Family Jewels

22

Nicky handed Stone the phone. “It’s not a very good connection, I’m afraid.”

Stone took the phone. “Hello?” He got a garbled voice. “Can you hear me, Carrie?” More garbling. “It’s Stone. If you can hear me, call me on my cell when your signal improves.” He hung up and gave the phone back to Nicky. “Where the hell is she, Nicky?”

“In Abiquiu.” He spelled it. “It’s up north from here, the landscape where Georgia O’Keeffe lived and painted. Carrie wanted to photograph the area.”

“Does cell reception get any better than that?”

“I don’t know, it’s the first time I’ve tried.”

“Will you go up there with me tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, if you like.”

“Right after breakfast.”

“Okay.”

Juan came into the room and inquired as to whether he could get them anything.

“A glass of iced tea, please,” Nicky replied.

“Make that two,” Stone said.

When the tea came it was delicious, and Stone was thirsty.

“May I ask, what sort of relationship do you and Carrie have?”

“Nonprofessionally, quite cordial,” Stone replied. “Professionally — well, she doesn’t listen.”

“Do you really think Harvey is a threat to her?”

“Nicky, do you really think Harvey is entirely sane?”

“Entirely? Who among us is entirely sane?”

“I am,” Stone said. “You are.”

“You’ll have to speak for yourself.”

“Why is it I can’t get anybody to take a position on Harvey’s sanity or character? Not Carrie, not you.”

“I’ve told you, Stone, I don’t feel competent to make that judgment.”

“And Carrie seems to keep changing her mind.”

“A woman’s prerogative.”

“And an exasperating one, too.”

“I think Carrie, in general, seems to want to think the best of everyone, perhaps even Harvey, though of course, she did divorce him, so she must have had some doubts about the guy.”

“In my experience as an attorney, amicable divorces are rare-to-nonexistent. All too often people seem to want to reduce their exes, not just in wealth but in general well-being. It makes them happier if they can make their exes unhappier.”

“I think that’s a cynical take on the human race,” Nicky said.

“A couple of property division conferences can make a cynic of you.”

“I suppose I’m fortunate in my marriage. Vanessa and I have hardly ever had a cross word. That’s unusual, I suppose.”

“Unusual? It’s miraculous.”

“I seem to remember that Susannah and her ex had some issues.”

“Issues? She shot him in the head.”

“In self-defense, of course.”

“Of course.”

“Do you think she enjoyed doing it?”

“I don’t know,” Stone said, “but I was around at the time, and she didn’t seem to have any regrets.”

The party was celebratory, just short of raucous. A jazz trio played in the living room, and outside, at the far end of the deck, a mariachi band of plump men with stringed instruments and sombreros held its cultural own. Ed made a charming little speech about how he had met Susannah; then more meat than Stone had ever seen at one time was served from an outdoor grill that had been trucked in from somewhere or other.

Stone and Gala found a reasonably quiet corner and attacked their steaks, washed down with a spectacular cabernet that somebody kept filling their glasses with.

Ed came over to check on them. “How’s it going?” he asked.

“I’ve already gained two pounds,” Stone replied.

“That’s the way it should go,” Ed said, laughing. “Susannah is enjoying herself.” He nodded toward his wife, who was laughing very hard at somebody’s joke. “She loves a party, not least when it’s in her honor.” He wandered on to speak to his other guests.

“Susannah got lucky with that guy,” Gala said.

“Nice to know there are some happy marriages,” Stone said. “I was having a chat with Nicky Chalmers this afternoon on that same subject, and he puts Vanessa and himself among that group. On the other hand, I have to drive to a place called Abiquiu tomorrow morning, to make sure that a client’s ex-husband isn’t doing her in.”

“I love it up there,” Gala said. “Want some company?”

“I love good company. We’ll have Nicky along, too, for a guide.”

“You won’t need him with me along,” she said. “I know the territory.”

“Then I’ll get the address and we’ll ditch him,” Stone said.