Unnatural Acts (7 page)

“Give me the good news first.”

“Okay, I threw what’s-her-name out first thing this morning.”

“Right after you screwed her, right?”

“The point is, she’s gone and out of my life.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“She’s not necessarily out of
your
life.”

There was a long silence. “Dino,” Stone said, “I’m failing to figure out what that means.”

“It means she knows you know.”

“You told her you told me?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that. I told her you saw her coming into my building and recognized her.”

“So, you managed to convey my knowledge of her presence in New York while covering your own ass?”

“Well, yeah, I thought that was best.”

“Best for you.”

“Listen, Stone, it was an accident. We were arguing, and I spilled that you knew, but I couldn’t let her think I told you. She might have offed me on the spot.”

“So now she’ll off me slightly later,” Stone pointed out.

“I did my best to convince her that you would never rat her out because you would protect me.”

“So, I come out of this dead, but a hero in her eyes?”

“Look, pal, I’m sorry, I really am, but she had me against the wall, and I was grasping at straws.”

“Next time, grasp at a different straw, will you?”

“Again, I’m sorry. Gotta run.” Dino hung up, and he was sweating. What the hell, he thought, the alternative was not to warn him.

STONE HAD
just come into his office when Joan buzzed him. “Herbie on one.”

Stone picked up the phone. “Good morning, Herbie. How did it go with Mike Freeman?”

“Better than I could have hoped,” Herbie replied. “Dink is at the funny farm, thanks to Mike’s help, and Mike offered me a job at Strategic Services, if I ever want to leave Woodman and Weld.”

“Are you thinking of doing that?” Stone asked.

“No, but having that to fall back on gave me the guts to tell Karla Martin to sort of go fuck herself and get her to write a recommendation to Eggers that he promote me to senior associate.”

“Herbie, it takes a while for an associate to break through that particular ceiling.”

“It’s done, Stone. Eggers went for it.”

“What have you been smoking?”

“I kid you not. I’m in an office with a window, next to a corner office, with a beautiful view up Park Avenue, and I’m interviewing
secretaries this afternoon. I’ve got myself an associate to abuse, too, name of Bobby Bentley.”

“Go easy on him, Herbie, Bobby’s dad is an important client.”

“Well, that’s good news. I need to make some rain around here.”

“Good thinking. Congratulations, and have a perfect day.”

“How could it get any more perfect?” Herbie hung up.

HALF AN HOUR
later, Joan buzzed him. “Marshall Brennan on one.”

Stone was surprised; he had never received a call from Brennan. “Hello?”

“Stone, Marshall Brennan.”

“Good morning, Marshall.”

“I’m calling to thank you for the way you dealt with my son’s problem. He called me this morning from Winwood Farm, and we made up. He says he’s going to make a go of his treatment, then go back to Yale.”

“That’s wonderful news, Marshall.”

“Tell me, who is Herbert Fisher?”

“He’s a lawyer at Woodman and Weld and the young man who made all this happen.”

“You mean you weren’t responsible?”

“Only indirectly. I judged that Herb was the best man for the job, so I brought him in.”

“And he’s at Woodman and Weld?”

“Yes, a senior associate.”

“What does ‘senior associate’ mean?”

“It’s the level at the firm from which partners are selected, and Herb got that promotion faster than any other associate ever has.
I’m sure he’d appreciate a call from you, and he’d certainly appreciate any other work you might be able to send his way.”

“Why don’t you bring him to lunch today? I’d like to meet him.”

“We’d both enjoy that, Marshall.”

“P.J. Clarke’s at one? I’ll book.”

“See you there, Marshall.” Stone hung up and called Herbie. “You and I are having lunch with Marshall Brennan today.”

“You’re kidding me!”

“Nope. He wants to express his gratitude for your work, and he might even be more appreciative than that. P.J. Clarke’s, at one.”

“Not the Four Seasons?”

“Marshall’s a pretty down-to-earth guy. I think he was uncomfortable at the Four Seasons last time we met.”

“I’ll be there.”

STONE AND HERBIE
arrived at the restaurant simultaneously and found Marshall Brennan already seated. “You’re not Herbie anymore, you’re Herb,” Stone whispered. He made the introduction, Marshall thanked Herbie, and they ordered. Marshall had the bacon cheeseburger.

