Dirty Work

46

Stone and Dino had just sat down at Elaine’s, when Carpenter walked in.

Dino waved her to a seat. Stone ignored her greeting.

“Whatever Dino’s having,” she said to a waiter.

“A nice single malt, on Stone,” Dino said.

“Quite a day, eh?” Carpenter said. The waiter set down her drink, and she raised her glass. “To a job well done by the firm of Barrington and Bacchetti.”

Dino raised his glass. “I’ll drink to that.”

Stone left his glass on the table.

“What’s the matter with you?” Dino asked.

“She was in the chopper,” Stone said to Dino. He turned to Carpenter. “Who was the shooter? Mason?”

“Mason was the best shot in the Royal Marines, a few years back,” she replied. “He keeps his hand in.”

“But you were calling the shot, weren’t you?”

“No, Sir Edward did that, when he took off his hat. I called it off.”

“But you wouldn’t have, if Dino hadn’t been there, would you?”

“If Dino and you hadn’t been there. That was very clever of you.”

“I knew it was the only way I could keep her alive.”

“It was.”

“Well, I’ve learned something from this experience,” Stone said.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Never trust an English gentleman, or an English gentlelady, for that matter.”

“It’s like they say in your Mafia,” she replied. “It wasn’t personal, it was business.”

“Forgive me if I take it personally.”

“That’s up to you.”

“Stone and I take a different view of this,” Dino said. “I understand your position. I may even have some sympathy for it.”

“Thank you,” Carpenter replied. “It’s nice to get a little understanding from somebody.”

Stone picked up a menu. “Anybody want some dinner?”

“I’m starved,” Carpenter said. “I’ll have whatever Dino’s having.”

“Smart girl,” Dino said. “We’ll try the osso buco,” he told the waiter.

“Same here,” Stone said, “and tell Barry to make it with polenta, instead of pasta. And bring us a bottle of the Amarone.”

“Why do you prefer the polenta to the pasta?” Carpenter asked.

“My necktie prefers it,” Stone replied.

“Tuck your napkin into your collar, the English way.”

“I intend to, even with the polenta.”

“So,” Dino said, “what are your plans now, Felicity?”

“Oh, I may stick around New York for a while. It’s time I got back to the work I came here to do, before La Biche so rudely interrupted it.”

“And what work was that?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you, Dino.”

“She’s afraid the NYPD might interfere,” Stone said. “During the past few days Carpenter and her people have broken more New York laws than a Mafia family.”

“Well, as long as they don’t do it in the Nineteenth Precinct, and frighten the patrol cars.”

Elaine came and sat down. “So?”

Stone shrugged.

“It’s a pity you weren’t here a minute ago,” Dino said to her. “You missed Stone’s display of moral outrage.”

“Yeah? We don’t get a lot of that around here, except when the Yankees or the Knicks lose.”

Their dinner came, and Elaine moved on to another table.

“This is delicious,” Carpenter said.

“The best in New York,” Dino replied. “Better than I’ve had in Italy, come to think of it.”

Stone ate half his dinner and stopped.

“What’s the matter with you?” Dino asked. “I never saw you leave osso buco on a plate.”

“I’m still thinking about this afternoon, I guess, and it’s not doing my appetite any good.” He waved at a waiter. “Wild Turkey on the rocks.”

“You haven’t finished your wine,” Carpenter said.

Stone poured his glass into hers. “You finish it for me. Wine isn’t strong enough tonight.” The bourbon came, and he took a large swig.

“Uh-oh,” Dino said. “I’m going to have to send him home in a patrol car tonight.”

“Does it happen often?” Carpenter asked.

“Couple of times a year, maybe. Usually, it’s a woman.”

“It’s a woman tonight,” Stone said.

“Anybody we know?” Dino asked.

Stone looked directly at Carpenter for the first time that evening. “She’s not a hundred miles from this table.”

“Oh, I like the thought of driving a man to drink,” Carpenter said.

Stone stared into his bourbon.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Carpenter said.

“No, I don’t.”

“It’s a war, and we’ve got to win it.”

“You won the First World War and lost a million men, a whole generation of leadership. You won the Second World War and had your cities and your industry reduced to smoking rubble and lost your empire. What do you hope to win this time?”

Carpenter shrugged. “Some sort of peace.”

“At what price?”

“Whatever it takes.”

“I admire your commitment, but not your tactics,” Stone said.

“In every country, even in this one, there are a few who are willing to do what’s necessary to achieve greater good. The public doesn’t care, they look the other way, while we clean up the mess left by foreign policy.”

“Oh, thank God for the few,” Stone said, raising his glass. He took a large swig. “The few make me sick.”

“You’re not going to throw up in my police car, are you?” Dino asked.

“I may throw up on this table if I hear any more of this.”

“Dino,” Carpenter said, “can’t you explain this to him?”

“He wouldn’t understand,” Dino said.

“Oh, I understand, all right,” Stone replied. “It’s just that what I understand makes me ill.”

Carpenter threw her napkin on the table and drained her wineglass. “Well, I don’t think I’ll go on making you sick.” She stood up.

“Do you have any idea what’s going to happen tomorrow?” Stone asked.

“What’s going to happen tomorrow?”

“Marie-Thérèse is going to find out that the money Sir Edward promised her isn’t in her bank—that’s my guess, anyway, having dealt with Sir Edward this once. And if he’s as duplicitous as I think he is, there’s going to be blood in the streets—your blood, and Sir Edward’s and Mason’s, and whoever in your service is foolish enough to stick his head out of doors.”

“You think we should all leave town, then? Run?”

“I think you should leave the planet, if you can, because you still don’t grasp how determined this woman is and what she’s capable of. You wronged her once, and you lost half a dozen people. If you’ve wronged her again . . . Well, there’ll be no end to it, until all of you are dead—her, too.”

“Felicity,” Dino said, “is the money going to be in her bank tomorrow morning?”

Carpenter looked at Dino. “Yes,” she said, turning toward Stone. “I made the banking arrangements myself. Now I’m getting out of here. I’m sick of Stone’s moral superiority.”

“It’s easy to feel morally superior to some people,” Stone replied.

She picked up her handbag and walked out.

Dino turned to Stone. “She says they paid the money. Maybe this is going to be all right.”

“She’s lying,” Stone replied. “That’s all they do, these people, is lie and kill. This is going to be a disaster, you wait and see.”

“Ever the optimist,” Dino said.