Hot Mahogany

10

Stone went back to his office and tried to get some work done, but it took him more than two hours to write a brief that should have taken half an hour. There were times when he wished he had an associate to dump these things on.

Joan buzzed him. “Cabot on line one,” she said.

“Which Cabot?”

“There’s more than one?”

Stone picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“It’s Lance.”

“How did it go this morning?”

“We had a very nice lunch together at the Mayflower Inn, in Washington. He seemed not to want me in the house.”

“So, did you detect any sign of a woman there?”

“Don’t try and be funny, Stone.”

“You seemed miffed that I didn’t detect that; I just wanted to see if your powers of deduction exceeded mine.”

“Barton seems to have mostly recovered his memory.”

“What do you mean by mostly?”

“He doesn’t remember anything about the night he was attacked, but it’s common for trauma victims not to remember the trauma.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You sound skeptical.”

“Oh, no, not me.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, Stone.”

“That was irony.”

Lance took a deep breath, obviously trying to remain civil. “I want you to keep an eye on Barton.”

“I’m not in the ‘keeping an eye on’ business, Lance.”

“You have a house in Washington; why don’t you spend a few days there and drop in on him from time to time?”

“I am not your brother’s keeper, to coin a phrase.”

“Stone, if you had any idea of the pressures on me at work…”

“That would still not induce the miracle of genetics required to make Barton my brother. Here’s an idea, Lance: Why don’t you instruct Holly to take a little vacation, go up there and keep an eye on him? You said he likes women, and Holly is a very attractive one. She can use my house.” Holly Barker was Stone’s friend and occasional lover and one of Lance’s staff at Langley.

There was a long silence before Lance spoke. “That is actually a very good idea, Stone.”

“If she’ll do it.”

“I think that if I put it as a request for a personal favor she would go up there. You could drop in on her for a visit.”

Stone ignored that suggestion, though it had already crossed his mind. He hadn’t seen Holly for a while, and the idea of a couple of days in Connecticut with her was appealing. “I hope it all goes well, Lance.”

“Thank you. So do I.”

“Good-bye, Lance.”

“There is just one more thing, Stone.”

Stone rolled his eyes. “What is it?”

“There’s the matter of the missing mahogany secretary.”

Stone said nothing.

“Stone?”

“I’m here.”

“There’s the matter of…”

“Yes, yes, I got that.”

“Barton is very concerned about it, of course, given its value.”

“Of course.”

“If you can locate and recover it, he is willing to offer you a finder’s fee.”

“Lance, I’m really very busy with my work, and…”

“A million dollars.”

Stone stopped talking. “How’s that again?”

“A million dollars in cash. On the barrelhead, I believe the expression is.”

“Well, I don’t know…”

“Tax free.”

Magic words, those. Stone’s palms were sweating. The thought of a million bucks at rest in his safe gave him a warm feeling all over.

“I take it, you’ll take it.”

“I’ll see what I can do, Lance.”

“Write down these numbers.” Lance gave him Barton’s home and cell phones. “Cell service is dodgy up there, as I’m sure you know, but you can always leave a message on his machine when you find the secretary.”

“Tell Barton to send me any photographs he has of the piece, or pieces, and a list of any identifying marks on the them. I’d also like to know which one I’m looking for.”

“He will respond immediately. I’ll have one of my people drop off an envelope by nightfall.”

“Give my best to Holly,” Stone said.

“You may give her your best in person.”

Stone wondered what he meant by that.

“And while you’re up there, you might just look in on Barton and see how he’s doing.” Lance hung up.

Stone tried to bring his pulse down. He was going to need Dino’s help to find the thing and maybe Bob Cantor’s, too, so he would just have to accustom himself to parting with some of Barton’s reward.