AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Bill, is there anything I can do to ease your pain on the loss of your college pal and dealer?”
“He wasn’tmydealer. I didn’t have a dealer. He was just everybody’s dealer.”
“The CIA must have missed that when he applied.”
“He applied for the CIA?”
“And was accepted. He was an officer in the operations department at his death.”
“Does Lance know about this?”
“I assure you, he does.”
“So he just ignored this guy’s criminal record.”
“I’m not aware that he had a record.”
“Well, maybe not, but he should have had one.”
“Perhaps Lance knew but regarded it as a mark of Jack’s enterprise and found that attractive in a candidate.”
“If you say so.”
“I don’t say so. That was just a wild guess.”
“Well, I’d better get going. There’s a couple of more people who’d like to hear about this.”
“Bill, don’t mention Jack’s after-school job on the phone. You never know who’s listening. You don’t want to besmirch his name this late in the day.”
“Yeah, right.” Eggers hung up.
9
After lunch,Stone got up from his desk, used the toilet, then returned, to find Lance Cabot sitting across from him. “Good afternoon,” he said.
“Good afternoon, Lance. Have you had lunch? Can we offer you a sandwich?”
“Thank you, no. I had a taco from a street vendor.”
“Can we get you a Pepto-Bismol?”
“Not yet. I’ll keep you posted. Stone, why didn’t you tell me that you and John Collins were friends in law school?”
“Because I learned that he was at NYU only when reading theTimesdeath notice this morning. And when he was there, I didn’t know him.”
“You never bought grass from him?”
“I’ve never bought grass from anyone—except once, when a girlfriend wanted to bake me brownies, thenshebought it, and I reimbursed her. Tell me, Lance, why didn’t you mention at the outset that not only did you know Collins, but he was your creature?”
“That’s putting it rather too strongly,” Lance said.
“How many years did he serve in the Agency?”
“Nine.”
“Were you his supervisor for all of that time?”
“Most of it.”
