Chapter 17
Stone was in his office late Thursday morning when Joan buzzed him.
“Commander Choi on one,” she said. “She says she’s with the Coast Guard.”
“Thank you.” Stone picked up the call. “Good morning, Commander.”
“Good morning, Mr. Barrington.”
“I’m not sure if I said this when we first met, but please call me Stone.”
“Thank you, sir, but that’s not going to happen.”
“Well, it was worth a try. Have you heard back from your superiors about my offer to get a look at the Amanda Jae?”
“I have, and they approved it, with one condition.”
“And that is?”
“That I am present when the search happens.”
“I don’t think that should be a problem.”
“Whose submarine is it?” she asked.
“Xavier Silva’s, do you know him?”
“Know him? No. Heard of him? Who hasn’t.”
“And we’ll actually be using an ROV and not a sub,” Stone said.
“That would give us more flexibility. I like it. Do you know when this is going to happen?”
“As early next week as possible. I’ll let you know for sure, when I know.”
“I’ll await your call.”
“Thank you, Commander.”
Stone hung up and called Josie.
“We got the green light from the Coast Guard,” he told her.
“Excellent. I’ll let Xavier know.”
“I know you said the boat might be ready on Sunday, but I have to go out of town tomorrow and likely won’t be back until Sunday morning at the earliest.”
“Taking a little holiday?” she teased.
“Attending a friend’s funeral.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, her playful tone dissipating. “I didn’t realize.”
“There’s no reason you would.”
“Well, I am sorry you lost a friend.”
“Thank you, but that’s still up for debate.”
“Up for debate?”
“It’s a long story that I will be happy to tell you someday.”
“You’ve piqued my curiosity, so I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Please do.”
They said their goodbyes, and as soon as Stone hung up, Joan buzzed him again.
“Dino on two.”
“Thanks.” Stone picked up line two. “Good morning, Dino.”
“Dinner tonight?”
“Clarke’s? Seven?”
“See you then.” Dino hung up.
As Stone put the receiver down, Joan buzzed again. He could see that line two was on hold.
He hit the Speaker button. “That was too quick for it to be Dino calling back.”
“You’re right,” Joan said.
He waited, but when she didn’t say anything more, he asked, “Are you going to tell me who it is?”
“I thought you were trying to guess.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Oh, well. You probably wouldn’t have gotten it right anyway.”
“Joan, who’s on the phone?”
“Ryan Sidney.”
The bridge of Stone’s nose creased. “Not Aaron?”
“Did I say Aaron?”
“Thank you, Joan.”
He picked up his receiver and connected the call. “This is Stone Barrington.”
“Mr. Barrington, it’s Ryan Sidney. We met yesterday when you read my father’s will.”
“My memory isn’t nearly that bad, Ryan. How can I help you?”
“Sorry, right. Um, I have a question.”
“All right. Ask away.”
When Ryan didn’t immediately respond, Stone looked at the phone to make sure the line was still active.
“Are you still there?” he asked.
“Sorry,” Ryan said. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”
“Only you know that, but I don’t see how asking a question is going to hurt you.”
“I suppose not.” Ryan paused again. “I was wondering if it would be possible for you to put me in contact with my, um, sister.”
“I assume you mean Susan.”
“Yes, Susan.”
“I can’t give you her contact information without her permission,” Stone said.
“That’s what I thought,” Ryan said, sounding disappointed. “Thanks, anyway.”
“Hold on. What I can do is give her your contact info, if you want me to, and I can tell her you’d like to talk to her.”
“Really? That would be great.”
“I’ll do it right away.”
“Thanks, Mr. Barrington. I appreciate it.”
After he hung up, Stone called Susan.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Susan, it’s Stone. I’m glad I caught you. I thought you might be in class.”
“I have an early lunch today. How can I help you?”
“I just got a call from your brother Ryan.”
“Oh,” she said, sounding surprised. “I’m still not used to the fact that I have siblings. I’d been an only child my whole life until your visit last week.”
“I can imagine it’s quite the change.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Well, I’m calling because Ryan was hoping he could talk to you. He asked me to pass his contact info on.”
“What does he want to talk about?”
“He didn’t say.”
