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“Of course. A lawyer doesn’t turn down a meet with a former Supreme Court justice.”
“What did he want with you?”
“He seemed to want me to strangle Eddie Charles Jr. while he watched.”
“Well, to know Junior is to hate his guts. What is Barron’s beef with him?”
“He’s been paying too much attention to the judge’s granddaughter, who is encouraging the attention.”
“Eddie has a real gift for getting up people’s noses, doesn’t he?”
“So far, I haven’t met anyone who enjoys his company. Makes me wonder about the granddaughter.”
“How many times did you have him thrown out of the party last night?”
“Only twice. The second one stuck. We saw him trying to hitchhike down Fifth Avenue when we left, and he was missing a shoe.”
“Not a night for hitchhiking.”
“Not even if you have a raincoat and an umbrella. And two shoes.”
“Do you think the kid is some kind of mental case?”
“That’s a good possibility.”
“Why don’t you send him to a good shrink?”
“I don’t think a shrink could handle Eddie any better than anybody else,” Stone said. “He’d probably just toss him out a window during their first session.”
“Any chance of getting him committed?”
Stone shook his head. “I think he can feign sanity long enough to avoid a straitjacket.”
“No custodial care, huh?”
“You have a better chance of arranging that than I do,” Stone said. “Convict the son of a bitch for murder one and let the State of New York prison system deal with him.”
“Nah, lawyers like you will keep him on the street.”
“You know, Fitzroy Barron all but invited me to have the kid professionally hit.”
“In so many words?”
“Of course not, dummy. Don’t you think he’s lawyer enough to suggest that without suggesting that?”
“I suppose he must be.”
“Trust me. I was a little annoyed that he would pick me toarrange it. He’d apparently heard some stories about how I handled things for Woodman & Weld in my early days there.”
“Were you arranging a lot of hits then?”
“Of course not. I’ve never done anything like that.”
“Well, it’s interesting to think that old Fitz would think you have.”
“Yeah, I wonder who he’s been talking to.” He looked at Dino narrowly.
“Don’t point that thing at me!” Dino protested. “I don’t even know Judge Barron, apart from shaking his hand last night.”
