Near Miss

Chapter 18

Carly’s suitcase turned out to be two large ones, but Fred got them into the Bentley without trouble.

“Where were you going to sleep tonight?” Stone asked, when they were on the way home.

“In a hotel, but I didn’t know the name of one,” she said. “That’s why I brought my bags.”

“How convenient,” Matilda said.

“It is, isn’t it? Things always seem to work out.”

“I bet they do.”

Fred turned into the garage, and, while Fred got Carly’s luggage, Stone took her and Matilda to the house next door and showed them the vacant apartment.

“It’s charming,” Carly said. “How did I get so lucky?”

“I’ve never seen anyone impress Bill Eggers so much or so fast,” Stone said. “Come on, I’ll show you the house.”

He gave Carly the ten-cent tour, with Matilda tagging along, then sat them down for a cognac in the study. “Is all this going to your head?” he asked Carly.

“Of course, it is,” she replied. “I’m impressed with myself.”

“Honestly, I’m a bit impressed with you, too,” Matilda said.

“Thank you.”

“Are you going to remember everything I’ve told you?” Stone asked. “All my advice?”

“I have a photographic memory,” she said, “and it doesn’t have to be written down.”

“There’s a wrinkle I haven’t told you about,” Stone said.

“What’s that?”

“Somebody is trying to kill Matilda and me, and you have to be careful not to get in the way.”

“When I met you last, two people were trying to kill you, and we managed to handle that.”

Matilda looked at Stone, surprised. “How often do people want you dead?”

“Too often.”

“Well,” Carly said, “your present status sounds like an improvement over last time.”

“I suppose it is, in some ways, but the would-be killer employs a number of people to do his killing for him.”

“Why don’t you get Ed Rawls to shoot them for you? It worked in Maine.”

“It may come to that,” Stone said, “but we don’t want a lot of people being shot in Dino’s jurisdiction. He has to live with the statistics.”

“Are you able to arm me?”

“I don’t know. Can you restrain yourself?”

“I’m a model of self-restraint,” she said.

“First, we’ll have to get Dino to get you a license to carry.”

“He can do that?”

“He’s the police commissioner. He can hurry the process without breaking any laws. We just did so for Matilda here. I’ll get you an application to fill out.”

“In the meantime, I can kill with a single blow.” She held up a thumb. “I took a self-defense course.”

“That makes you doubly dangerous,” Stone said. “Be careful what you do with that thumb while we’re waiting for your license to come through.”

“I’ll practice thumb restraint,” she said.

After seeing Carly off to her new apartment, Stone and Matilda retired to the bedroom, where Matilda immediately slipped out of her dress and into Stone’s bed.

She eyed him hungrily. “Don’t keep a girl waiting.”

He did not, and she rewarded him with even more enthusiasm than their previous sessions.

When all was done, she said, “That was just a little reminder, so you don’t forget me.”

“My dear, why would I ever forget you?”

“Why, indeed?”

The following morning when Stone went down to his office, and instructed Joan on Carly’s carry license application, he found a phone message from Herb Fisher waiting for him, and he called back.

“What the hell are you doing with my new associate?” Herb asked.

“She’s doing it for herself,” Stone replied. “You’ve heard the news about her bar exam score?”

“Not yet.”

“One hundred percent.”

“She aced it?”

“She did, and she’s already making rain.”

“That, I heard about.”

“Eggers had dinner with us last night, and he gave her a twenty-five percent raise and a new office on the spot.”

“Not my office.”

“Two doors down.”

“Holy shit.”

“And a leather sofa and a TV that disappears into a cabinet.”

“Jesus, I had to buy my own TV.”

“Get used to it, pal. She’s going to be a jump ahead of you every day.”

“Can I give her back to Eggers?”

“He’d probably like that, but don’t worry, she’ll propel herself along. She won’t need your help. She can make you look good, if you don’t complain about her.”

“Then I’ll keep my mouth shut and just go along for the ride.”

“That would be a smart move, if you can manage it. Oh, and don’t try to get her in the sack. You’ll ruin yourself around the firm, if you should manage it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m otherwise engaged at the moment.”

“Then just hang on and enjoy watching her work her magic.”

“Gotcha.”

They both hung up.