“One, but we haven’t got anything on him yet. I don’t suppose that, with your general omniscience, you could finger somebody for me?”
“Her ex looks good for it,” Rick said, “but who knows?”
“Maybe she knows, but if she does, she’s not telling.”
“That lady knows almost as much about you as I do,” Rick said.
“That is irritatingly true,” Stone said. “She knew where I buy my underwear.”
“The Ralph Lauren outlet store? Who knew you were so cheap, Stone?”
“Why don’t you and Lance get together with Callie and write my autobiography?”
“It’s already in your file at Langley,” Rick said, “and I don’t think it would sell, because nobody would believe it.”
“I’ll try to live a more interesting life,” Stone said, wryly.
“You’re doing just fine, Stone,” Rick said, then he stood up. “Thanks for the coffee. I’ll see you around.”
“I’ll just bet you will,” Stone said, showing him out.
13
Everyone gathered for drinks at six-thirty, perhaps a little damp from the afternoon rain, then Stone and Dino pulled the cover off the 1970s Mercedes, which had less than ten thousand miles on the odometer. With the top down, they drove over to Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, to the restaurant Lasserre—a haven of haute cuisine and old-school formality, where the male guests voluntarily wore neckties and the women could wear haute couture and their best jewelry without being stared at, because the other women were dressed that way, too.
They dined slowly, savoring the experience, all the while being attended by a squad of waiters wearing tails. The pianist played the old songs, and the ceiling periodically and silently opened to let out the hot air and to expose the rose arbor on the roof.
“I love coming back to this place,” Dino said, uncharacteristically.
“I recall you being uncomfortable here,” Stone replied, “on your first visit.”
“That’s because I didn’t know what to expect,” Dino said. “I thought it might be a French movie set, and that at any moment, a big camera and a crew would glide past the table.”
“It’s my first time here,” Callie said, “and I love it.” She took a sip of her claret. “I didn’t know about the bar fights, Dino.”
Dino managed to return to the present. “Bar fights?”
“The ones you said Eddie had been arrested for.”
“Oh, those bar fights.”
“That was just guy stuff, wasn’t it? Harmless big-boy tiffs?”
“Not exactly,” Dino replied. “You see, those bar fights happened in the sort of bars where people go looking for bar fights, the kind of place where there are baseball bats behind the bar, so the bartenders don’t get hurt.”
“Are you saying that Eddie hung out in such places all the time?”
“No, just the two times he got arrested for it. Of course, the second time is the clue. After getting arrested the first time, why did he go back for more?”
“Did he?”
“At least once. My guess is that he had visited such places more than once or twice before and, perhaps, after the arrests.”
“Why would a person do that?”
“There are some persons who enjoy inflicting pain on others, and others who enjoy having it inflicted upon themselves.”
Stone spoke up. “When Eddie decided to beat you up, which group do you think he belonged to?”
“Not my group,” she said. “I just defended myself.”
“Callie,” Stone said gently, “there are certain traits in a suspect that a police officer looks for when making judgments about them. If, for instance, an arrestee has in his record a history of harming small animals—like household pets—alarms go off in his head and red lights flash, because that is a marker for a serial killer.”
“I don’t think Eddie did that,” she said.
“And if the officer is investigating the murder of a woman, and her husband has a history of violence against women, then he becomes, at once, the chief suspect.”
“Eddie wasn’t trying to murder me,” she said.
“Maybe next time,” Stone replied. “You did the right thing when you got out immediately.”
“I remember when we were in high school Eddie’s father used to beat up his mother. The cops got called a couple of times.”
“That’s more history. Tell me, did you know other girls who dated Eddie?”
“There weren’t any. We were going steady from the time I was fifteen. But he did get into fights playing football or basketball. He got thrown out of some games.”
“Did Eddie ever suspect or accuse you of going out with other fellows?”
“Not exactly, but he did accuse me of being attracted to my avionics professor in college.”
“Were you?”
“Attracted to him? Sure, he was cute.”
“Did anything bad ever happen to your professor around that time?”
She looked down at her plate. “Somebody slashed the tires on his car once.”
“It’s a short hop from a car to an airplane,” Stone said. “Around that time did Eddie ever rough you up?”
“He slapped me when I denied having anything to do with the professor.”
Dessert came, and they fell upon it.
* * *
—
After dinner, the valet brought the convertible, and they took a midnight ride around Paris, talking little. Later, when they were getting ready for bed, Stone felt he had to bring up the subject of Eddie again.
“Callie?”
“Yes?” She was brushing out her hair at the dressing table.
“I think it’s likely that you’re going to see Eddie again.”
“I don’t want to see him.”
“That won’t stop him from trying.”
“He got a broken nose the last time he took a swing at me.”
“Eddie isn’t a college boy anymore,” Stone pointed out. “He has graduated to bigger things, like bar fights. Next time, he’ll bring a weapon.”
“Eddie never carried guns.”