“Where do you find these people?”

“They seem to find me,” Stone said. “This one got into my office by saying that Eduardo had recommended me.”

“Eduardo Bianci is sending you criminal cases?”

“Turned out it was a different Eduardo, and it wasn’t exactly a case. Not yet, anyway. The person in question merely wanted some advice, for which he paid me in cash.”

“I hope you haven’t explained to him how to open an offshore bank account, et cetera, et cetera.”

“No, I have not.”

“I’m relieved to hear that, because—”

“Actually, I recommended a safe-deposit box in a respectable bank.”

“That’s still advising a client on how to hide his income.”

“I suggested a safe-deposit box as a security measure, not a means of tax evasion. If he had asked me for tax advice I would have been obliged to advise him to list all his income on his return.”

“Do you think he will do that?”

“I have no reason to think he won’t, but as I say, he didn’t ask me for that sort of advice.”

“You’re bandying words. You do realize this could come back to bite you on the ass?”

“The feds have already had a free snap at my ass and missed by a mile. And, to answer your next question, I told them nothing but the truth.”

“But not the whole truth.”

“I had not taken an oath to tell them that, but I did not tell them anything that could be characterized as a breach of attorney-client confidentiality. I told them what I believe you, yourself, would have, in the circumstances.”

“Those circumstances are extremely unlikely to arise in my practice of the law.”

“Oh, really? Have you seen this morning’s Wall Street Journal? A front-page story reported that a prominent banker client of yours, who shall remain nameless for purposes of this conversation, has agreed to pay the Justice Department a settlement of one-point-three billion dollars, in order to avoid criminal prosecution for mortgage fraud. Did you not negotiate that settlement?”

Eggers looked uncomfortable. “The man is not a felon, he made a business mistake.”

“Now who’s bandying words? There, but for one-point-three billion dollars, goes a felon.”

“The difference is, my client is a banker—yours is a bank robber.”

“I beg to differ: in my client’s case, no bank was robbed, and when the non–bank robbery took place, he was tucked away in a cell at Sing Sing, made safe from prosecution by an earlier, ah, ‘business mistake.’ Your client, on the other hand, packaged thousands of mortgages, many of which he had good reason to believe had been obtained by fraudulent means, and sold them to unsuspecting investors, who then lost a great deal of money. By comparison, my client is an upstanding citizen, never mind that he is traveling about the country with a piece of luggage large enough to hold several million dollars of what was, long ago, someone else’s money.”

“He’s traveling with millions of dollars in cash?”

“I didn’t say that. I said he had luggage large enough to accommodate that much. I have no evidence of what he packed into it.” Stone polished off his wine. “However, assuming, for the purposes of discussion, that what you suggested is true, how is that different from your client’s secreting large sums in offshore bank accounts?”

Eggers threw up his hands. “You’re right,” he said. “We should, both of us, surrender our law licenses.”

“You first,” Stone replied.

12

The president of the United States finished his scrambled eggs and sausages and started on his coffee. He could eat sausages for breakfast because the first lady was in New York. The phone on the breakfast table rang, and he answered it immediately, but not before reaching for a toothpick.

“This is the president of the United States speaking,” he said. “If you have dialed this number in error, please hang up and try again.”

“This is the first lady of the United States speaking, and I did not dial this number in error. You’re eating sausages, aren’t you?”

“Strictly speaking, no.”

“You mean you have already finished eating the sausages?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any clear recollection of anything I might have eaten at an earlier time. My mind is crowded with details of foreign and domestic policy.”

“If you didn’t have sausages, why are you using that toothpick?”

Will spat out a bit of gristle. “Excuse me, are we on Skype?”

“No, but if I didn’t already know you well enough not to need it, I’d order Skype immediately. Why are you not in the middle of a prep session for our live appearance on 60 Minutes tonight, instead of luxuriating in sausages?”

“Because it’s Sunday morning, and—”

“Aha! Got you!”

“Oh, all right, I was eating sausages, but they were chicken and apple.”

“But you hate anything but pork sausages.”

“That’s why I had only two of them. I’m sure it will make you feel better to know they were awful.”

“That does make me feel a little better.”

“I’m not in the middle of a prep session for 60 Minutes because I intend to refer all questions to you, so I don’t need to prepare.”

“But that wouldn’t be a joint interview, which is what they’re paying for.”

“May I remind you that the president does not accept payment for television interviews? If I did, we’d be doing this on Faux News.”

“That would be a very short interview.”

“Not if they paid me enough.”

“Do you mean to tell me that you are really not doing any prep for this interview?”

“Not so’s you’d notice it. But on the other hand, neither are you.”

“Well, I’m in New York, and I don’t have all the support facilities that you have in the White House.”

“Would you like me to scramble a team of preppers and chopper them up there? I can do that, you know, I’m the president, and as one of my predecessors once said, ‘If the president does it, it’s not illegal.’”

“And look what happened to him.”

“You have a point.”

“I think it would be more fun just to wing it.”

“So do I, that’s why I’m not prepping.”

“You have to watch out for Lesley Stahl, though, she’s sneaky.”

“I well know it.”

“She comes on all sweet and charming, then suddenly she’s asking about your Swiss bank account, and somehow, she knows your balance.”

“I am fortunate in not having a Swiss bank account, so Ms. Stahl can do her worst.”

“God, I hope not.”

“I hope not, too. What time can I expect you?”

“Why? Would I be interrupting something if I got there unexpectedly early?”

“I just want time to lower the girls from the bedroom window and kick the champagne bottles under the bed.”

“Just a typical Sunday morning when the wife’s away, huh?”

“I have to run now, the Chris Matthews show is about to start, and he’s having that hot Katty Kay on. You know what a British accent does to me.”

“Yes, I do. Isn’t she one of the girls you have to lower out the window?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“See you in a couple of hours.”

“Bye.”

They both hung up.

13

Sunday morning, and Stone’s phone was ringing. He opened an eye and glanced at the clock. Nearly ten. “Hello?”

“It’s Holly.”

“Well, spymaster, long time. What’s up with you?” He pressed the remote and the bed sat him up.

“At the moment, I’m hungry. Buy me brunch?”

“How soon can you be here?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“I’ll order now. Hurry!”

But Holly had hung up.

Stone buzzed the kitchen and got Helene, then he ordered eggs Benedict, asparagus, freshly squeezed orange juice, and his usual, Medaglia d’Oro Italian coffee, made strong. He got out of bed, went to the dumbwaiter, and retrieved the Sunday New York Times, which weighed almost more than he could lift. He got back in bed and began reading the front page. No mention of Kate’s fund-raiser. How long could this last?