“Do you know where I can fi nd him?”
Tommy motioned his chin in the direction of the bar. “Right over there, third stool from the left.”
Stone looked toward the bar. The man’s back was mostly to him, but he could catch a little profile. He was heavier than in his college photo and had longer hair, and he was dressed in jeans, cowboy boots and a flowered shirt, with the tail out, Hawaiian-style. He was talking to a beautiful girl on the next bar stool, with long, honeycolored hair, dressed in tight jeans and a leather jacket.
“Excuse me a minute,” Stone said, rising and walking toward the bar. He walked up to the two people, who turned and looked at him. Evan Keating had a thin, straight nose and bright blue eyes.
“Mr. Keating?” Stone said. “I’m sorry to intrude, but I just wanted to introduce myself.” He handed the young man his card. “My name is Stone Barrington, and I’ve been sent by my law firm to Key West to deliver some documents for your signature.”
“You must think I’m somebody else,” Keating said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m aware of that, Mr. Keating, but we could get together for a few minutes tomorrow morning. I’m sure you will find our conversation greatly to your advantage.”
Keating regarded him evenly for a moment without speaking, then he said, “Why don’t we step outside for a moment and discuss this?”
“Of course,” Stone replied.
Keating got up and led the way out, while Stone followed. Outside on the sidewalk a bench had been placed as a waiting area for the restaurant, and Keating motioned Stone to sit down. Stone sat down next to Keating, his back to the restaurant door.
“I know this will come as a surprise to you, but my law fi rm represents Elijah Keating’s Sons, and . . .”
Something struck the back of Stone’s neck, and the night exploded in stars.
5
STONE SWAM BACK into consciousness, opened his eyes, then closed them again. Some sort of bright light had blinded him. A cool hand was resting on his forehead.
“Mr. Barrington?” a woman’s low voice said.
“What?” Stone replied. He tried to open his eyes again but it didn’t work.
“Can you look at me, please?”
“It’s too bright,” Stone said. Immediately, the brightness disappeared.
“Is that better?”
“Okay, yes.”
“Can you open your eyes now?”
Stone opened his eyes and found his vision filled with the face of a woman. “What happened?” he asked.
“We don’t know,” she replied.
Dino’s face replaced the woman’s, and Tommy Sculley was right behind him. “We found you face down on the sidewalk,” he said.
“I liked the other face better,” Stone said and tried to sit up straighter.
“Let’s get him up on the bench,” the woman said, and hands gripped his arms and helped him upward.
“What happened to you, Stone?” Dino asked.
“How the hell should I know?” Stone said irritably. “I was unconscious, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah, that was kind of the point,” Dino said. “Do you have any idea how you got that way?”
“Well, I was sitting at a table with you and Tommy, having a drink, and then I woke up here.”
“Nothing in between?” Dino asked.
“I’ve got a headache,” Stone said, rubbing the back of his neck and fi nding it sore.
The woman spoke again. “He should really be in a hospital,” she said.
“I don’t need to go to a hospital,” Stone retorted. “I need some aspirin and a drink.”
She explored the back of his head and his neck with her fi ngers, and he winced when she got to his neck. “Seems like a blow to the back of the neck, rather than his head, so I think we can discount a skull fracture or a concussion.”
“Who the hell are you?” Stone grumbled. “And where’s that drink?”
“Oh, all right, give him what he wants,” she said, sounding exasperated. “Get him into bed and keep him there until morning, and call me if he’s still disoriented when he wakes up.” She handed Dino a card. “Good night, Mr. Barrington,” she said. “I hope you feel better tomorrow.”
Tommy put a glass of bourbon and two aspirin into Stone’s hand.
“There you go.”
Stone washed down the aspirin with the bourbon and took a deep breath. “That’s better,” he said.
“Can you stand up?” Tommy asked.
“Sure I can.” He stood up and held on to Tommy’s shoulder for a moment. “I’m hungry. We hadn’t ordered dinner, had we?”
“No, we hadn’t, but the doctor said you should be in bed.”
“What doctor?”
“The woman who just washed her hands of you and left,” Dino said. “Come on, Tommy, let’s get him inside; he’s not going to cooperate.”
The three men went back into the restaurant and sat down at their table.
Stone was still rubbing his neck.
“You want some ice on that?” Tommy asked.
“I don’t want to make a spectacle of myself,” Stone said. “People are staring at me as it is.” He took another slug of the bourbon, and it began reaching the places it should, including the back of his neck.
“Now, will you guys tell me what the hell happened?”
“I directed you to a guy at the bar,” Tommy said. “You showed me his picture. Evan Keating?”
“I don’t remember that,” Stone said.
“You walked over to him and apparently introduced yourself, gave him your card, then the two of you walked outside.”
“I don’t remember that, either,” Stone said, sipping more bourbon.
“Tommy and I were talking for a couple of minutes, not paying attention to you, then Janet came over and said you were lying on the sidewalk outside, and that’s where we found you.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Stone said. “Are you saying that Evan Keating knocked me unconscious, and that I didn’t see it coming?”
“Seems like you caught one on the back of the neck,” Tommy said. “Dino, did you see anybody follow them out?”
“I wasn’t looking that way,” Dino replied.
“Neither was I,” Tommy said.
“And I don’t remember any of it,” Stone said. A waiter brought menus, and they ordered, and someone brought a plate of hummus and some bread.
“I’m hungry,” Stone said.
“That’s probably a good sign,” Tommy replied. “If you were badly hurt, you wouldn’t be thinking about food and booze.”
“He hardly ever thinks about anything else,” Dino said, “except women.”
“Speaking of women,” Stone said, “who was that doctor? She looked pretty good.”
Dino handed Stone her card. “I think he’s going to be okay,” he said to Tommy.
