They settled in at a table.

Lance turned to Holly. “Are you the police chief in Orchid Beach, Florida?”

“That’s right,” Holly replied, looking stunned. “How could you know that?”

“Anybody who pays attention knows that,” Lance said.

Holly seemed to melt a little in her seat, annoying Stone. “So, Lance,” he said, “do you normally travel with bodyguards who have machine guns in briefcases?”

“No, not normally,” Lance replied smoothly, as if he had been asked if he wore pleated pants. “Just today.”

“What’s so dangerous about today?” Stone asked.

“Well, around lunchtime today I picked up a tail.”

Stone felt a penny drop. “Yes? Where?”

“I was in Little Italy doing some business, and I picked up on an evil-looking black Mercedes following me. We lost it in Brooklyn, but policy is, when you pick up a tail, you increase security.”

Holly hid behind her menu.

“A wise policy,” Stone agreed. “Holly, can we get you a drink?”

Holly lowered the menu to eye level. “Knob Creek on the rocks,” she said, then raised the menu again.

“Make it two,” Lance said.

“Three Knob Creeks on the rocks and whatever poison Lieutenant Bacchetti is having this evening,” Stone told the waiter.

“Dino,” Lance said, “your reputation precedes you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Dino asked.

“We have a list of reliable police officers in various cities who we sometimes deal with. You’re on it.”

“That’s news to me,” Dino said.

Lance turned to Holly. “I’ll see that your name is placed on it, too.”

Holly put down the menu. “How nice,” she said, noncommittally.

“He’s turning us all into spies,” Dino whispered loudly.

“Oh, nothing as sinister as that. Sometimes, during the course of our work, we stumble across criminal activity that, technically, is outside our purview. When that happens, it’s nice to know some people in local law enforcement.”

“Tell me,” Stone said, “in the course of your work have you run across somebody named Trini Rodriguez?”

Lance furrowed his brow. “I don’t believe so.”

“How about a Robert Marshall?”

Lance shook his head. “Nope.”

“I think I’d better come clean,” Holly said. “It was Stone’s car that was following you today.”

Lance turned to Stone and looked at him askance.

“Don’t point that thing at me,” Stone said. “Go on, Holly.”

“And I was driving it.”

The drinks arrived, and Lance raised his glass. “To coincidence,” he said. “You put enough coincidences together, and what you get is…” He gazed at Holly. “… fate.”

Holly blushed. “Let me explain. I’m in New York looking for a man named Trini Rodriguez, who may be using the name Robert Marshall.”

“Why?” Lance asked.

“Multiple homicides,” Holly replied. “Today, he came out of the La Boheme coffeehouse and got into your car.”

“That was Trini Rodriguez?” Lance asked.

“Yep. What was he doing with you?”

“Well, I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you it was nothing to do with multiple homicides.”

“What name did he give you?” Holly asked.

“I was told he was called Bobo. He was to assist me in some enquiries, as the British would put it.”

“Did he?”

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”

“Swell,” Holly said. “First, the FBI protects this bastard, and now the CIA.”

Lance looked around and made a tamping motion with his hand. “Please. I wish I could help you, Holly, but until today I’d never clapped eyes on Mr. Rodriguez, and I never expect to again. However, if he should cross my line of vision again, I’ll be glad to call you. May I have your number?”

Holly gave him her card while Stone rolled his eyes.

“Anything else you can tell me about him or about the people who sent you to him?”

“Alas, no,” Lance said sadly. “The nature of the work, I’m afraid.” He turned to Stone. “By the way,” he said, “have you, by any chance, heard from Herbert J. Fisher?”

“No, I haven’t,” Stone said. “Should I have?”

“Just a thought. Herbie didn’t make his flight to Saint Thomas this evening.”

“I thought you had a man on him,” Stone said.

“I thought so, too, but Herbie, the little shit, eluded him. Herbie is out there in the land, somewhere, in his red Mustang, moving about with reckless abandon.”

“That’s just terrific,” Stone said. “If I hear from him, what shall I tell him?”

“Tell him to go and stand on the corner of Forty-second Street and Broadway, then call me,” Lance replied. “I’ll have someone go there and shoot him.”

Stone wasn’t at all sure he was kidding.

15

THEY HAD FINISHED dinner and were standing on the sidewalk in front of Elaine’s, saying their goodbyes. Dino got into his waiting car and was driven away.

“May I give you a lift?” Lance said to Holly and Stone.

They spoke at the same time. “No,” Stone replied. “Yes,” Holly said.

Lance opened a rear door and motioned them in. “Stone, I know where you live. Holly, where can I take you?”

“You can take us both to my house,” Stone said.

“Ah,” Lance mused. He gave the driver an address, then pressed a button and a thick glass partition rolled up, separating them from the two men in the front seat. “Actually,” Lance said, “there’s something I’d like to talk to the two of you about.”

“Shoot,” Holly said. She was sitting between Lance and Stone.

“You may have read in the papers that the Agency is working very hard on terrorism since nine/eleven.”

“I believe I’ve seen reports to that effect,” Stone said.

“As a result, we’re stretched a little thin these days, and we’ve had to neglect some other matters, particularly those which require attention on our own soil.”

Stone snorted. “And I thought you folks were proscribed from dealing with home matters.”

“Formerly, yes. Since nine/eleven, things have changed a bit.”

“I’ll bet,” Stone said.

“Stone,” Holly said, “could you just shut up so we can hear what Lance has to say?”

“Thank you, Holly,” Lance said. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

Stone smoldered in silence.

“As I was saying,” Lance continued, “we’re stretched a little thin these days, and, as a result, I have been authorized to add a few… consultants, shall we say, to our roster.”

“Consultants?” Holly said. “What do you mean?”

“People who are sometimes in a position to render services to us, but who are not permanent employees.”

Stone couldn’t stand it anymore. “You mean people to whom you don’t have to pay pensions or offer medical plans?”

“You misunderstand,” Lance said. “I’m referring to people who have built lives outside our service, and who have independently acquired information or contacts that might be of use to us in the future. Let me give you a couple of examples. Stone, you were recently involved, quite inadvertently, of course, in a British intelligence operation dealing with an assassin who was causing problems in Europe and New York.” He paused.

“If you say so,” Stone said, surprised that Lance knew about this.

“We would have liked to know about this during the fact, instead of afterward,” Lance said. He didn’t wait for Stone to respond. “Holly, you were recently involved in a major federal investigation in Florida, and, as I understand it, you had a great deal to do with its successful conclusion. We would have been very pleased to know about that at a much earlier date. Is this making any sense at all to the two of you?”

“Sure,” Stone said, “you want us to become CIA snitches.”

“No, no,” Lance said placatingly. “We would like for you both, from time to time, to perhaps participate more actively in certain situations that might arise. Of course, we’re always receptive to pertinent information.”

“What sort of situations?” Holly asked.

“For instance, Stone has been of help to us in dealing with the Herbie Fisher problem, and, although that problem has not yet been entirely solved, that certainly isn’t Stone’s fault. Holly, you might similarly be of help in some other situation, on your own home turf. One never knows when.”