AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is there a room on the garage level?”
“Yes, a maid’s room, currently not in use.”
“Maybe that one eluded the locksmith.”
“I’ll get Geoffrey to check it out.”
“In the meantime, let’s assume that Eddie has access to your house.”
“You just made my skin crawl,” Joan said.
FORTY-THREE
Stone left a third message for Bridget in three days, which he considered his limit on attempts to make contact. Anything after that had the odor of dumpee about it, so he stopped calling. Dino was unavailable, so he went to Clarke’s alone. Rush hour was not over, and he and the bartender had to work at maximum reach to get a bourbon into his hand.
“I’m sorry,” a woman’s voice said, “is my ear crowding your elbow?”
“It was, but now it’s working perfectly,” Stone said, demonstrating by bringing his glass to his lips. “I’m grateful for the inadvertent assistance of your ear.”
“My ear accepts your thanks,” she said. “Do you have a name?”
“I do, and it is Stone Barrington.”
“That sounds as if it should be carved in limestone on the exterior of a financial institution.”
“That is a refreshingly new one,” Stone said. “What does your name sound like?”
“Like a place to get a tan.”
Stone thought about that. “Help me out here.”
“Sandy Beech. Sandra, really, but it doesn’t work that way.”
“Are you in the profession of guarding lives?”
“I’m in the profession of preserving them.”
“You pickle people?”
“That happens only when they have passed from my hands.”
“Then you are a physician?”
“I am.”
“Do you practice at a nearby institution?”
“At the Morgan Clinic.”
“Is that the sort of place where over-imbibers go to dry out?”
“Not necessarily,” she replied. “Though that is on our menu of services. We’re in the business of whatever ails you.”
“That’s very broad-minded of you,” Stone said.
“It’s a third-generation private clinic,” she said. “We’re still operated by a Dr. Morgan.”
“If I may change the subject, have you dined yet this evening?”
