Standup Guy

“Okay, that makes sense.”

“Something else.”

“What else?”

“You need a change in your clothing, to blend in better.”

“What kind of clothing should I get?”

“Go to Brooks Brothers. You know it?”

“Yeah, it used to be on Madison.”

“It still is. Buy a couple of suits, some shirts and ties, the works—a wardrobe. They sell luggage there, too. Buy a couple of pieces, insist that they fit your suits while you wait. Buy a new hat, and when you get a chance, grow some hair, maybe a mustache. Next time you get a haircut, don’t let the barber use electric clippers. You getting the picture?”

“Yeah, I want to look like a regular businessman. But I don’t know where to go after that.”

“Pick someplace nice, take a vacation, enjoy yourself.”

“Maybe Florida,” Fratelli said, smiling a little.

“Don’t tell me,” Stone said. “Another thing, on your way to Brooks Brothers, tell the cabdriver to find a Radio Shack.”

“They still got those?”

“They still got those. Buy something called a throwaway cell phone—you’ll find it useful, and don’t forget to recharge it every night when you go to bed.”

“Who am I going to call?”

“Use it to make hotel reservations on your trip. Another thing, when you open your bank account, ask them to give you something called a debit card. You can use it like a credit card, and they’ll take your charges out of your account.”

“This is all very good advice, Mr. Barrington.”

“Don’t mention it.” Stone picked up the phone and buzzed Joan. “Please hail a cab for Mr. Fratelli,” he said. “I don’t want him standing on the street, looking for one.” He hung up. “Good luck, Mr. Fratelli. I don’t suppose we’ll be meeting again.” Stone leaned a little on that.

“Yeah, right,” Fratelli said. He put some more hundreds on Stone’s desk and left.

Stone’s private line rang, and he picked it up. “Hello?”

“It’s Dino. You up for di

“Sure.”

“Eight at Patroon?”

“See you there.”

5

Stone arrived at Patroon as Dino was getting out of his car, a large black SUV. He clapped his friend on the back. “No more town car?”

“They stopped making them, and the department got these tanks to replace them.”

A moment later, after a warm greeting from Patroon’s owner, Ken Aretzky, they were seated at their usual table. There was really no replacement for Elaine’s, without Elaine, but Patroon was serving pretty well.

Drinks arrived without being ordered.

“So where’s Viv?” Stone said, asking after Dino’s wife.

“Working, where else? Mike Freeman keeps her busy.” Viv was a retired detective sergeant, now working for Strategic Services.

“Oh, shit,” Stone said, “I forgot, I was supposed to be at Strategic Services an hour ago. Kate Lee is stopping by to get acquainted with the board.”

“You want to leave?”

“No, it’s too late, it was just for drinks.” Stone looked around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear them. “Can you keep a secret?”

“You ask me that after all these years?”

“You have a wife, now.”

“So I can’t tell Viv whatever this is?”

“Not a word—not until you see it in the papers, if you do.”

“Okay, okay, unburden yourself, or you’ll explode.”

“K. is going to run for president.”

“President of what?”

“Not so loud. The U.S.”

“Can she do that?”

“She’s a natural-born American citizen.”

“But, I mean . . .”

“I know what you mean, and the answer is yes, she can do that.”

“But the primaries?”

“She’s going to wait until the convention.”

Dino gave that some thought. “Oh, I see, Will doesn’t think anybody will get a majority?”

“Not on the first ballot.”

“Sounds tricky.”

“Only if someone pulls way ahead during the primaries, and the polls don’t show that happening.”

Dino thought some more. “She’d make a terrific president.”

“That’s what she said.”

“Stone, can this work? Can she raise the money?”

“She’s already raised twenty-one million: twenty other people and me.”

“She can’t run on that.”

“And each of the twenty-one has agreed to raise another twenty-five million.”

Dino flinched. “Don’t look at me.”

Menus arrived, and they ordered.

“So,” Dino said, “what are you going to get?”

“Get?”

“For raising all this money. Ambassador to the Court of Saint James’s? Or will you have to settle for some banana republic?”

“Nothing but the satisfaction of seeing Will Lee’s policies continued, and I expect Kate will have a lot of her own.”

“What about the other twenty guys?”

“Men and women. They can fend for themselves.”

“Yeah, I guess they can.”

“Something else came up.”

“Is it a secret?”

Stone thought about that. “Yes, I guess so. Attorney-client privilege is involved.”

“Oh, the shyster’s seal of the confession.”

“More or less. You remember that big heist at Ke

“Buono,” Dino said. “Eduardo Buono.”

“What a memory!”

“Who could forget a fifteen-million-dollar heist? And less than half of it recovered.” Dino took a swig of his scotch. “Hey, you didn’t find the money, did you?”

“No, and I don’t know where it is, but someone with whom I have recently become acquainted has, ah, stumbled across some of it.”

“Wait a minute,” Dino said, screwing up his forehead. “John Fratelli.”

Stone gaped at him. “I didn’t say that,” he said, looking furtively around.

“He got sprung a couple of days ago.”

“How could you know that?”

“I had a drink with Sean Do

“I thought he was dead.”

“He looks kind of dead, but I ran into him at P.J. Clarke’s, so unless he’s pulled off a resurrection, I guess he didn’t die, quite.”

“I guess.”

“So, what sort of shape is Fratelli in after twenty-five years inside?”

“Oh, he’s in remarkably . . . Wait a minute, I never mentioned that name.”

“So the shyster’s seal is still intact. Relax. Is Fratelli walking and talking?”

“Both.”

“So Eddie Buono told him where the loot was.”

“Maybe. Maybe some of it.”

“How much?”

“Don’t be so fucking nosy.”

“I’m just curious.”

“I know you’re curious, but I can’t have you whispering in Do

“Why would I give a shit if John Fratelli has dipped into Buono’s honeypot?”

“I seem to recall that you are a highly placed police official, chief of detectives, namely.”

“I’m off duty,” Dino said.

“You haven’t been off duty since the day you graduated from the academy. And you would just love to bust this case wide open.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing Do

“Not going to happen,” Stone said.

“So where’s Fratelli?”

“On vacation.”

“Florida, huh?”

“Stop doing that! I didn’t mention Florida!”

“You’re a mine of non-information,” Dino said.

“Dino, you can’t act on any of this. You said you could keep a secret.”

“No, I didn’t. I said I wouldn’t tell Viv.”

“That was about the Kate thing, not the . . . client thing.”

“I’ll have to review our conversation in my mind, to see if that’s true.”

“Don’t review, take my word for it. I’m not having a client of mine who’s done his time getting sent up again for, ah, accepting an inheritance.”

“Oh, well, the statute’s expired, hasn’t it?”

“Right.”

“Unless ‘inheriting’ this sum is a new crime? Like receiving stolen goods?”

“Let it go, Dino.”

“Okay, okay, I’m just busting your balls.”

“It’s what you do best, isn’t it?”

They ate their di