Wild Card

40

The nurse arrived first, reminding Stone of Mrs. Doubtfire, save the Scottish accent. She took charge and began issuing rapid instructions to Joan.

Joan came into Stone’s office with a list. “This is what that woman wants me to get!” she nearly shouted.

“Joan,” Stone said soothingly, “don’t argue with her, just get what she wants. Do we need monitoring equipment?”

“No. And she doesn’t want Bob Cantor sleeping in the same room.”

“By the way, Bob called, and we’re going to have to put up Elise Grant for a while, so please ask Helene to get a room ready for her right away.”

“Who’s next? The cast of Cats?”

“She’ll be here any minute.”

“There’s always a room ready,” Joan said. “We’ll put her next to Sherry. They can keep each other company.”

Dino turned up next, and Stone took him up to the study and gave him a stiff drink, which he seemed to need.

“Tell me,” Stone said, suspecting bad news.

“Bad news,” Dino said. “Ken Burrows is holding us back. He might as well have an anchor out.”

“What’s his problem?”

“He says that Elise’s story is not enough to get a judge to issue a warrant for the executive offices of a major investment bank.”

“Does that translate into a major campaign donation?”

“I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that,” Dino said. “The Thomases are in half of the hip pockets in the city.”

“Bob Cantor is going to be here any minute with Elise, and we can’t let her go back to work at H. Thomas.”

“She seemed to be doing pretty well.”

“She’s not an undercover cop, Dino, or a CIA operative. She’s a twenty-four-year-old woman — a brave one, I’ll grant you — but with no tradecraft. She’ll get nervous, make a mistake, and there goes your witness.”

Bob and Elise entered the study as if on cue. Stone made them each a drink. “Now what’s going on?” Stone asked.

“I think Rance Damien is onto me,” Elise said. “He went through my personnel file and found that my mother’s maiden name is D’Orio, and he questioned me closely about both her knowledge of Italian and mine. I think I held him off, but...”

“But suddenly, her apartment is bugged,” Bob said.

“Since when?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like coincidences.”

“Who does?” Dino asked.

“Oh, God,” Elise said suddenly.

“What’s wrong?”

“I forgot to turn off the answering machine that my mother gave me. If my mother calls, she’ll leave a message in Sicilian.”

“And the bugs will pick it up,” Bob said. “Give me your keys.”

Elise handed them over.

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” Bob said. He took a swig of his drink and left.

“Did you hear anything new today, Elise?” Dino asked.

“No, not a word.”

“I had a talk with the district attorney today,” Dino said, “and he doesn’t think we have enough to get a warrant for bugging the H. Thomas offices.”

“If I don’t show up for work tomorrow, Damien will know something’s wrong,” she said.

“We don’t think you should go back to work in any case,” Stone said. “It’s getting too dangerous for you.”

“That’s a relief,” she replied.

They drank and chatted for a few minutes, then Bob Cantor returned.

“Well?” Dino asked.

“There was a message on the machine: in Sicilian. They’ll have a voice-activated recorder picking up any sound. Elise is blown.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Stone said. “We were going to assume that she was, anyway.”

The doorbell rang, and Fred came into the study. “The lady on the stretcher is here,” he said. “Mrs. Doubtfire has taken charge upstairs.”

“I believe her actual name is Miss Hartley,” Stone said. “We’d all better get used to calling her that, or we’ll slip up, and I don’t want to be there when that happens.”

“Nor do I, sir,” Fred said.

“I’d better go up and see her,” Bob said.

“Don’t stay too long, Bob,” Stone interjected. “Mrs. Dou... ah, Miss Hartley has nixed your sleeping in Sherry’s room.”

“What is she, a nun?” Bob asked. He didn’t wait for an answer.

Stone called Dino into the living room for a moment, leaving Elise alone. “It occurs to me that we’d better get Elise’s mother out of her apartment. She’ll be in trouble the minute they hear her message in Sicilian.”

“Do you have room here for anyone else?” Dino asked.

“She can bunk in with her daughter, but now that you mention it, the traffic is getting a little heavy around here.”

“I’ll see what I can do about moving them into a safe house,” Dino said. “We keep a few places for witness protection, and I did hire her as a confidential informant.”

“Good idea.” They went back into the study. “Elise, we think we should bring your mother here tonight. I can send you and Fred downtown in my car to pick her up. Will you call her and explain everything?”

“Sure,” Elise said, “and thanks for thinking of that.” She picked up the study phone and dialed a number. “No answer,” Elise said. “I’ll try her cell.” She dialed another number. “Mom?” she said, then lapsed into Sicilian. She stopped and covered the receiver. “Should she go back to her apartment?” she asked.

“No,” Dino said firmly. “Where is she now?”

“She just got out of a movie on Sixth Avenue, at Eighth Street.”

“I’ll have an unmarked car pick her up. Tell her to stay near the box office.”

Elise spoke to her mother in Sicilian at some length. Finally, she said goodbye and hung up. “She took some convincing,” she said, “but she’ll be there.”

Dino got on the phone and gave the orders. “Tell them to call me when they’ve got her aboard.” He accepted another drink from Stone.

“She’ll be all right here for a day or two,” Elise said. “She and I wear the same size of everything, so she can wear my clothes.”

“Tomorrow, we’ll send her to her apartment with a policewoman to escort her,” Dino said, “so she can pick up some things.”

Bob Cantor came back. “Sherry’s already out,” he said. “I think Mrs.... Miss Hartley gave her something.”

“Bob,” Elise said, “I just thought of something.”

“What’s that?”

“I forgot to turn off your bugs before I left the office today.”

Dino brightened. “Maybe we’ll hear something we can use, even if not in court.”

“I’ve got the bugs on a recorder,” Bob said.

“Something else,” Elise said. “If we pick anything up, it could be in Sicilian, so you’ll need either my mother or me to translate for you.”

“Good,” Dino said. “My Sicilian is pretty rusty.” His cell phone rang. “Bacchetti.” His brow furrowed. “Where exactly are you? Keep looking.” He hung up and turned to Elise. “My cops can’t find your mother at the theater.”