Dino sighed. "You're hopeless."

42.

DINO WENT TO GET DRESSED, AND Stone shaved and showered. He was tying his tie when the satellite phone rang.

"It's Hedger."

"Good morning."

"You said you'd have a list of the people at table twelve."

"Right, let me get it." Stone retrieved the list, the only fruit of his aborted dinner with Arrington. "Want me to read you the names?"

"Yes."

Stone did so.

"It's the Israeli cultural attache," Hedger said.

"Why do you think so?"

"Because the governments of Sweden, Australia, Germany, and Belgium do not usually partic.i.p.ate in kidnapping innocent Americans off the streets of London. But I wouldn't put it past the Israelis. What's his name?"

Stone consulted the list. "David Beth Alachmy."

"Holy s.h.i.t."

"Do you know him?"

"Just of him; he's very smart, very tough. And his very presence in London means that he's the new chief of station for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. He's so new in town that my people didn't know yet."

"Then the two 'Greeks' were Israelis?"

"Probably. You said you had a contact in the London police; why don't you ask him?"

"He and I are not on cordial terms at the moment."

"Why not?"

"He thinks I was involved in the murder of the two Israelis."

"Why would he think that?"

"Because one of them was wearing my raincoat."

"How the h.e.l.l-"

"I took off the raincoat when I was doing my little survey of Lance Cabot's house, and apparently when I left, I picked up the wrong coat. The murderer dressed one of the two corpses in mine."

"Oh, swell, now you've come to the attention of the local police."

"You could say that."

"That greatly reduces your value to me."

"You expect me to feel guilty about that? Let me remind you that I came to their attention while trying to get information for you."

"In the old days, we'd have just shot you; as it is, I'll have to fire you."

"As you wish-you'll recall that I've already resigned once."

"This time let's make it permanent; I can't have anything more to do with you."

"I'm afraid you're going to be stuck with a continuing hotel bill."

"Why is that? As far as I'm concerned, you can get on the next airplane out of here."

"Not at the moment; the police have taken my pa.s.sport. When I went to the airport yesterday to, ah, see off a friend, they dragged me out and sent me back to the Connaught."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, pal, you're on your own."

"You can discuss it with the accounting department at Woodman and Weld," Stone said. "And while you're at it, remember that I've been on double my hourly rate for a while."

"Not anymore; as I said, you're fired." Hedger hung up.

Dino came into the room, dressed. "Who was that?"

"Hedger; when he heard the police were interested in me, he fired me."

"Well, I hope you don't still feel any loyalty to him."

"He's not my client anymore."

"So f.u.c.k him and the horse he rode in on."

"Yep."

"Let's call Throckmorton and tell him who beat up Bobby Jones."

"He already knows Hedger was behind it; Ted Cricket would have told him; he just can't prove that Hedger sicced the hoods onto Jones."

"Oh. Well, what are you going to do today?"

"I don't know; what were you going to do?"

"I was going to follow you around at a safe distance, to see if anybody else was following you."

"Good idea; I guess I'd better go somewhere."

"Got any ideas?"

"Why don't I take Lance Cabot to lunch?"

"Someplace good, I hope."

Stone picked up the phone and called Lance's number.

Erica answered. "Oh, h.e.l.lo, Stone," she said brightly. "How are you?"

"Very well, thanks; is Lance there?"

"Sure, just a minute."

"Good morning, Stone," Lance said.

"Good morning; are you free for lunch today?"

"Sure; where?"

"The Connaught grill, at twelve-thirty?"

"See you then."

Stone hung up.

"What do you hope to accomplish by having lunch with him?" Dino asked.

"A few days ago, he tried to bring me into some sort of business deal; I blew him off at the time, but now I feel more receptive. Also, it will give you a good look at Lance; I'll get you a table, too." He called downstairs and made the reservations.

Stone arrived in the grill on time; Dino was already seated a couple of tables away from his own; Lance showed up five minutes later.

"Well, what's up?" Lance asked, after they had ordered lunch.

"Last weekend, you asked me to do some legal work for you in New York."

"Yes, but you weren't interested; I accept that."

"Now I'm interested."

"What changed your mind?"

"I have some time on my hands here. I won't do the legal work myself, but I'll give you the name of a man who can handle it. I'm more interested in partic.i.p.ating in the business end of the, ah, transaction."

"You mean you want a piece of the action?"

"If I like the action."

"I a.s.sume you'd be willing to make an investment?"

"That depends on what the deal is and how big an investment you want."

"Could you come up with a quarter of a million dollars?"

"If I were sufficiently motivated."

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

Lance laughed. "I'm not sure that I know everything."

"Let's start with what you know."

"All right; I propose to buy some items in England or elsewhere in Europe and sell them to someone in another part of the world for a large profit."

"How much will you pay for them and what will you sell them for?"

"I expect to pay in the region of half a million dollars for these items, and I expect to sell them for around two million, maybe a bit more."

"That is a very nice profit indeed. And exactly what are the items?"

"I'm not at liberty to tell you just yet."

"You understand that I will be unwilling to make the investment until I know?"

"Of course; I don't think you're a fool, Stone."

"Can you give me a general idea?"

"Let's just say that the goods are of a scientific nature, and that the buyers are lovers of science."

"Are Ali and Sheila part of this deal?"

"A very important part. They will act as liaison between the sellers and the buyers."

"Why can't you do it yourself?"

"Let's just say that I'm of the wrong nationality, ethnicity, and religion. Ali and Sheila are critical to the success of the transaction."

Stone took a card from his wallet and wrote a name and telephone number on the back of it. "This is a lawyer in New York who will handle your legal work. But for the record, this is the only part of the transaction that I will ever admit taking part in-a simple reference."

"I quite understand."