Freeman stood up. 'Thank you for coming to see us, Lance.' They shook hands and Lance left.
Stone and Freeman sat down again.
'Well, Stone, what do you really think?'
Stone laughed. 'I think that Lance Cabot is someone who can never be completely trusted, and I would not want to see the reputation of Strategic Services in his hands.'
'Is that the only reason you're against it? I mean, dealing Al Qaeda a serious blow is an attractive goal.'
'Mike, if this job were as easy as Lance makes it sound, he'd have his own people do it. The Agency is not short of people with the requisite skills for such an operation, so why doesn't he use them? And I very much doubt that the president would ever put his signature to a finding on such an operation. That might very well be grounds for impeachment.'
'Good points, all,' Freeman said.
'Mike, I can see you're attracted to this. Why?'
'For personal reasons, I suppose. I've always believed that the greatest benefits derive from operations with the greatest risks.'
'Then, if you were a poker player,' Stone said, 'you'd always try to fill an inside straight.'
'Not always,' Freeman replied, 'but sometimes.'
'If you gamble for thrills, that's a good position to take,' Stone said. 'But if you have to make a living playing poker, you'd soon find yourself on the street, broke and hungry.'
'What you say about poker is true,' Freeman replied. 'But in this kind of operation you make your own odds.'
'You'd need to know everything to make your own odds, and with an operation like this you can never know everything; you'll only know what Lance wants you to know. Also, Mike, if you undertake this, you'd be dabbling in politics, and that's a dangerous arena for a business.'
'All valid arguments,' Freeman said, 'and I'll take them all into consideration.' He smiled. 'I wouldn't mind having Lance Cabot in my debt; that might come in useful sometime.'
'Mike, I've had considerable dealings with Lance, and I can tell you it can be profitable to deal with him. But you must remember that, in any situation, the safety of Lance's ass is Lance's most important priority, and any benefits from dealing with him will come only after Lance has first benefited, if then.'
Freeman took an envelope from his desk and handed it to Stone. 'Here's the check for your old airplane,' he said. 'I trust it's correct.'
Stone glanced at the check. 'Entirely acceptable,' he said.
Freeman handed him another envelope. 'These are the sales documents and the request to the FAA to keep your old tail number. The process will take a few weeks.'
Stone signed in the relevant places and handed the papers back to him. 'Fly it in good health,' he said. 'It's always served me well.'
Freeman handed him another envelope. 'And these need your signature for your new airplane,' he said.
Stone walked home with a spring in his step, the check burning a hole in his pocket.
ELEVEN
Stone hired a driver and went to pick up Adele Lansdown at her apartment at 71 East Seventy-first Street. He knew that this was the side door for a more famous address, 740 Park Avenue, said to be the most prestigious in the city.
The doorman on duty called up, then directed him to the elevator. Stone knew the building because he knew a woman who lived there, in her parents' apartment.
A houseman in a white jacket admitted him, led him to the living room, and poured him a drink. Stone spent his waiting time looking at the pictures in the room.
'Are you interested in art?' Adele's voice said from behind him.
Stone turned to watch her come toward him. 'I enjoy looking at it, but I'm not in the market at this level,' Stone said. 'My mother was a painter, and we always had good pictures in our house.'
'Would I know her?'
'Perhaps. Her name was Matilda Stone.'
'I know her work very well,' Adele said. 'I have standing orders at two galleries for her work, should it ever become available.'
'I've heard that before,' Stone said. 'People who acquire her work seem to hold on to it.'
'Do you have anything of hers?'
'I have four of her oils-New York scenes.'
'I envy you those. May I see them sometime?'
'Of course,' Stone said. 'They're in my bedroom.'
Adele laughed. 'And I've already turned down one invitation to tour that site.'
'Perfectly understandable, on short acquaintance.'
'Perhaps on my next visit to your house. Shall we go to dinner?'
'Certainly. My car is downstairs.'
'Where are we going?'
'I thought the Four Seasons would be nice.'
'Always.'
They arrived at the restaurant and were immediately seated in the Pool Room, a reference to the pool, not the game. They ordered drinks, then dinner.
'How are things in your family?' Stone asked.
'Difficult,' Adele replied.
'I understand Jack hasn't been charged with anything.'
'That's correct, and it's the only thing that lets us hold our heads up around town.'
'Have the accountants finished their work?'
'Their report is due in a day or two,' she said.
'Did Jack invest your money?'
'Some of it. I put the proceeds of my husband's estate in his hands, but I continued to manage my own funds. I started a cosmetics business years ago, and I sold it before the recession, so I have means of my own to support me.'
'An enviable position to be in,' Stone said. 'Has anyone heard anything from David?'
She gazed at him over her martini glass. 'You're very well informed. What do you know about David?'
'That he's… on vacation.'
'Well, yes.'
'And that he's suspected of being the real culprit-or, at the very least, Jack's coconspirator.'
'Suspected by whom?' she asked.
'Just about everybody, I gather.'
She shrugged. 'I honestly don't think Jack is capable of stealing his clients' money. For one thing, he's always made plenty of his own. He was a top man at Goldman Sachs; only went out on his own when he was passed over for CEO there. He left with a very large bundle, which he used to establish his own business, and that has done extraordinarily well.'
'And how do you feel about David?'
'I love the boy. He's always been the perfect young man, you know-top of his class, everybody's choice to succeed.' She made as if to continue, but stopped.
'But?'
'But I don't understand his generation; they are all so different from the way we are, used to having
