Stone Barrington 06-11

one.”
    “Wonderful! Where?”
    “Fifth Avenue, overlooking the park. All I need is a designer, and I have some ideas about that.”
    Elaine’s was only half full when they arrived, and they were shown to Stone’s usual table. The waiters fawned over Arrington, welcoming her back, and she stopped to speak to a couple of people on the way to the table.
    “I’d forgotten what a nice place this can be,” she said, as they sat down. “One always knows somebody.”
    “True. What would you like to drink?”
    “A cosmopolitan, I think.”
    Stone ordered that, and his usual Knob Creek came with it. They raised their glasses.

    “Renewed friendships,” Stone said.
    “We are friends, aren’t we?” she asked. “I mean, in addition to having been lovers, we’ve always been friends.”
    Well, not always, Stone thought. “Of course we have.”
    Elaine came through the door at the stroke of nine and spotted them immediately. She came over and gave Stone a hug and a kiss but offered only a hand to Arrington. “Hi,” she said, then went to another table.
    “Well, that was rather frosty,” Arrington said.
    “Oh, you know how Elaine is with women,” Stone said.
    “I know she prefers the company of men, but I thought we always got along well.”
    “Once you’re a regular again, all will be well. Elaine likes regulars. It doesn’t matter to her that you haven’t been coming because you live in L.A. and Virginia; all she cares about is that you haven’t been coming.”
    “All right,” Arrington said, sipping her cosmopolitan. Then her face lit up. Dino was coming through the front door. She waved, and he came over and gave her a big hug.
    “It’s great to see you back, Arrington,” he said.
    “And it’s always good to see you, Dino. Please join us for dinner.”
    Stone aimed a kick at Dino under the table, which he deftly avoided. “I’d love to, and I know Stone would love it, too.” He waved to a waiter for a Scotch.
    “And how are Mary Ann and Benito?”
    “My wife and son are both thriving.”
    “And when did you last see them?” Arrington asked, archly.
    “As a matter of fact I just had dinner with them at home,” Dino said. “Ben is now doing his homework, and his mother is doing whatever she does when I’m here.”
    “Which is, what, every night?”

    “Only five or six nights a week. We have to go out to her father’s for dinner one night.”
    “And how is the mysterious Eduardo?”
    “Old, but hardy.”
    “Dare I ask about Dolce?”
    “Mrs. Barrington is in a rubber room, or Stone would be dead now.”
    Stone made a face at Dino to ward him off the subject, but it didn’t help. He had once been married to Dino’s sister-in-law, Dolce, for a few minutes, before she turned out to be raving and murderously mad. “It was never legal in this country,” Stone said.
    “Thanks to Eduardo,” Dino drawled.
    “Stone still thinks of himself as a bachelor, not a divorcé,” Dino said.
    Arrington laughed. “Stone still thinks of himself as a virgin.”
    The two of them thought this uproariously funny, while Stone pretended to be amused.
    “So, Stone,” Dino said, “you had any offers from the porno industry, yet?”
    “Dino…”
    “Are you referring to the business of the naked U.S. Attorney on the Justice Department Web site?” Arrington asked.
    “What else?” Dino replied. “Hilarious, isn’t it?”
    “Priceless.”
    “I want you both to stop this,” Stone said. “Both she and I are victims of mistaken identity, and that’s the whole of it.”
    “Sure, Stone,” Dino said. “Whatever you say.”
    “God, it was only on the Web site for a few minutes, and the whole world seems to have seen it.”
    “I heard that some kid in Jersey taped it and is already selling it on the Internet,” Dino said.

    Stone groaned. “Anybody hungry?” He waved frantically for a waiter to bring menus.
    “Starved,” Arrington said.
    Stone looked up from his menu to see Tiffany Baldwin walk into the restaurant, accompanied by a well-dressed man.
    “Stone, what’s wrong?” Arrington said. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” Her gaze followed his toward the door.
    “Not a ghost,” Dino said. “A video porn star.”

34
    STONE NEARLY CHOKED on his bourbon. Tiff glided by, flashing Stone a brilliantly threatening smile that seemed to say, “If you speak to me I will cut your heart out.”
    “Evening, Stone,” she said, as she passed.
    “Evening,