AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re still concerned about my safety?” she asked.
“You’re perfectly safe,” he said, then slapped his forehead. “A car followed us here, and I was concerned about it. I forgot
that Mike Freeman still has his security people watching you. That’s who’s in the car.”
She laughed. “Spooked by your own people?”
“I’m afraid so.”
They had a drink and ordered dinner. “You know, Stone,” Arrington said, “when I last saw you, in Maine, I pretty much said that we shouldn’t see each other anymore.”
“I remember.”
“I was hasty, I’m afraid. Of course, you’re not going to come and live in Virginia, and I’m not going to live in New York anymore, but there’s no reason why we can’t get together now and then.”
“I’m glad you think so,” he replied.
“I was serious when I said that I want you to get to know Peter. If something happened to me and you became his guardian, I’d like him to already know you.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.”
“Now, be realistic. I can get sick and die just like anybody else, or I could walk in front of a passing car. I’m not ill, and I’m careful, but you know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” he replied. “Why don’t you bring Peter to New York for a few days, when he’s on his holidays? You can both stay with me.”
“Then I’d have to sneak into your bedroom every night, wouldn’t
I?”
“One of us would have to do the same thing in Virginia, but it would be good if he knew that we had more than a passing friendship.”
“I’ll give that some thought,” she said.
They dined well and returned to the house, the car still tailing them. They were greeted inside the house by Mike’s inside man, who took Stone aside when Arrington had gone to her room.
“I don’t want to trouble you, Mr. Barrington,” the man said, “but we had a little incident after you left for dinner.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure; we had an alert from the security system, which showed a possible breach of the perimeter fence. We checked it out and found nothing.”
“Why don’t we take a walk around the perimeter?” Stone said.
The man spoke into a microphone dangling from his sleeve into the palm of his hand, and another man appeared. “All right, let’s go,” he said, producing a small flashlight and borrowing another from his colleague for Stone.
They walked down the driveway to the front gate, where another operative stepped from the shadows and checked them out.
“By the way,” Stone said, “thanks for the following car when we went to dinner. At first I thought someone was up to no good.”
The man stopped in the driveway. “Following car? We don’t have anyone in a car, just inside the fence, as Mr. Freeman directed.”
“Follow me,” Stone said, “and don’t wave your flashlight around.” He made his way along the wrought-iron fence to a point opposite where the car had been parked earlier, then peeked through the shrubbery. “There’s the car,” he said, “but we can’t get at him through this fence, and I don’t have a way to open the front gate. Let’s just give him a scare, and maybe we can get his license plate number. Get ready with your flashlight.”
“All right,” the man said, stepping forward.
The two of them parted the hedge, and on Stone’s signal, hit the car with both of their flashlights. A startled, wide-eyed man turned toward the light, then started his car and drove away at high speed. “Fortyish, graying hair, sideburns,” Stone said.
“Did you get the plate number?” the security man asked.
