Stone tried smiling, but it didn't work. 'Good afternoon, Ms. Mar… ah, Mrs. Fortescue.'
She held her gaze a little longer, as if to punish him, before looking away.
Stone felt as if a hole had been burned through him.
'Sit,' Elena said. 'Speak,' she said to Eggers. She appeared to be barely in control of her anger, but addressing them as dogs seemed to help.
'Elena,' Eggers said plaintively, 'please let me express my condolences, along with those of everyone at Woodman and Weld.'
'Accepted,' Elena said, her face like marble.
Stone realized that she had had so many Botox injections that she was probably incapable of any expression, short of baring her teeth.
'What happened,' she said to Eggers, a command rather than a question.
'A terrible accident,' Eggers replied. 'Our investigation has determined that the skylight above the apartment had been fatally weakened by dry rot.'
What investigation? Stone wondered. Nobody had asked him anything.
'And when Stone's operative put a little of his weight on it, in order to be able to photograph the scene below, it gave way.'
'Who do we sue?' Elena asked.
That brought Eggers up short. 'Ah, well, I, ah… Stone? You want to answer that one?'
Stone, who had thought he was to keep his mouth shut, wasn't ready for the question. 'Not really,' he said, tossing the ball back to Eggers.
'Do you mean to tell me,' Elena said, 'that the people who are responsible for my husband's death should go unpunished?'
Stone found his voice. 'Mrs. Fortescue,' he said, 'if I may be candid, you hired a man, through Bill and me, to climb onto the roof of a building and photograph your husband in compromising positions. The attorneys for the owner of the building would work hard to make a case that you, therefore, are responsible for your husband's death, and they might very well win with such a defense. Even if you won, the resulting publicity would be devastating to your reputation.'
'Then perhaps I should sue you for hiring an incompetent,' Elena said.
Eggers made a small choking noise.
'That would have the same result,' Stone said. 'At the moment, the story the press has is that a burglar or Peeping Tom fell through the skylight. It is being reported as nothing more than a freak accident, which, of course, it was. There has been no mention of the woman or the motives of the man who fell. To pursue this further would not result to the benefit of anyone involved.'
Elena attempted to frown and failed. 'What about your Peeping Tom? It seems to me that he might have a lawsuit against you, and eventually, me.'
'You may rest assured that that will not happen,' Eggers said.
Stone hoped he was right. The idea of Herbie Fisher suing had not occurred to him, and he hoped to God it hadn't occurred to Herbie.
'But I'm the injured party here,' Elena cried, banging her bony fist against the arm of the sofa. 'Somebody has to pay for that injury!'
Eggers turned white and said nothing.
'Mrs. Fortescue,' Stone said, 'may I be perfectly frank?'
'You'd fucking well better be,' Elena snarled. Her marble skin had turned bright pink.
'These events, as unfortunate for everyone as they are, have inadvertently accomplished something that could not have been foreseen.'
'And what is that?' Elena demanded.
'It's an ill wind that blows nobody good,' Stone said, hoping that the cliche would find its mark.
It did not. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?' Elena cried, turning pinker.
'An act of God, for want of a better term, has rid you of a husband who was unfaithful to you, and whom you had already decided to be rid of, and it has done so in a way that avoids the inevitable, damaging publicity of divorcing him and enforcing your prenuptial agreement.' Stone paused for effect. 'Not to mention the very considerable expense of so doing.'
There was a long silence, finally broken by Elena Marks Fortescue. 'You have a point,' she said. Then she got up and left the room the way she had entered it.
Eggers had been holding his breath, and he let it out in a rush.
Back on the street, looking for a cab, Eggers turned to Stone. 'What about the photographs?' he asked.
Stone handed him a set, and Eggers looked at them briefly.
'And the negatives?' he asked.
Stone handed over an envelope containing the four frames. 'You think we're out of the woods with Elena?' he asked.
'She didn't fire us, did she?' Eggers said cheerfully, waving down a cab and getting in. 'Let's do lunch sometime.' He drove away.
12
Stone felt lighter than air. This was all going to work out; everything had been taken care of. All he had to do now was to get something worked out with the DA's office about Herbie's charges – get them to drop the manslaughter charge, plead him down to a misdemeanor, and get him probation. It was a bright, cool day, and he felt like a walk.
He strolled down the west side of Fifth Avenue, occasionally glancing into the park, then farther downtown, turned left on East Fifty-seventh Street and walked to the Turnbull amp; Asser shop. He would treat himself.
He looked at the new sea island cotton swatches and ordered a dozen shirts. He didn't know what they cost; he didn't want to know. Joan would pay the bill when it arrived, and he had instructed her not to enlighten him; some things were best left unknown. He picked out a few ties and waited while they were wrapped; the shirts would take eight weeks, or so. Then he left the shop and turned down Park Avenue toward home in Turtle Bay.
In the upper Forties, as he turned to cross Park, a stretched Bentley glided to a momentary halt, then drove on, but not before Stone had seen, through the open rear window, Elena Marks, now clad in proper New York widow's weeds by Chanel, in earnest conversation with someone Stone knew. He pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed Woodman amp; Weld and Bill Eggers.
'What is it, Stone?' Eggers asked, sounding rushed. It was a technique of his when he didn't want to talk to somebody.
'Bill, I was crossing Park Avenue a moment ago, when I saw Elena Marks in her car with Robert Teller, of Teller and Sparks.'
'What?' Eggers cried.
'I kid you not.'
'That buccaneer! That bastard! Poaching my clients!'
'I thought you'd want to know.'
'What were they talking about?'
'Well, Bill, I couldn't hear them. I just saw them in that big Bentley of hers, talking.'
'Well, I've already got our tax people working on something that might save her a few hundred grand. It's the kind of thing she likes.'
'I'd tell her about it soon, Bill. Bye-bye.' Stone punched off. He thought about calling T amp;A and canceling his shirt order, but he thought better of it.
Stone arrived home and went upstairs to leave his new ties, before returning to his office. As he approached his bedroom, he heard a snore. He pushed open the door and peered inside. Carpenter lay on her back, a breast exposed, sawing lightly away. He tiptoed across the room toward his dressing room, left the ties and tiptoed back
