Fast and Loose

47

They spent two nights in the Nantucket marina, enjoying good weather, then Stone summoned the helicopter to meet them at the airport. By midday they were back in New York, and Fred met Stone at the East Side Heliport, while the others took cabs home.

“Dinner tonight?” he asked Marisa.

“I’d love to, but I have to pack for Sweden. I have a morning flight.”

He dropped her at the clinic and Fred drove him home. Stone dined alone at home that evening, already missing Marisa.

The following morning, Ed Rawls called.

“How are you, Ed?” Stone asked.

“Uncomfortable,” Rawls replied. “I’ve been uncomfortable since our last conversation. You hear any more from Macher?”

“Well, yes. He stuck a bomb to our hull in Edgartown a couple of days ago. I got lucky and jettisoned it before it went off.”

“It went off?”

“Killed a lot of fish,” Stone replied, “but none of us.”

“I saw Breeze pass by late yesterday, on the way back to her berth, I guess. Are you going to lay her up for the winter?”

“Not until the weather turns,” Stone replied. “We might want to use her again or we might send her south. The skipper will keep an eye out for signs of Macher.”

“I would enjoy killing Macher for you,” Ed said, “if I got the chance.”

“You’ve already been to prison once, Ed. Did you enjoy it?”

“No, I guess I didn’t.”

“Then don’t do anything that might send you back there.”

“I might be the victim of an irresistible impulse, if I saw Macher again.”

“Resist the irresistible,” Stone said.

“I’ll try.”

“Do you know where Macher lives, Ed?”

“He has that security business — in Arlington, I think. He might live somewhere around there.”

“I’ll look into that,” Stone said. They said goodbye and hung up.

Stone had a thought; he called Dino.

“Bacchetti.”

“It’s Stone.”

“Thanks for a great weekend,” Dino said.

“You’re welcome. You’ve got a way to find cell phone records and trace them, haven’t you?”

“Sure, I can do that. You looking for Macher?”

“Yes. It might have a 202 area code.”

“Just the address?”

“I’d like to know where he is,” Stone said.

“Let me get back to you.”

Stone went back to handling his correspondence from his time away; an hour or so later, Dino rang back.

“I’ve got something for you,” he said, reciting an address in Arlington.

Stone noted it. “Maybe I’ll run down there and have a word with him,” Stone said.

“No need to leave town,” Dino replied.

“He’s in New York?”

“We’ve got him on East Fifty-sixth Street, between Park and Lex, north side of the street.”

“That’s the Lombardy Hotel,” Stone said. “Charley Fox used to live there.”

“Macher is stationary at the moment, not on the move.”

“Can you think of any defensible reason to haul him in for a chat?”

“I thought about that, and no. We can’t put him in the Cape Cod area, and we had nothing left of his bomb for evidence.”

“That’s discouraging.”

“I gotta go. You want to meet for dinner at Clarke’s?”

“Sure, seven?”

“See you then.”

Macher and Jake were having a drink in Macher’s suite.

“I’m getting discouraged,” Macher said.

“Here’s an idea,” Jake said. “Why don’t you go back to D.C. and run your business for a while? It could probably use your attention, and Barrington will still be around.”

“It’s a thought,” Macher said. “I just hate to leave a thing undone.”

“You can still do it, just at your leisure.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

Stone and Dino met in the bar at P. J. Clarke’s and had a drink before dinner.

“You feeling any better?” Dino asked.

“I should be feeling great — I’ve just had a wonderful cruise to places I enjoy. I got some sun and spent time with friends. What have I got to be unhappy about?”

“You’re missing Marisa, then.”

“You’ve got me there. I had become accustomed to having a sex life again, after Holly.”

“Have you heard from her?”

“Not since she went back to Washington. She’s got to get Kate reelected, plus help run foreign policy at the Security Council, so she’s got her hands full.”

“And when is Marisa due back?”

“A week or two, she said.”

“Maybe you should pop down to Washington and call on Holly?”

“I can’t just drop in, she has to plan to get any time off.”

They were called to their table and had hardly sat down when Stone’s phone rang. He checked the calling number, but it was blocked. “Hello?”

“It’s Holly,” she said.

Stone mouthed her name for Dino. “Well, hi there.”

“Where are you? It’s noisy at your end.”

“At Clarke’s, having dinner with Dino.”

“I won’t interrupt you, then.”

“Please interrupt me. Dino is boring me rigid.”

She laughed. “All right, I have some news.”

“Shoot.”

“You remember we had a conversation about Kate moving me back to my old home after the election?”

“Yes, she was going to run with Lance on the ticket, but she didn’t do that.”

“Lance didn’t want to leave the Agency, he loves his job.”

“So what’s in store for you?”

“I hesitate to even mention it. I’m superstitious, I guess.”

“Then don’t. Let’s talk about something else.”

“I don’t want to talk about something else,” she said.

“Then take a deep breath and tell me.”

“All right, here goes. I’m going to be the next secretary of state.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Adamson doesn’t want to serve another term?”

“He’s burned out, he says. He wants to leave immediately after the election, and since Kate is already in office, she doesn’t have to wait until after the inauguration to appoint me.”

“Well, that’s fantastic, you’ll be very good at it. After all, you’ve been practicing for the job for four years at the NSC. It’s the logical next step.”

“I guess that’s the optimistic way to look at it,” she said.

“It’s the only way to look at it. Can you get away for a few days in New York?”

“No, it’s crazy here. Maybe after the election, before I make the move to Foggy Bottom.”

“Great, I’ll look forward to it.”

“I’ve gotta run, there’s a meeting. I just wanted to tell somebody.”

“I’m glad you told me.” He hung up.

“Adamson doesn’t want to serve another term?” Dino said. “Does that mean Holly is going to replace him?”

“It means exactly that — right after the election.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Dino said, raising his glass.

They both did.