“Herb,” Marshall said, “can you ride a horse?”

“Yes,” Herbie replied, with a straight face.

“Can you take a couple of weeks off this summer?”

“I have some vacation time coming,” Herbie said, looking askance at Stone, who shrugged almost imperceptibly.

“Dink’s going to get out of Winwood Farm sometime this summer, and I’m sending him out to my ranch in Montana for a few weeks, before he starts at Yale again this fall. How’d you like to go with him?”

“Mr. Brennan, I’m a reasonably priced lawyer, but an expensive babysitter.”

Brennan laughed. “Dink doesn’t need a babysitter, he needs a friend. He spoke well of you when we talked this morning, said he’d like to get to know you better.”

“In that case I’d be delighted to visit Montana.”

“Good. I’ll let you know the dates later. Now, Herb, I understand you’re a senior associate and looking for some business of your own.”

“Both of those things are true,” Herbie said.

“I have a substantial investment in a start-up software company that I have high hopes for. They’re smart kids, but they need some adult supervision with legal matters, especially intellectual property. You know anything about that?”

“I do, sir, and by tomorrow morning I’ll know a lot more,” Herbie said.

Brennan handed Herbie a card. “This is the CEO. They’re housed in an old industrial building in SoHo. Drop in and see them, will you?”

Herbie looked at the card. “High Cotton Ideas,” he read. “I like the sound of that. Now, Mr. Brennan …”

“Please, it’s Marshall.”

“Marshall, I have some business for you, if you want it—a young lawyer with two million dollars to invest.”

“My bottom limit with clients is ten million,” Brennan said. “Who’s the young man?”

“I am he,” Herbie said, “and I’ll make it five million. That’s the best I can do.”

“Okay,” Brennan said. “My secretary will send you the documents,
and you send me a check, then we’ll set about making you rich.”

“Thank you, Marshall. I’ll look forward to that.”

Brennan turned toward Stone. “How about you, Stone? From what I hear you’ve got money that needs to be put to work.”

Stone had thought about this before but hadn’t known how to approach Brennan. Word was, he was almost impossible to hire these days. “I’ll send you a check for twenty-five million of mine and ten million of my son’s. He’s at Yale, in the drama school.”

“You have his power of attorney?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll send you the paperwork this afternoon.”

Their food arrived, and they dug in.

AFTER LUNCH
, the three men walked out of the restaurant to find cabs.

“Herb,” Brennan said, looking him up and down, “you dress very well.”

“Thank you, Marshall.”

“I’m aware that I’m pretty much clueless about clothes. Would you take me on as a patient?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll call you for lunch again, and you can take me shopping.”

Stone and Herbie put Brennan into a cab, then hailed one for themselves.

“Man oh man,” Herbie said, “I’m investing with Marshall Brennan! I would never have been able to swing that on my own.”

“If it’s any consolation, Herb, neither would I,” Stone said.

DINO LOOKED
morosely around P.J. Clarke’s. “I don’t think I can have dinner here every night,” he said. “There are too many people I don’t know.”

“I know how you feel,” Stone said, enjoying his second meal of the day at Clarke’s. “Maybe after we’ve been coming here as long as we went to Elaine’s, it’ll be better.”

“Do we have to wait that long?”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“How about ‘21’?” Dino asked.

“I was in there the other night. Too many of the people were kids in their twenties who shouldn’t be able to afford ‘21.’”

“You put your finger on it,” Dino said. “Them and rich people from out of town. I liked it better in the old days.”

“Everything was better in the old days,” Stone agreed.

“We sound like a couple of codgers,” Dino said.

“Speak for yourself, pal. I’m not in codgerdom yet.”

“Then why are we talking about the old days?”

“They weren’t the old days, until Elaine died. Now, suddenly, they’re the old days.”

“That’s how codgerdom happens,” Dino pointed out. “One day, you’re just a regular guy, having dinner three times a week at his favorite joint, then the next day the joint closes, and wham! You’re a codger. You’ve got all of Arrington’s money now,” Dino said. “Why didn’t you buy Elaine’s?”

