“Excuse me, I’m a little breathless,” Jack said. “I’m sure that any place you love will be fine with me.”

“There’s a lovely sailboat in Maine. Have you ever sailed?”

“Only on the Staten Island Ferry.”

“I think you’ll like it. I’m also the largest stockholder in Bob’s company and on the board, and I have the use of the corporate jet, so we don’t have to bother with the airlines. Have you done any traveling?”

“Almost none.”

“Let’s take a look at Paris, London, and Rome—for a start.”

“You talked me into it.”

“I’ve checked—we need to go to the courthouse and get a license, then there’s a three-day waiting period, and then anybody who’s a notary public can marry us. I thought my lawyer could do it.”

“That’s fine with me. Let’s ask Winston and Elizabeth to stand up for us.”

“Yes, of course. My apartment is so much bigger than yours—will you move in with me?”

“Of course.”

“The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Great.”

“I haven’t felt so good in years,” she said.

“I’ve never felt so good,” he replied.

“You know when I knew?” she asked.

“When?”

“When you bought the Bentley. I liked it that you included me in your decision, and especially that you had no problem taking my advice. A lot of men wouldn’t want a woman’s opinion.”

“I will always want your opinion, and I’d be a fool not to follow your advice.”

“That’s it, then.”

“Yes,” he said, “that’s it.”

“Would you like to play another round after lunch?”

“I’d love it.”

Two women in golf clothes got up from a table on the other side of the restaurant, and Hillary waved them over. “Hi, girls,” she said. “Let me introduce you to my fiancé, Jack Coulter. Jack, this is Nikki Seybold and Gail Barley, both of whom I’ve known since college.”

Everyone shook hands.

“Would you like to join us and make a foursome?” one of the women asked.

“Thanks,” Hillary said, “but I want Jack all to myself.”

They laughed and went on their way.

“They’re jealous,” Hillary said.

53

Stone had managed to doze off. He awoke slowly and kept his eyes closed, so as not to inhibit their conversation.

“Looks like we’re making good progress now,” Hank said.

“Yeah, we’ve cracked four million. We’ll be there in another hour. Let’s take a break.”

“What for?”

“I’m starved,” he said. “It’s five-thirty, and I haven’t eaten since five o’clock this morning.”

“All right,” she said. “Let’s get these four bags into the van, then we’ll get something to eat and come back and finish.”

“Deal,” Parese said.

They zipped up the four suitcases, stood them on their wheels, and began rolling the first two out of the office. A minute later, they came back for two more.

“Is one more bag going to be enough?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’ve got less than seven hundred grand to go, then we’ll be done.”

“Okay, let’s go. Stone!”

Stone appeared to jerk awake. “Huh?”

“We’re going to get some dinner. We’ll be right back.”

“Just a minute,” Parese said. He picked up a roll of duct tape and walked over to Stone. He passed three lengths around the sofa and across Stone’s chest, pinning him there, then he ripped off a short strip and slapped it over Stone’s mouth. “There, that’ll hold him.”

The two left the office by the street door.

Stone waited a full minute to let them clear the block, then he started his struggle. He leaned as hard as possible against the tape across his chest, trying to stretch enough to give him some wiggling room. It seemed to work, but he remained taped to the sofa. Then he started thrusting his feet and pelvis forward, to get more stretching and to make it possible for him to slide under the tape and onto the floor. This took a good ten minutes, but he remained stuck to the big piece of furniture. He had his old handcuff key from his cop days somewhere in his desk, but he couldn’t get up and walk over there to get it. He was huffing through his nose and sweating. Half an hour after they left, they came back with cartons of Chinese food.

“Hey, there,” Hank said. “You doing okay?” She came over and ripped the tape off his face.

Stone took some deep breaths. “Yeah.”

“You want some Chinese?”

“Not hungry.”

“Suit yourself.” She went back to the desk, and they made room for the food, then served themselves and opened a couple of beers.

Stone watched them and tried to relax.

They finished and Hank resealed the cartons. “In case you want some later,” she said to Stone.

“Okay,” Parese said, “it’s six-fifteen. I want to be done and out of here by seven. We’ll be out of the state by eight-thirty.”

“Then let’s do it.” They resumed their stacking, counting, and sorting, and the last suitcase began to fill up. Stone watched them helplessly. Promptly at seven, Parese closed the last suitcase. “You wheel this to the van, and I’ll get the machine. Who knows, somebody might want a recount when we do the swap.”

“Okay.” She wheeled the suitcase out of the office, and Parese picked up the machine, which looked heavy.

“Need a hand with that?” Stone asked.

Parese set down the machine and laughed. “You’re something, Stone. Hank told me you was a card.”

“A laugh a minute,” Stone replied.

Parese picked up the machine again. “I’ll be back in a minute to say goodbye.” He staggered out of the office with his load. Three minutes later, they were back.

Parese got into his coat.

“We’ll get out of your way,” Hank said, putting on her coat.

But then Parese had a Glock in his hand. “Time to say bye-bye,” he said to Stone.

Hank put her hand on the gun and pushed the barrel down. “No. I said no, Marty, and I meant it. We’re leaving no corpses behind. Nobody will see him until Tuesday morning, and if he could get out of that tape he would have while we were gone.”

“Sorry, babe, but there will be no witnesses.” He racked the slide on the Glock.

Stone looked around desperately for help, but there was none. Then the phone rang. Parese turned and looked at it, and on the third ring the voice mail kicked in.

“Hi, Stone, it’s Kate Lee. Will and I are going to be in New York over the weekend. Can you have dinner with us at the Carlyle on Sunday night? Call me on the private cell number, don’t go through the White House switchboard. Hope to see you Sunday!” She hung up.

Parese was still staring at the phone. “Was that who I think it was?”

“Now are you getting the picture?” Hank asked. “The feds will be after us, too!”

“This is a mistake,” Parese said, but he shoved the gun back into its holster on his waist. “All right, let’s go.”

“You first,” Hank said.

He started for the door.

Hank ran across the room, took Stone by the chin, and kissed him on the lips. “Bye-bye, darlin’,” she said. “It’s been more fun than I can tell you.”

“A word of advice, Hank,” Stone said.

“What’s that, darlin’?”

“You’d better kill Parese before he can kill you.”

“That crossed my mind,” she said. “Don’t you worry about me, and thanks for all that money!” She turned and ran out of the office. A moment later, Stone heard the racing of a motor, then the vehicle drove away.

He started with the tape again, thrashing around with all his strength, and finally he was able to slide under the tape to the floor: a triumph! Except that he was still handcuffed and his feet taped together. He returned to a sitting position, then stood up and hopped toward his desk, flopping down in his chair. There were two things he wanted: the handcuff key in one of his desk drawers and Joan’s .45, which lived in the middle drawer of her desk, always loaded. In case they came back. He decided to find the key first. That would make everything else easier.