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“That’s because I got over it some years ago. Now I practice the law instead of enforcing it.”
“How remunerative of you.”
“I didn’t leave the NYPD quietly,” Stone said. “They threw me out.”
“Was it something you said?”
“Said, and said repeatedly,” Stone replied, “but their excuse was a bullet in the knee.”
“They shot you?”
“No, I was previously shot, in the line of duty.”
“So you are now a pensioned invalid?”
“No, I recovered and am now an attorney-at-law, but I took their pension anyway. It keeps me in bourbon.”
“And how did you make this legal leap?”
“I already had the law degree when I enrolled at the police academy, but I still had to pass the bar exam, which I eventually got around to. An old law-school buddy gave me some work, and it ensued that I made partner.”
“Was that the end of your professional road?”
“No, after that I made senior partner, so I hardly have to work at all.”
“I’ve noticed that about senior partners in other fields—medicine, for instance. Do you often come to this place alone?”
“No, I usually come with an old friend, who was my partner when we were homicide detectives about two hundred years ago. But now and then he has other demands on his time.”
“Before I forget, you shouldn’t think that Bryce Newcomb has just gone away.”
“He has a vengeful heart, does he?”
“To the extent that he has a heart, yes.”
“So I should watch my ass?”
“That puts it very nicely.”
“Will my badge cover me?”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” she said. “He’s an unreasonable sort.”
“How does he earn his daily bread?”
“He doesn’t. An ancestor or two made that unnecessary.”
“One of those, huh?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I have a client like that who has turned out to be a lot of trouble. Well, not a client, exactly. I’m his trustee, appointed by his stepmother, whom he is suspected of murdering.”
“Are there a lot of suspects?”
“Only one, thus far.”
“Well, with two trust-fund babies in your life, I suppose you shouldreallywatch your ass.”
