Kisser (2010)

call, but you owe me for this one.”
    “Yes, I owe you.”
    Tiffany hung up without saying good-bye.
    “That’s interesting,” Mitzi said.
    “Asking for a helicopter?”
    “Yes, that, too, but more that Tiffany is calling you.”
    “You know we have some history.”
    “Everybody who reads ‘Page Six’ in the Post knows you have some history.”
    “That was speculation; I didn’t appear in the photographs, and they couldn’t prove that the woman was Tiffany.”
    “Sorry, I should have Mirandized you before I asked about that. But why is Tiffany calling you?”
    “She wants to have dinner.”
    “She wants a second chance to become infamous?”
    “That’s an interesting way to put it,” Stone said. “I never considered that dining with me carried the risk of infamy.”
    “I shouldn’t think it would do either of you any good. It’s obviously a toxic relationship.”
    “Mitzi, you don’t have to talk me out of it; I don’t want to have dinner with her.”
    “Well, you did put her off, didn’t you?”
    “I thought it best.”
    “I’m glad,” she said, leaning over and kissing him on the forehead.
    Stone rolled his eyes upward. “Do I have lipstick on my forehead now?”
    “It’s very becoming,” Mitzi said, patting his cheek.
    Stone resisted the urge to wipe it off with his napkin.
    Mitzi put down her napkin and stood up. “Well, I have to go to work.”
    Stone stood, too. “Have you heard anything from Derek about the buy?”
    “Not yet. Don’t worry; he’ll call. He’s on the hook.”
    “I hope we can keep him there,” Stone said. He walked her to the front door and let her out, then went down to his office.
    Joan walked in with the mail, took one look at him, and burst out laughing.
    “What?” Stone asked, mystified.
    She put the mail on his desk. “Oh, nothing,” she said, then she went back to her office, chortling.

55
    DINO WAS UNCHARACTERISTICALLY LATE for dinner at Elaine’s. Stone and Elaine were sitting together, chatting, waiting for him to show. Stone ordered a second Knob Creek.
    “You’re looking better,” Elaine said. “You didn’t look so hot last night.”
    “I’m feeling better,” Stone admitted.
    “You got laid last night, huh?”
    “In a manner of speaking. You know Carrie, the actress?”
    “Sure. From what I hear on the grapevine, everybody’s going to know her next week.”
    “Right.”
    “You weren’t with her last night; you were with Mitzi.”
    “Right again. I had to go to the hospital very early this morning, because Carrie’s ex took a shot at her.”
    “She’s dead?”
    Stone shook his head. “Barely wounded. She’ll make opening night.”
    “Somebody ought to lock that guy up.”
    “Dino’s working on it.”
    At the mention of his name, Dino walked through the front door and headed for his table. A waiter saw him and ordered his usual Scotch. He sat down at the table, and Elaine pinched his cheek.
    “Aw, come on, Elaine,” Dino said. “Everybody’s watching.”
    “You two enjoy,” Elaine said and moved to another table.
    “Yeah, I know,” Dino said to Stone. “I’m late.”
    “What happened in Atlanta?” Stone asked.
    “You mind if I get a drink first?” A drink appeared before him, and he took a tug at it.
    “So?”
    “Don’t rush me.”
    “Me rush you?”
    “All the time.”
    Stone sighed, sat back, sipped his bourbon, and waited for Dino to speak.
    Dino took another tug at his Scotch. “Okay,” he said, “two Atlanta PD detectives met your man at the airport. He denied being in New York and showed them a flight plan from Charleston.”
    “Anybody can run off a flight plan on a computer,” Stone said. “That doesn’t mean he flew it.”
    “They called the FAA, but there was some screwup. Apparently, he did fly from Charleston, but they weren’t able to figure out when he got there.”
    “And I’ll bet he has a Charleston alibi.”
    “You got it,” Dino said. “And since we don’t have any evidence against the guy—no ID, no bullet—he can’t be touched.”
    “So that’s why you were late?”
    “No. I was at a meeting with Brian Doyle and the commissioner.”
    “Subject?”
    “Your pending bust.”
    “It’s not my pending bust. It’s Brian’s; he owns it.”
    “Yeah, I know, and that’s what worries me. I hear you got Tiffany to give you a chopper.”
    “Shit! Was that mentioned at the meeting?”
    “No, but I have other sources.”
    “I think we need it.”
    “I