The Short Forever(78)

“That would be wonderful.”

“See you in an hour?”

“That’s good. Bye.” He hung up and turned to Mason. “We can go to James Cutler’s house in Chester Street.”

“Ah yes, good,” Mason said. “Who is Dino?”

“Dino Bacchetti, my old partner at the NYPD. He got into town yesterday.”

“All right, then; you go and get packed up, and I’ll send someone for your luggage. I believe your bill is going to Stan Hedger?”

“Yes.”

“Good, that solves that. We’ll be taking you out of the hotel by a rear exit.”

“Fine.”

“Oh, by the way, Sam asked me to ask you if Hedger ever gave you any sort of electronic device—a radio, a pager, a clock—to carry around with you?”

“Yes, he gave me a satellite telephone.”

“You’ll want to give that to me; he’s been using it to track your whereabouts.”

Stone felt like a complete ass. “All right.”

“I’ll come and get you in, say, three-quarters of an hour.”

“Good.” Stone left the suite and went back to his own.

Dino was still watching cricket. “You know, I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this game.”

“It’s an illusion; no American will ever understand it.”

“You ready for some dinner?”

“Yes, but Sarah is cooking it for us; get packed, we’re moving out of the hotel.”

“But I like it here,” Dino said. “It’s nice—you push a button and somebody comes to take care of you.”

“I’ve just had a meeting with some British intelligence people, and they want us out of here; they say it’s the only way we’ll ever lose the tail that Hedger put on us.”

“We’re going right now?”

“Very shortly; just get your luggage ready to go.”

Dino switched off the cricket match with reluctance.



At the appointed time, the porter rapped on their door. “Good evening, Mr. Barrington. I’m to take your bags down to the kitchen.”

“There they are,” Stone said, pointing to the pile. “Mr. Bacchetti’s, too.”

“There’s a lady waiting for you at the lift.”

Stone and Dino walked to the elevator, where Carpenter was waiting for them, the door open. He introduced Dino.

Once in the elevator, Carpenter inserted a key into a lock and turned it. “This will get us to the lower level,” she said.

Stone watched her on the way down; she really was very attractive, in her muted way. The lift doors opened, and Carpenter led them down a hallway, past the kitchens, and out a rear door. There were three identical gray vans waiting outside, and the porter was loading their luggage into the middle one.

Mason appeared from behind them. “Give me Hedger’s phone,” he said.

Stone took the phone from an inside pocket and handed it to him.

Mason looked around him, then spotted a truck unloading seafood for the hotel. He tossed the phone over the crates of fish into the rear of the truck. “There,” he said. “That will keep your tail busy. Get into the center van.”

Stone and Dino climbed into the rear seat with Carpenter, while Mason got into the front.

“We’ll wait until the fish lorry goes,” he said.

As if on command, the truck started up and moved out of the mews, then turned right at the street.

“Wait,” Mason said. “Let them register the move.” He glanced at his watch. Two minutes passed, then Mason said, “Now; turn left at the end.”

The three vans moved out.

“Why do I feel like a load of laundry?” Dino asked.

“This would be your policeman friend?” Mason asked.

“Yes,” Stone said. “This is Lieutenant Dino Bacchetti, of the New York Police Department.”

“Enchanted,” Mason drawled, without turning around.

“Yeah, me too,” Dino said.

The three vans drove into Grosvenor Square and at the next corner, each went in a different direction, none of them toward James’s house.

“The house is in Chester Street, off Belgrave Square,” Stone reminded Mason.

“I know, old chap,” Mason said. “We’re just going to lead any possible tail on a merry chase before we turn for home. I’ve visited the house, actually. James Cutler and I were at Eton together a couple of hundred years ago. He was a good chap, and I’m grateful to you for what you tried to do for him.” He paused. “I’m not so sure about this Miss Sarah Buckminster.”

Dino dug Stone in the ribs.





Chapter 46



THEY ARRIVED AT THE CHESTER STREET house, and the van’s driver set Stone’s and Dino’s luggage on the sidewalk.