Stone Barrington 06-11

couple of machine guns mounted on the roof, and maybe a bazooka or two.”
    Callie laughed.
    “Why do you think he’s kidding?” Stone asked.
    She laughed again. “I’d better go book us a dinner table,” Callie said, “and I’ve got a lot of phone calls to make.” She headed toward her cabin.
    “Thad is completely nuts, isn’t he?” Dino asked.
    “He’s nuts about Liz, no doubt about it.”
    “I’ve never seen anybody move so fast.”
    “It’s the money. The superrich are accustomed to having what they want, when they want it, and that usually means right now .”
    “It’s a pretty short time to put together a big wedding.”
    “Frankly, I’m surprised we’re not doing it tonight. But don’t worry—this is what Callie does, and she’s used to doing it Thad’s way.”
    “Sounds like it’s going to be a hell of a party,” Dino said.
    “Or a hell of a mess,” Stone said.

    They had dinner at an Italian restaurant, Luccia, on a covered terrace, and Stone was gratified that gunfire did not break out. He did not enjoy himself very much, though. He was preoccupied with Paul Manning, and he didn’t even understand why.
    Everything Manning was doing made sense. He was making money, he was removing the possibility of prosecution for insurance fraud, he was getting on with his life. So why was Stone so worried?
    When he got back to the yacht that night, he started to crawl into bed with Callie, then stopped and went to the phone.
    “This is Berman,” the voice said.
    “Bob, it’s Stone. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
    “Nah, what’s up?”
    “Got a pencil?”
    “Shoot.”
    “I want everything you can find—and I mean everything —on a William Charles Danforth.” He read him the P Street Washington address. “I want a full bio, and I want to know how far his credit history goes back. Do a criminal record check, too, and I want a photograph. I especially want a photograph.”
    “Will do. How soon?”
    “Tomorrow, as early as possible.”
    “I’ll call you.” Berman hung up.
    Stone got into bed and snuggled up to Callie. Now that he felt he was doing something, he could pay her the proper attention.

48
    D INO FINISHED HIS COFFEE. “HOW ARE WE DRESSING for this shindig on Sunday?” he asked.
    “Black tie,” Callie replied.
    “In the afternoon?”
    “The wedding’s at six, with a small group of invited guests. Everybody else arrives at seven.”
    “Oh, good, for a minute I thought we were going to be gauche and wear black tie in the afternoon.”
    Callie laughed. “You gauche, Dino? Never!”
    Dino gave her a sweet smile. “Stone, I gotta go shopping. You come with me.”
    Stone looked at Callie.
    “We’ll be all right,” she said. “I’ve already got two security men in the main house.”
    “You anticipate me,” Stone said.
    “I try.”
    “Okay, Dino, let’s go shopping.” He led the way toward where the cars were parked. A man who was obviously a security guard paid a lot of attention to them.
    “You’re one of the two men on duty?” Stone asked.
    “That’s right.”
    “My name is Barrington. This is Lieutenant Bacchetti, NYPD. You armed?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Try not to shoot anybody, if you can help it.”
    “I’ll try.”
    They got into the car and drove away.
    “What are you shopping for?” he asked Dino.
    “A dinner jacket.”
    “Why don’t you ask Mary Ann to ship yours down here? There’s time.”
    “That’s a question only a lifelong bachelor could ask,” Dino said. “If you’re in Palm Beach, and she’s not, you don’t call home and say, ‘Honey, send my dinner jacket, will you?’ It would take too long to explain why to her, and in the end, she’d never believe you. Besides, I need a new one, anyway. Somebody threw up on the last one at a wedding last year, and the cleaners could never get it all out.”
    “Where you want to shop?”
    “They got an Armani here?”
    “They do.”
    “Giorgio always does my dinner jackets.”
    Stone found a parking spot on Worth Avenue. He put the top up to keep the sun from overheating the black leather upholstery, and they walked to the shop.
    Dino conferred with a salesman, and shortly, a fitter was marking up a white dinner jacket. “You like the white?” he asked Stone.
    “I like. Very elegant.”
    “I thought you would. I’m getting this just for you.”
    “You’re sweet.”
    The fitter looked at them oddly. “What about the lump, sir?” he said, nodding toward the pistol