“The restaurant business is a kind of hell,” Stone replied. “Either you don’t have a social life, because you’re there all the time, or you aren’t there all the time and the employees steal you blind. And even if I had bought it, I’m not Elaine.”

“Nobody is,” Dino agreed.

The headwaiter brought two attractive women into the back room and seated them next to Stone and Dino. Neither was wearing a wedding ring.

“Did you tip that guy?” Dino whispered.

“No, but I’m going to.”

“Evening, ladies,” Dino said to the two. “Will you join us for a drink?”

The two women exchanged glances. “Thanks,” one of them said, “but we’ll stay on our own. We’ll buy you a drink, though.”

“That’s the best offer I’ve had in this millennium,” Dino said. He introduced himself and Stone. The women were named Rita and Marla.

The drinks came, and Dino raised his glass. “To chance meetings,” he said. “If you’re having dinner, let’s pull our tables together.”

The women agreed, and they managed to make two tables one.

“What do you gentlemen do?” Rita asked.

“I’m a lieutenant of the NYPD,” Dino said. “Stone is only a lawyer.”

“I was a detective with the NYPD,” Stone said, “when I was too young to know better.”

“How does one go from being a detective to being a lawyer?” Marla asked.

“One takes the bar exam,” Stone said. “I had gone to NYU Law, but then became a cop.”

“For how long?”

“Fourteen years.”

“And what law firm do you practice with?” Marla asked.

“Woodman and Weld.”

“Ah,” she said, looking impressed. “My late father was a client there.”

“He sounds like a wonderful human being,” Stone said.

She laughed.

“What do you do, Marla?”

“I’m a choreographer and a director in the theater. Rita is starring in one of my shows, opening next week.”

“Not exactly starring,” Rita said, “but I’m the lead dancer.”

“To me,” Marla said, “dancers are always the stars. I used to be one myself.”

“What made you give it up?” Stone asked.

“You don’t give up dancing,” she replied. “Dancing gives you up. It shouts in your ear, ‘YOU’RE TOO OLD FOR THIS STUFF,’ and it’s always right. Then it kicks you in the knee, for emphasis.”

“I haven’t heard that call yet,” Rita said.

“That’s because you’re ten years younger than me,” Marla laughed. “You’ll hear it soon enough.”

They ordered dinner and talked some more. Rita’s last name was Cara, and Marla’s, Rocker.

“As in ‘off one’s rocker,’” Marla said.

“So,” Rita asked, “what did you two guys do today?”

“I introduced a big client to a young attorney over lunch,” Stone said. “They got on beautifully.”

“I sent a SWAT team out to arrest a murderer,” Dino said.

The women looked impressed.

“It’s not as exciting as Dino makes it sound,” Stone said. “He means he signed a piece of paper.”

“How long have you two known each other?” Marla asked.

“We were partners when we first made detective,” Dino said. “I taught him everything he used to know.”

AFTER DINNER
, they walked out onto Third Avenue.

“Which way are you going?” Stone asked.

“Uptown for me,” Rita said.

“I’ll drop you,” Dino said, “or vice versa.”

“Okay.” A cab pulled up, then the two drove away.

“Which way are you going?” Stone asked.

“I live in Turtle Bay,” she said.

“What a coincidence—so do I.”

They discovered that they lived across the garden from each other.

“Will you stop by for a drink?” Stone asked.

“Perhaps another time,” Marla replied. She gave him a card, and he gave her his, then he hailed a cab and dropped her off at home.

“May I go out your back door?” Stone asked.

“Sure, as long as you don’t tarry,” Marla said. “I had a rough
day’s rehearsal.” She let him into the house and led him through the living room, which was adorned with theater posters and photographs, and to the kitchen door. “There you are,” she said, opening the door for him.

“I’m right over there,” Stone said, pointing.

“Is there a Mrs. Barrington in residence?”

“I’m a widower,” he replied.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. What time do you normally finish rehearsals?”

“Six, if I’m lucky. Two a.m., if I’m not.”

“On the off chance that you finish fairly early tomorrow night, would you like to come over for dinner?”

“Let me call you late in the afternoon,” she said, “when I have a sense of how great the disaster is.”