I did insist, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did. So I told Sheila to go and see you about it, and she went absolutely nuts: ranted and raved and started crying. It upsets me when she cries.”

“Does she… did she cry a lot?”

“Only when I tried to get her to do something she didn’t want to do, like not go shopping.”

“Or talk to me about a prenup.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you explain to her that she would need to see her own lawyer?”

“I thought all she needed was you,” Herbie said.

“Let me explain this to you, Herbie,” Stone said. “It would be unethical for me to represent both of you at the same time, so Sheila would have needed her own attorney. I would have insisted on that had she called me.”

“Even if we were going to get married?”

“Especially if you were going to get married. If she had signed a prenup without her own counsel and you later got divorced, she could get the prenup invalidated on the grounds that she was not properly represented.”

“Oh.”

“Now go on. What happened next?”

“Well, I couldn’t stand the yelling anymore, and I said I would talk to her some more about it after I went to the john, and I went to the john.”

“For how long?”

“Long enough to read most of a magazine.”

“How many minutes, Herbie?”

“I don’t know… twenty minutes, half an hour. Who’s counting? So I got dressed, and when I came out of the bedroom, Sheila wasn’t there. I looked all over for her, but she was gone. I figured she was out doing some revenge shopping and she’d be back when she cooled off, so I sat down in the living room to watch some more TV. Then I heard all these sirens, and they would get louder and louder and then stop, like they were in front of the building. So I went out on the terrace-the sliding glass door was open-and looked over the, whatchacallit, the edge.”

“The parapet.”

“Yeah, like that. And there were a couple of cop cars and a fire truck down on the street, and people were running around. So I went back inside and watched some of Ellen. Maybe five minutes later, the doorbell rang, and there were these two uniforms standing there.”

“What did you tell them?”

“They asked me if I knew a woman that sounded like Sheila from their description, and I said yes, that sounded like my fiancée. They asked where she was, and I said I didn’t know for sure, but I thought she might have gone shopping. Then these two detectives arrived, and they asked me a lot more questions, and I started to get the idea something was wrong. Then they told me Sheila was down on the sidewalk. I ran to the…”

“Parapet.”

“Yeah, and I looked down, and the ambulance was driving away and the doorman was scrubbing the sidewalk. The four cops all followed me out, and I said I had to go to the hospital. A detective said there was no need to do that, since she was dead.”

“Did you tell them about your argument with Sheila?”

“Well, yeah. I told them everything I knew, then they arrested me and took me down here to the precinct.”

“Did they tell you why they were arresting you?”

“Yeah, they said for murdering Sheila. Honest to God, Stone, all I did was ask her to go see you.”

“Herbie, you said the sliding glass door to the terrace was already open when you went outside.”

“Right. Sheila closed it when we came in last night. We were going out to dinner.”

“You didn’t touch the door?”

“No.”

“Do you know when it was last cleaned?”

“Yesterday. The maid came.”

“Did you touch the sliding door after the maid came?”

Herbie thought about that. “No. Sheila opened it when we went out there for a drink, and she closed it when we came in.”

“Where did you go to dinner?”

“At that place you told me about, Sette Mezzo.”

“Did you have a good time there?”

“Oh, yeah. Sheila was in a great mood, which she wasn’t always in, but she was last night. We laughed a lot.”

“Herbie, during the argument, did you happen to hit Sheila?”

“No, no. I never hit her in my life.”

“What was she wearing when you went into the john?”

“Silk pajamas,” Herbie said.

“Okay, you sit tight. I’m going to see if I can cut this short, before they arraign you.”

“Okay, hurry back.”

“I’ll do my best,” Stone said, and left the interview room.