Near Miss

“So far so quiet today,” Ed said. “The Metropolitan Police have the area around Sarah’s house locked down. I have to say, though, I’m not used to being under police protection. It’s a little like being back in prison, just with a nicer cell.”

“And cellmate,” Stone said.

“That also is a plus. But I am starting to wonder if you might need me back there.”

“I’d advise against it.”

“Has the threat level to you gone down?”

“Quite the opposite.” Stone told him about the package, and his and Dino’s theory about the Sarge baiting Ed to return.

“As much as I hate to say this, you’re probably right. The only way they can get to me here is by shooting an anti-tank missile at the house, from several blocks away.”

“Do you think that’s a possibility?”

Ed said nothing for a moment. “A possibility? Yes, but not a large one. Obtaining and moving a missile around the U.K. would be more difficult than back home.”

“You sound as if you feel safe there,” Stone said. “I recommend you stay.”

“The Sarge isn’t going to wait long for me to come back before he decides to make a move on you anyway. What are you going to do?”

“I’m working on that,” Stone said.

“My suggestion,” Ed said, “work faster.”

Chapter 62

That afternoon, someone knocked on Stone’s office doorway. “Mr. Barrington, do you have a moment?”

Stone waved in the specialist Mike Freeman had sent to check out the desk clock.

“You were right to be concerned,” she said. “There are two bugs in the clock and one embedded in the packing material in the box.”

“I’d like to say I’m surprised.”

“Maybe this will do the trick. Whoever sent the clock wasn’t playing around. The bugs employ the latest tech and are not cheap. Their selling point is that they are undetectable. And to most scanners, they would be. Lucky for you, Strategic Services also uses the latest tech. But even then, I almost missed them.”

“I appreciate your efforts.”

“Would you like me to take them with me when I leave?”

Stone ignored the specialist’s question and asked one of his own. “What kind of range do the bugs have?”

“If you’re worried that they might pick up our conversation here from the shed outside, don’t be,” she said. “It’s nowhere near that sensitive. I would avoid having sensitive conversations in your garden, however.”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say. Thank you. Let’s leave them in the shed for now. If I change my mind, I’ll call Mike.”

“Understood.” She left.

Joan popped in a moment later. “So?”

“So, be careful what you say in the garden,” he said. “And tell Carly, too.”

“Tell me what?” Carly asked from the doorway.

“To watch what you say.”

“You’ve already told me that, multiple times.”

“This time I mean when around the shed in the garden.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

Stone explained to her about the clock.

“Okay, that makes sense now,” Carly said. “But I don’t understand why you’re keeping it around.”

“Because it could provide us with an opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity?”

Stone tapped his temple. “I’m working on that.”

“You should work faster.”

Before he could respond, Joan said, “Oh, I almost forgot,” and laid a white envelope on his desk, which had nothing written on the outside.

Stone leaned away from it, as if it were a snake. “Who is it from?”

Joan rolled her eyes. “Stop overreacting. If I didn’t know the sender, I would have told you first. This came from the office.” She handed an identical envelope to Carly. “And this one is for you.”

Carly opened hers first. “A party. How fun.”

Stone pulled the card out of its envelope. It was an invitation to a dinner being thrown by the New York State Bar Association. The fete was occurring the following Friday, and would be honoring a trio of attorneys for their charitable work.

Stone said to Joan, “Send the usual ‘thank you for inviting me, but I will be unable to attend.’ ”

“Perhaps you should read the entire invitation first,” she said.

“One of the celebrants is Bill Eggers,” Carly said.

“Or Carly can tell you,” Joan said.

Stone looked at the invitation again, and Bill’s name was there in black and white. “I guess there’s no way I can get out of this, is there?”

“Not unless you want Bill reminding you of the fact every time you see him.”

“I do not.”

“It can’t possibly be that bad,” Carly said.

“Sitting around listening to a bunch of lawyers talk about lawyering is not my idea of a good time.”

“I know something that should help.”

“What?”

“We can go as each other’s date,” she said.

“I accept.”

The next day, another gift arrived. This time it was a basket containing a bottle of cabernet sauvignon and a bottle of sauvignon blanc from Screaming Eagle winery in California, worth an easy ten thousand dollars. Accompanying the bottles was a brochure from Riegel Mortuary in Queens.

As before, three bugs were found. Thankfully, none were hidden in the corks of the bottles. Stone would have hated to waste such fine wines. Instead, they were located within the weaved fibers of the basket.