Stone Barrington 27 - Doing Hard Time

newly acquired houseman or butler, Frederick Flicker, known as Fred. Stone had received a year of Fred’s service as a gift from his Parisian friend, Marcel duBois, and the man had quickly made himself indispensable.
    Fred greeted them and took their coats as they let themselves into Stone’s house from the garage. “Good evening, Mr. Barrington, Chief, and Mrs. Bacchetti. Dinner will be served in about an hour. May I fix you all a drink?”
    “You may, Fred,” Stone said, following him into the study. They sank into comfortable chairs and received their usuals from Fred’s silver tray. Fred inquired if they required anything else, was told no, then vanished.
    “I want one of those,” Dino said, raising his scotch in Fred’s general direction.
    “I don’t think there
is
another one of those,” Stone replied.
    “Dino,” his wife said, “we have two unoccupied maid’s rooms in our new apartment. Why don’t you find yourself a nice retired cop and install him there?”
    “I don’t think retired Irish or Italian cops fall into the employment category of butler,” Dino said. “I can just see one now, stumbling around the apartment, spilling drinks.”
    “All right, I’ll look into it then,” Viv said.
    Stone laughed. When Viv said she’d look into something, that meant it was practically done. “I predict you’ll have a houseman inside of a week,” Stone said.
    “Now, wait a minute, Viv,” Dino said. “I don’t know if I can afford a houseman on my salary.”
    “You forget, my darling, that we have two salaries now. We can’t afford a Rolls-Royce, but we can afford a houseman.”
    “Dino,” Stone said, “shut up and leave this to Viv. Haven’t you learned to do that yet?”
    “Awright, awright,” Dino said. “Don’t the two of you gang up on me.”
    “Dino,” Stone said, changing the subject, “did you see anybody at the graduation ceremony that you made as Russian?”
    Dino frowned. “Gimme a hint.”
    “Tallish, pale hair and skin, hefty, decent suit.”
    “Got him,” Dino said. “I didn’t read him as Russian, but you’re right, he could be. You worrying about Russians?”
    “After the past few weeks,” Stone said, “I’ll worry about Russians for the rest of my life.”
    “What would one of that mob be doing at Peter’s and Ben’s graduation?”
    “That’s what worries me,” Stone said.
    “Excuse me for a moment,” Viv said, rising. “I’ll be right back.”
    “Dino,” Stone said when she had gone, “you don’t know how lucky you were to find that woman.”
    “Oh, yes I do,” Dino replied, “and if I forget for a moment, she’ll remind me.”
    “How’s the city’s new chief of detectives doing?” Stone asked, referring to Dino’s new job.
    “He’s scared shitless that he’s going to make some big mistake and embarrass the commissioner when the guy’s about to announce his run for mayor.”
    “You’ll do fine,” Stone said, “because you have good instincts—both cop instincts and political instincts.”
    “There are a lot of unhappy captains who didn’t get the job,” Dino pointed out.
    “You’re going to have enemies no matter what job you’re in,” Stone said. “You had enemies when you were running the detective squad at the Nineteenth Precinct, and you always handled them with aplomb.”
    “Aplomb? That’s a word I’ve never associated with myself,” Dino said. “I like it.”
    “It comes naturally to Italians.”
    Viv returned to the study and sat down. “We have an interview tomorrow at six PM ,” she said.
    “Who’s interviewing us?” Dino asked, looking mystified.
    “We’re doing the interviewing: I spoke to Eduardo Bianci, and he spoke to his man, Peter, who recommended a nice couple.”
    “If I wanted to find a guy to slip a knife into somebody’s liver, then I’d ask Peter’s advice.”
    “Can’t a person have more than one talent?” Viv asked.
    “Eduardo is in love with you,” Dino said. He had introduced her to his former father-in-law at their wedding.
    “Maybe a little,” she admitted.
    “Hey, wait a minute! You said ‘couple’?”
    “We need a housekeeper,” Viv said. “That daily cleaning lady isn’t cutting it—nothing gets really clean. And anyway, we have two maid’s rooms—they can use one for a sitting room and the other for a bedroom.”
    “You’ve got this whole thing worked out already?”
    “Dino,” Stone said, “I told you: shut up and get out of her