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“And yet, I keep getting smacked in the kisser by surprises! That’s nerve-racking, don’t you understand that?”
“It’s nerve-racking to get the third degree from you, too.”
“What have you got to hide?”
“I’m sure Mike Freeman will come up with something.”
“Did you do time for embezzlement of your employer’s funds?”
“No! Of course not!”
“Then you’ve got nothing to worry about, have you? Or have you? Best to tell me now.”
“I don’t like telling on people.”
“Then meet some people who don’t have anything to be told about them.”
“I’m stuck with the ones I’ve got,” she said. Then she went back to her desk, while Stone wondered what she was talking about.
—
Stone met Mike Freeman the following day for lunch. They each ordered a drink and lunch, then Mike opened his briefcase and set a file folder on the table. “Ready?”
Stone took a deep breath and exhaled. “Hit me.”
“Okay, let’s start with some good news.”
Stone looked surprised. “I didn’t think there would be any.”
“Eddie Jr.’s academic record stands up. He was a smart kid who worked hard at his studies, and he left Groton, Yale, and Yale Law School in good order. His appearance on the bar exam list of passes is legit, too.”
“I’m stunned!” Stone said. “How’d he get to be such a weasel?”
“An indulgent papa,” Mike said. “He was good in school and got a zero in behavior.”
“Any reason why?”
“Excess in just about everything—girls, booze, gambling, you name it.”
“Does he have a record?”
“Nope, his sheet is clean.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Do you know a lawyer named Jacob Marvin?”
“Jake the Snake? Doesn’t everybody?”
“Well, Jake, as you well know, was reputed, in his day, to be very adept at moving cash from pocket to palm, and Eddie Sr. had him on retainer, for the personal use of Eddie Jr.”
“That explains a lot,” Stone said.
“Every time Junior got busted, Jake made it all go away. Thus, Junior’s clean slate.”
“Is there a list somewhere of what he was charged with?”
“He was never charged. Jake was that quick.”
