Stone Barrington 06-11

she said, “no ice.”
    “You get that, Michael?”
    Michael nodded and went away.
    “Since when does a limey girl drink bourbon?” Dino asked.
    “Since Stone extolled its virtues,” she replied. A glass was set before her, and she sipped appreciatively.
    “And what brings you to New York?” Stone asked. “Besides me, I mean.”
    “Well,” she said drolly, “you were the most important consideration, of course, but there is a little job I have to do with an agency of your government that will require every waking moment that I can tear myself away from your presence.”
    “I’ll see that there are not many of those moments,” Stone said. “Dare I ask which agency of my government?”
    “The FBI,” she said.
    “Oh, yes, they would be the folks who are roughly analogous to your own outfit, wouldn’t they?”
    “Perhaps,” she said coolly.
    “C’mon, Stone, she’s not going to tell you anything,” Dino said.
    Elaine came back and pulled up a chair.
    “Elaine Kaufman,” Stone said, “let me introduce…” He waited for Carpenter to fill in the blank.
    “Felicity,” Carpenter said, offering her hand to Elaine and shooting Stone an amused glance.
    “Really?” Stone asked.
    “Sometimes,” Carpenter replied.
    Stone’s cell phone rang.

3
    Stone stood up. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said to Carpenter. He walked toward the kitchen and turned into the empty dining room that Elaine used for parties and overflow. “Hello?”
    “This is Herbie Fisher. You called?”
    “Yeah, I spoke to your uncle Bob a few minutes ago, and he recommended you for a job.”
    “What kind of job?”
    “It involves a camera.”
    “I’m up for photography,” Herbie said. “Tell me more.”
    “The job’s tomorrow evening, so clear your schedule. Come to my office tomorrow morning at ten.” Stone gave him the address. “It’s the professional entrance of the house, lower level.”
    “What’s it pay?”
    “I’ll talk to you tomorrow morning.” Stone hung up and went back to his table. Elaine had moved on to somebody else’s.
    “Late date?” Carpenter asked.

    “Business,” Stone said.
    “Ah, business.”
    “How long are you in town for?”
    “A few days, unless I can think of a reason to stretch my stay.”
    Dino stood up. “I’ll leave you two to work on some reasons.”
    “Good night, Dino,” she said. “I hope I’ll see you again while I’m here.”
    “Count on it,” Dino said, then he left.
    “Sweet man,” Carpenter said.
    “If you say so. Felicity, huh? I like it.”
    “It’s just as well; I’m not going to change it.”
    “Have you had dinner?”
    “I had a business dinner earlier.”
    “Where are you staying?”
    “With friends.”
    “Where, with friends?”
    “In the East Forties.”
    “Very near me. Will you come to my house for a nightcap?”
    “All right.”
    They got into their coats and, outside, Stone started to hail a cab.
    “Don’t,” she said. “I have a car, courtesy of my firm.” She nodded toward a black Lincoln idling at the curb.
    “All the better,” Stone said, opening the door for her. He gave the driver his address.
    “That’s in Turtle Bay,” she said.
    “You know Turtle Bay?”

    “I can read a map and a guidebook, I know all about it. Does your house open onto the common garden?”
    “Yes, it does.”
    “Perhaps you’ll show me the garden tomorrow.”
    “Certainly,” Stone replied, though he wasn’t quite sure what she meant.
    “How does one afford a house of one’s own, what with property prices the way they are in New York these days?”
    “Easy. One has a great-aunt who dies and wills him the house. Then one works one’s ass off renovating it.”
    “I can’t wait to see it.”
    “You don’t have to wait, we’re here.” He opened the door, and she slid across the seat. She leaned back into the car. “You can go,” she said to the driver.
    Stone liked the sound of that. He led her up the steps, unlocked the front door, and hung their coats in the front hall closet. “I didn’t know you had any friends in New York,” he said.
    “Business friends.”
    “Oh. And I suppose their front hall closet has a selection of cloaks and daggers.”
    “Quite,” she said.
    Stone switched on some lights from the master panel in the foyer.
    Carpenter walked into the living room. “This is very handsome,” she said. “Did you choose the furniture, or did you have a designer?”
    “Most of the furniture came with the