48

Stone and Dino had breakfast on the terrace of Stone’s suite and caught up. “You staying busy?” Stone asked.

“If I was busy, could I come out here and screw around with you? The crime rate in New York is dropping like a stone, you should excuse the expression-murders down, robberies down, even burglaries down. It’s terrible!”

Stone laughed.

“It’s not funny; pretty soon they’ll be laying off cops. Already we’re getting ‘nice’ lessons from the mayor’s office, so we don’t annoy the tourists.”

“It’s a better city for us all, Dino.”

“I liked it the way it was before-people getting popped at all hours of the day and night, hookers on 42nd Street, three locks on every door-it was a cop’s city, you know?” He waved a hand. “Not like this miserable excuse for a metropolis. You call this a hotel? There’s not a fire escape in the place, there are no hookers in the lobby, and it’s located in a jungle!”

“A garden.”

“A garden is, like, in the back yard of a brown-stone; this is a fucking jungle! There are plants here that only belong in the rain forest; there are swans in a creek, for Christ’s sake! In New York I wouldn’t give ‘em twenty-four hours before somebody’d be barbecuing ‘em!”

“I like it here-the hotel, I mean.”

“You would. How the fuck can you afford it?”

“I told you about my part in the movie. I made twenty-five grand in a couple of days. I’m spending it.”

“All of it?”

“Maybe, we’ll see.”

“How’s Rick Grant?”

“He made lieutenant, and he’s got a big job at headquarters; he’s really being a big help, too. We’re having lunch with him today.”

“What’s this about somebody trying to off you?”

“They made a first-class stab at it, let me tell you.”

“Tell me.”

“I’ll try to bring you up to date.” Stone started with the phone call at Elaine’s and told Dino some of the things that had happened to him since arriving in Los Angeles.

Dino listened, rapt, his chin in his hand, his omelet getting cold; he didn’t speak until Stone had finished. “That’s fucking outrageous,” he said, “them tossing you in the ocean like that.”

“You bet it is.”

“And what have you done about it? Have you killed the fuckers?”

“I didn’t have to; Ippolito did it for me, the same way they did it to me.”

“Nothing like mon justice,” Dino said with satisfaction. “Have you killed this Ippolito yet?”

“I’ve gotten a couple of licks in.” Stone told him about sinking the boat and setting Ippolito’s living room on fire.

Dino’s mouth dropped open. “Stone, have you gone out of your fucking mind? You’re committing crimes! That’s not the sort of thing you would do. It’s the sort of thing I would do. Congratulations, it’s nice to see you pissed off.”

“So, Lieutenant Bacchetti, you approve of my illegal actions?”

“Heartily. Let’s do some more.”

“Maybe; I’ve got something in mind.”

“What?”

“If I get pissed off again, I’ll let you know.”

“So what are you doing about Arrington?”

“Everything I can, which isn’t much. There’s no way to know where they’ve put her, and they could be moving her around.”

“I hope you didn’t tell the fucking FBI about her; they’d get her killed, for sure.”

“No. Rick and I have talked to a guy there who’s wired Barone Financial for sound; he knows somebody was snatched, but he doesn’t know who, and he’s keeping it unofficial.”

“Don’t tell the fuckers anything.”

“There may come a time when we’ll need the feds, you know.”

“I doubt it. You and I can figure this out; we’ve figured out worse.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Who was the broad who was leaving as I arrived?” Dino asked.

“Vance Calder’s secretary. We’ve become…close.”

“Don’t blame you a bit. She got a friend?”

“Dino, it’s one thing for your wife to cut your balls off, it’s quite another for her to cut mine off, and we both know she would do it if she found out I had anything to do with your getting laid out here.”

“You said you wouldn’t stand in my way.”

“I didn’t say I’d pimp for you.”

Dino sighed.

“Look, go have a swim have a massage, get over your jet lag. Lunch with Rick is at twelve-thirty in the outdoor cafe.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Dino said.

Stone and Rick had been seated at a shady table for fifteen minutes before Dino showed up with a small blonde on his arm, his hair still wet from his swim. He gave her a kiss, patted her on her backside, and sent her on her way before sitting down.

“How you doing, Rick?” Dino asked, shaking his hand.

“Good, Dino, you?”

“Since the last hour, great! I met her at the pool; you should see her in a bikini!”

“Down, Dino, down,” Stone said.

“You see the eleven o’clock news last night?” Rick asked Stone.

“He was busy,” Dino said.

“Too bad. You’d have seen David Sturmack leaving the lockup with a coat over his head. His lawyer told the cameras he went into Vinnie’s for a corned beef sandwich, that the whole thing was a terrible misunderstanding.”

“I love it,” Stone said, smiling broadly.

“Same with Barone. Can you believe the bookie joint was already back in business at the same location?”

“I’d believe it if they were back in business this morning,” Stone said. “They’ve got to have somebody at LAPD on the pad.”

“Now, now,” Rick said. “You can’t go applying NYPD methods to us.”

“Was Sturmack in the back room?”

“Unfortunately, no, but the embarrassment factor is not any less because of that.”

“I wonder what he’s telling his pals at the Bel-Air Country Club today,” Stone said.

“Wish I could be there,” Rick replied.

“Rick,” Dino said, “can’t we just kill these guys, so I can go back to New York? It’s too sunny and clean out here.”

“No, Dino, you can’t kill anybody. It’s frowned on.”

“Oh,” Dino said. “But we can keep on driving them crazy.?”

“Be my guest.”

“Good. What’s our next move, Stone?”

“I want to sink Ippolito’s big boat.”

“I didn’t hear that,” Rick said, holding up his hands.

“How we going to do that?” Dino asked.

“I had a real good look around her yesterday; told the skipper I was from an insurance company. I figured out how to do it, but we’ve got to pick a night when nobody’s aboard but a couple of crew. I don’t want to drown anybody, unless it’s Ippolito.”

“I’m not hearing any of this,” Rick groaned.

“Hear no evil,” Dino said. “That’s my policy. Do evil, if it works for you.”

“I’m sorry, Rick,” Stone said. “Dino is a depraved individual. He can’t help himself.”

“You’re not doing so bad with the depravity yourself,” Rick replied. “How can I help?”

“We’re going to need a fast boat, something that’ get us to Catalina and back in a flash.”

“I think I know where I can borrow one. When?”

“I’m not sure yet, but could you line it up on short notice?”

“Consider it done.”