18
Over dinner, Stone brought Dino up to date on the problems with Boris Tirov.
“What do you suggest?” Stone asked.
“Suggest? I’m out of my jurisdiction. What’s the name of that police inspector you dealt with last year after the murder? Sherlock something?”
“Deputy Chief Inspector Holmes,” Stone replied. “No Sherlock.”
“Why don’t you give him a call?”
“Good idea,” Stone replied. “I’ll ring him in the morning.”
“When do we head for Rome?”
“Tomorrow afternoon. The celebration isn’t until the day after.”
“Are we staying at the Arrington?”
“Yep.”
“What do the celebrations consist of?”
“A big cocktail party, followed by a dinner for as many people as can be squeezed into the dining room.”
“Who are the guests?”
“I’ve left that up to Marcel duBois, so I have no idea. I imagine they’ll be pretty, though.”
“It’s a good thing I went shopping in London,” Gala said. “I found the perfect dress at Harvey Nicks.”
“Perfect is good enough for me,” Stone said.
—
After dinner, Geoffrey announced a phone call from Dame Felicity for Stone.
“Good evening.”
“Good evening. What the hell is going on down there? I’ve heard there was a disturbance at my dock today.”
“I didn’t witness the event, but Geoffrey tells me that weapons were brandished by your people, but no shots were fired by anyone.”
“Who were the would-be intruders?”
“One of them we believe to be Gala’s ex-husband.”
“Is he mad?”
“Very possibly. He’s certainly unbalanced, and he has some unsavory Russian connections.”
“What a delightful combination of personal traits. If there’s a next time, I’ll tell my people to fire at will.”
“Please wait until I’m in Rome, which will occur tomorrow evening.”
“How long will you be away?”
“A couple of days, I guess. It’s the grand opening of the new Arrington.”
“Ah.”
“Yes. Would you like to come along?”
“Love to, but events in the Muddle East demand my attention. I expect to have all that solved by the weekend, though, so perhaps I’ll come down and see you and Gala?”
Stone felt a stirring at the thought. “Hold on.” He covered the phone. “Gala, would you like to see Felicity this weekend?”
Gala managed a warm smile. “Of course.”
“Saturday is good, Felicity.”
“Your place or mine?”
“Windward Hall.”
“Sevenish?”
“Perfect. I’ll be sure and let you know if we’re detained in Rome.”
“You’d better. Bye-bye.” They hung up.
“How is the old girl?” Dino asked.
“As ever. Sorry, I forgot to send your regards.”
“What’s keeping her busy?”
“What she calls the Muddle East, but she plans to solve all that by the weekend.”
“Good luck to her.”
“I’ll tell her you said so.”
They adjourned to the fireplace for brandy.
“You know,” Dino said, “this is my favorite house of yours.”
“Then you must come more often. There’s nothing like an English summer.”
“I’ve heard that.”
“Perhaps you should just toss in the New York towel and retire here.”
“That’s a damned fine idea, but I’m not sure Viv is ready for retirement. She’s up for chief operating officer of Strategic Services soon, and she’ll be making a ton of money.”
“Maybe she could do the job out of London, or even out of here. We’ve still got the offices downstairs that the kids used when they were shooting their movie here last year.”
“I like the way you think. All she needs is a video and Internet connection. You can run anything from anywhere these days.”
“Take it up with her.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Would you like me to nudge Mike in that direction? I sometimes think he’d rather not spend all that much time in New York.”
“Not yet. Let me broach the subject with my better half, see how it flies.”
“You do that.”
“How about you? Are you ready to spend more time here and less in New York?”
“I’m not sure how I’d like an English winter. I’m told it rains.”
“Can’t be any worse than a New York winter. It snows.”
“You have a point.”
“Let’s both cogitate.”
“Agreed.”
—
Later that night, Stone and Gala were canoodling in bed.
“Are you ready for another encounter with Felicity?” he asked.
“I will be by Saturday,” she said. “Right now I’m more content with you.”
“How much of your sex life have you spent in bed with other women?”
“That sounds like a polite way of asking if I’m a lesbian.”
“I don’t think that, you’re too happy in bed with me.”
“Well, the answer to your question is a tiny percentage, perhaps half a dozen occasions, starting in college. I’m very particular about whom I sleep with, regardless of gender, and generally speaking, I’ve found a great many more qualified males than females. Does my occasional attraction to women disturb you?”
“No, I can perfectly understand how someone could be attracted to women.”
She laughed. “But not to men?”
“That’s much more difficult to understand.”
“I’ll grant you that,” she replied, then returned her attention to arousing him.