Unintended Consequences

the doctor explained, “which may or may not return. The obliteration need not occur at the time of receiving the drug—it can work backwards and erase earlier memory, too. There have been cases where people have lost several weeks.”
    “We hope your memory returns,” Whit Douglas said, “because we want to know how a consultant to the Agency happened to get ahold of a giant Mickey Finn, and we want to know why.”
    “So do I,” Stone replied.
    “Do you remember talking to anyone on the airplane?”
    “I don’t remember
being
on the airplane,” Stone said. “If my memory returns, when will that start happening?”
    “At any time,” Keeler said. “You could start getting flashbacks immediately or in a couple of days. If you don’t get anything back in that time, you’re probably faced with the permanent loss of those four days.”
    There was a rap at the door. Douglas pressed a button on the coffee table and let in a young man, who walked across the room, Stone’s airline ticket in his hand. “Mr. Barrington, we’ve found your luggage. It was in the tank at De Gaulle.”
    “Tank?”
    “A pressure chamber that limits the effect of an explosion. The airlines get nervous these days when there’s unclaimed baggage. Would you like the bags sent to your hotel?”
    Stone thought about it. “I don’t know if I have a hotel.”
    “Where did you stay the last time you were in Paris?” Douglas asked.
    “At the Bristol, but I didn’t like the location, so I don’t think I would have booked in there.”
    “Can we book a room for you somewhere?”
    “Okay, how about the Plaza Athénée?”
    Douglas nodded to the young man, and he left.
    Stone dug out his iPhone. “I should call my secretary,” he said. “Maybe she can help with the memory.” His phone was dead.
    “Use the one on my desk,” Douglas said. “Give the operator the number.”
    Stone did as he was told, and Joan, his secretary, picked up the phone.
    “Woodman & Weld,” she said. “Mr. Barrington’s office.”
    “Hi, it’s Stone.”
    “Well, where the hell have you been? Your hotel said you never checked in, Dino’s on his honeymoon, and Holly has vanished.”
    “What hotel is that?”
    “The Plaza Athénée. That’s where you said you were staying.”
    “I had to make a detour,” Stone said. “Listen, I need your help. Describe to me what I did between Dino’s engagement party and right now.”
    Joan thought this over for a moment. “You want
me
to tell
you
what you were doing?”
    “Exactly. Pretend I don’t know.” Stone pressed the speaker button so the others could hear.
    “All right, you got to your desk late the day after the party, then you had lunch with Bill Eggers and had a meeting at the firm, then you got back here around five, and I went home.”
    “How about the next day?”
    “The same, pretty much. With Dino gone and Holly moved out, you didn’t have anybody to play with.”
    “And the day after that?”
    “You got a call from somebody in the middle of the afternoon, then said you were going to Paris for a few days. An envelope arrived by messenger with a first-class, round-trip ticket on Air France, and a note saying a car would pick you up at seven that evening. There was no return address on the envelope. You were due into Paris at nine the next morning.”
    “Did I see anybody in my office?”
    “No.”
    “Did anybody call that you didn’t know?”
    “No, but I was in the ladies’ when the afternoon call came, and you picked up.”
    “Can you think of anything else? What did I do in the evenings?”
    “Like I said, you didn’t have anybody to play with, so I guess you dined at home alone.”
    “Thanks, we’ll talk again later.” Stone hung up and went back to the sofa. “Not much help, huh?”
    “Rose Ann,” Douglas said, “find out who called Stone’s office in the afternoon day before yesterday.”
    Stone gave her his business card, and she went to the phone on Douglas’s desk, then returned. “They’ll have it in a few minutes,” she said.
    The phone rang, and Douglas picked it up and listened, then hung up. “You’re booked into the Plaza Athénée. They were expecting you yesterday. We got you an upgrade.”
    “Thank you,” Stone said. “There’s something missing.”
    “What?”
    “My briefcase. I always travel with a briefcase.”
    Douglas got up. “Oh, I forgot.” He walked behind his desk, came back with Stone’s briefcase, and handed it to him.