Double Jeopardy

9

Stone had a sandwich at his desk and was refreshed by his nap. Joan buzzed him. “A Tracey Hotchkiss for you on one.”

Stone picked it up. “Hello, Tracey.”

“Hi, Stone. Billy tells me you’re desperate for a decorator.”

“No, just in a hurry.”

“How fast do you want this done?”

“Last Thursday.”

“Could you stand it if I took a month?”

“That would please me.”

“If you’ll authorize a trip to New York I can pick up showroom furniture samples and floor displays, have them delivered to a warehouse, then trucked up here toward the end of the project. We won’t have to wait four months for special orders.”

“I like it.”

“In the meantime, I can get the painting and wallpapering and curtains done and be ready to place the furniture when it arrives.’’

“You’re my kind of designer, Tracey.”

“I used to do plays on Broadway and off, and the occasional movie. I learned how to do fast and good. I had a look at your house. Did you know that I designed it for Dick?”

“No, I didn’t, but you did it right. By the way, I’ll need a gun safe in a closet. And landscaping and flowers. Can you handle that?”

“With pleasure. I’ll start moving earth tomorrow. Would you like paving on the driveway, or do you want to stick with dirt?”

“I think I’d like cobblestones from good Maine granite — on the walkways, too, but not too rough; I like smooth stones.”

“Got it. We’ve just added about $150,000 to your budget.”

“That’s okay. You want a deposit?”

“I can use cash for buying a lot of your things. My fee is ten percent of everything, but I’ll get you good enough prices to more than offset that.”

“Great. I’ll send cash today. I’ll put you on with Joan for wiring details.” He put her on hold and called Joan. “Wire this lady $250,000 on account, please, and tell her to let me know when she needs anything else.”

They hung up, and Stone was happy for the first time that day.

Joan came into his office. “I sent her the quarter mil,” she said. “Mind if I ask a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Why are you buying and decorating and landscaping a house in a place where you already have a gorgeous home. Is this just to keep the twins from getting it?”

“Yes,” Stone said. “There are other reasons, too, I think, but I don’t know what they are.”

Late that afternoon, Tracey called back. “I had a look around your new property this afternoon, and there’s a barn building full of whatever was in the house before all the trouble. There are some glorious eighteenth-century American pieces of furniture, out of Boston and Newport — a dining table and chairs, a breakfront, and some other chests of drawers and odd tables. There’s also a lot of old silver. They’ll give the house great character.”

“Then use them, but I don’t want any upholstered furniture or bedding used. See that all of that is burned, in a responsible way, of course.”

“Got it. I’ll send you photographs as I progress.”

“Don’t. Surprise me when it’s all done.”

“As you wish.” She hung up.

Later, after some thought, he called Tracey back. “I’d like you to put the eighteenth-century furniture and silver in my current house, and put the stuff it replaces into the new place.”

“Good idea.”

“One other thing about the new place: should the Stone twins ever chance to see it, I don’t want them to recognize anything that used to belong to their side of the family.”

“All right. By the way, Stone, Billy wants to talk to you.”

“Put him on.”

“Hey, Stone.”

“Hey, Billy.”

“A few minutes ago I got a call from a Boston lawyer named Keegan — the elder, not the younger. He represented the twins during negotiations for their sentencing, and his firm handled the details of their grandmother’s estate.”

“I know the Keegan son, but not the father.”

“Well, apparently he’s still representing them. They want to buy the family house.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That it’s been bought three times and sold twice. I stuck to the story we talked about — the Savannah lawyer and the Delaware corporation.”

“You did the right thing, Billy.”

“Keegan pressed me hard, but I told him it was out of my hands. He said that the twins would be very, very disappointed to hear that. It sounded like a threat. I gave him the mailing address of the Delaware corporation, so you may be hearing from him.”

“Good. I’ll see that someone responds to it.”

“Better you than me. Tracey is very excited about doing up the house.”

“I’m delighted to have her do it,” Stone replied. They said goodbye and hung up.

Stone knew he should start preparing to deal with the Stone twins, but he wasn’t sure how, or what he would be dealing with. He hoped they kept it at the lawyer level, but he didn’t believe that would happen.

He decided to deal with it on a blow-by-blow basis.