Conversation seemed to pall, and Larsen and Sharpe seemed a bit antsy.
Larsen consulted his wristwatch. “Oh, Derek and I have another appointment downtown in half an hour,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind if we leave you to your breakfast.” They stood up and hands were shaken. “You’re going to be a very happy woman in three months,” Larsen said. “Bye, now. Bye, Stone.”
“Derek, could I speak to you for a moment before you leave?” Mitzi asked.
Stone put down his fork. “Please excuse me for a moment.” He went looking for the men’s room.
SHARPE TOOK Stone’s seat. “How can I help you, Mitzi?”
“Well, Derek,” she said, “my friends from Charleston were very pleased with the quality of the, ah, ‘art,’ you sold them, and they’d like to make another purchase.”
“The same again?”
“No. This time they’re less interested in the grassy picture and more interested in the powdery ones.”
“All right. How much would they like?”
She leaned forward and whispered, “Ten kilos.” “My goodness,” Sharpe said. “Your friends have become more… commercial, shall we say!”
“Perhaps. I’m not familiar with their business arrangements.”
“Of course not.”
“And how soon could you deliver?”
“Two, three days,” Sharpe said. “And at the same price per.”
“Oh, I should think a volume discount would be in order,” Mitzi said.
“I might be able to get you five percent off,” Sharp replied.
“Oh, I think ten percent would be more acceptable to my friends,” Mitzi said, giving him a brilliant smile.
“Given the quantity, I can do that,” Sharpe said.
“We’ll do it the same way as last time,” Mitzi said. “I’m more comfortable with this sort of transaction in my own home.”
“I don’t know about that, Mitzi,” Sharpe said. “My sources don’t like to repeat themselves geographically. I’m sure you understand.”
“No, I don’t,” Mitzi said firmly. “And I’m not going to do this on some street corner. Anywhere else but my home would be a deal breaker.”
Sharpe shrugged. “All I can do is try,” he said.
“Try hard,” Mitzi replied. She shook his hand, and he went to join Larsen in the lobby, just as Stone was returning.
“How’d it go?” Stone asked.
“I got ten percent off!” Mitzi squealed. “He bridled at doing it in the apartment again, but I put my foot down.” She looked around. “This is an awfully nice hotel; why don’t we get a room?”
Stone looked at his watch. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tonight before I can jump you. Eight thirty at Elaine’s?”
“Oh, all right,” she said, giving him a luscious kiss.
50
STONE WALKED HOME, and as he came through the front door, Joan flagged him down.
“A Brian Doyle is waiting in your office,” she said. “He insisted; he showed me a badge.”
“Right,” Stone said. He tiptoed down the hall to his closed door and put his ear to it. He could hear the sound of drawers being opened and closed. Silently he turned the knob, then threw open the door.
Brian Doyle was caught with a handful of cancelled checks. “What do you want?” he demanded, as if Stone had entered his office unannounced.
“I think that’s my question,” Stone replied, “since you’re rifling my desk.”
“Oh, this?” Doyle tossed the bundle of checks onto the desk. “They were just lying here.”
“No. They were at the back of my center drawer,” Stone replied. “You’re the one doing the lying.”
“I have a perfect right to search your desk,” Doyle said, as if he really did.
“I think that’s called breaking and entering,” Stone said.
“Not if you’re my subordinate.”
Stone came around the desk, grabbed Doyle’s necktie, dragged him to a chair, and pushed him into it. “Let’s get something straight, Brian,” he said, “once and for all: I am not your subordinate in any sense of the word- intellectually, morally, or sartorially. I am your superior in every department, and if you think your little prank with the badge makes any fucking difference, I’ll stick it up your ass sideways.”
Doyle held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “All right, all right, just calm down.”
“State your business, then get out,” Stone said, glaring down at him.
“I just want to talk about the Sharpe and Larsen bust,” he said.
“So, talk.”
“I’m concerned about Mitzi’s safety,” Doyle said.
“So soon? I’ve been concerned about it from day one.”
“Well, me, too. Why do you think I put Tom there to take care of her?”
“Because he’s her partner, and it’s his responsibility, perhaps?”
“Well, sure, but he’s the right guy for the job.”
“So, why aren’t you talking to Tom instead of me?”
“Because since we have him set up as her driver, he’s not going to be welcome at the buy. You will be, though.”
“I’m aware of that,” Stone said. “I’ve just come from a meeting with Sharpe and Larsen where Mitzi proposed the big buy, and Sharpe agreed to the terms.”
“I heard that from Mitzi’s earpiece,” Doyle said. “And why weren’t you wearing yours?”
“Because it’s a pain in the ass and because I don’t want you listening to every word I say,” Stone replied. “I’ll wear it when it’s necessary.”
“It’s necessary every time you have a meet like that,” Doyle said. He was beginning to recover his composure and adopt his superior attitude again. “We’ve got to have yours as a backup, in case Mitzi’s goes on the fritz.”
“I’ll wear it when it’s necessary,” Stone repeated.
“I want us to have another meeting with Tiffany Baldwin about the bust,” Doyle said, changing the subject.
“You have another meeting with her, not I.”
“What, are you afraid of her?”
“If you knew her better,” Stone said, “you’d be afraid of her. You’d better watch your ass, Brian, because I think even the commissioner is a little afraid of her. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been at the last meeting.”
“Why should I be afraid of that bitch?” Doyle asked.
“Because she could destroy you in a heartbeat if she felt like it,” Stone explained.
“And how would she do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, how about a federal grand jury indictment?”
“Indictment? For what?”
“Don’t you think that if she chose to put a couple of investigators on you she wouldn’t find something? You’re not exactly squeaky clean; you never have been.”
Doyle reddened. “I have nothing to fear from her.”
“No? Well, you’d better not screw up the Larsen part of the bust, because if you do she’ll come down on you like an Amazon goddess, and she’ll hand you your balls.”
Doyle pushed his chair back and stood up. “I can see I’m not going to get anywhere with you,” he said.
“Finally,” Stone said. “Now let me tell you how this bust is going to go down. Mitzi has set it up at the apartment, but you’re not going to have anybody in the building except me.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because Mitzi is borrowing the place from a friend of mine, and her neighbors would not take kindly to having