“He’s not going to yell at me, is he?”
“I think you’re confusing the brothers. The loud one is Aaron. Ryan is the younger one who barely talked.”
“Sorry, you’re right. Most of yesterday is still a fog. I barely remember coming home.”
“If you need me to go over things with you again, I’m happy to do so.”
“I probably will, but not yet. Maybe next week?”
“I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you have a pen and paper?”
“Hold on.” The line went quiet for a few seconds, then she said, “I’m ready.”
Stone read off Ryan’s phone number and email address and had her repeat them back to make sure there were no mistakes.
“That’s it,” he said.
“You really have no clue as to what he wants to talk about?”
“Not a one.”
“Okay. I think I need to clear my head before I call him.”
“You do whatever you need to. You don’t even have to call him if you don’t want to.”
“Thank you, Stone.”
“Have a good day, Susan. And try not to think too much.”
She chuckled. “As if that’s possible.”
Stone hung up and Joan buzzed. He looked at the phone and saw that none of the other lines were in use.
He hit the Speaker button. “I know for a fact you don’t have a call waiting for me.”
“You are correct.”
“Then you’re calling me because…?”
“I didn’t want to be the one who broke the pattern.”
“Goodbye, Joan.”
“Wait. There was something.”
“What?”
“Let me think.” She clicked her tongue in her mouth several times. “Ah, that’s right. Dino called. He said seven-thirty, not seven.”
“Goodbye, Joan.”
“You said that already.”
She hung up before he could.
Stone’s Bentley pulled up in front of P. J. Clarke’s at seven-thirty on the dot.
“Thank you, Fred,” Stone said, and climbed out of the back seat.
He had barely shut the door when Dino’s city-provided sedan stopped behind the Bentley.
Dino exited, then leaned down and said something to his driver before joining Stone.
“Shall we?” Dino said, motioning to the restaurant.
“We shall,” Stone said.
They were immediately shown to their table and had their drink orders taken.
“So why the change of dinnertime?” Stone asked.
“The mayor.”
“That’s your whole answer?”
“Isn’t it enough?”
“I suppose it is.”
“How are you? Josie help you get over Tamlyn yet?”
“Josie?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I heard from Ben that you showed her your mother’s paintings, and that the two of you seemed to really hit it off. Have you taken her to dinner yet?”
“If you must know, we had dinner last night.”
“So that’s when you closed the deal.”
“I’m pretty sure she would not appreciate it being called a deal. And besides, nothing was closed.”
“Is that code for something?”
“It’s not code for anything. All we had was a nice meal and excellent conversation.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Dino scrutinized Stone for a moment. “Why?”
Knowing Dino would eventually find out anyway, Stone told him about what he’d said to Josie and how they were going to take things slow.
Dino stared at him for a moment, then pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Stone asked.
“Nine-one-one. We need to get you to a hospital right away. You’re not well.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Not from where I’m sitting.”
A waitress arrived with their drinks.
Dino immediately downed his Johnnie Walker and said to her, “I’ll have another. And you probably should get him another one, too.”
She tried not to look surprised as she nodded and left.
As soon as they were alone, Dino said, “So you’re telling me you passed up spending the night with a beautiful woman.”
“Is that so surprising?”
“Yes. It is. It is about as surprising as finding out…You know what? I can’t think of something that would be as surprising as this. You’re sure you’re feeling all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“Well, I’m not going to tell Viv about this. She’d never believe me.”
“Can we consider the matter settled?” Stone asked.
“Not even close. But we can consider it tabled for the moment.”
“I guess I’ll take that.”
“Good. Because it’s all you’re getting. So, any word on how things are going for your guest in Maine?”
“Did I not tell you? Felicity’s funeral is on Saturday. I’m flying out late tomorrow afternoon to attend. If you’re free, you should join me. We’ll fly back on Sunday.”
“That does not sound fun.”
“So, you’ll come?”
“I suppose I could make it happen. Wait, did you say late afternoon? Does that mean—”
“We’re red-eyeing it.”
“You’re not selling this very well.”
“All the seats on my jet lie flat, so we can sleep on our way there.”
“Can’t wait,” Dino said, deadpan.