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“Are you now, belatedly, offering to chair the investigation?”
“No. Once again, I am declining to be associated with a CIA cover-up.”
“You make it sound as if my province is cover-ups,” Lance said hotly.
“It is when you want to cover up something, and you clearly want the Collins matter covered up. Besides, I’ve already given you a full explanation of what happened to Collins. I just want to know why.”
“What is your reason?”
“Because Collins’s widow is my client, andshewants to know.”
“So you want to haul an innocent woman into this, just to satisfy your own curiosity?”
“That’s a good enough reason, though not the only one.”
“Children, children,” Dino sang out. “Please! You’re disturbing the other diners. Nowtheywant to know what’s going on!”
“Tell them to go fuck themselves,” Lance said, but he did lower his voice.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Dino announced to the room, “the director...”
Lance stabbed at Dino’s hand with a fork, barely missing, but it had the effect of interrupting his announcement.
“Dino,” Lance said, “you came within an ace of violating federal law by divulging classified information. If I hadn’t stopped you, you would now be on your way to a federal detention center.”
“So now you’re threating the poor, innocent police commissioner with arrest and imprisonment,” Stone said.
“Would you like me to include you?” Lance asked.
The maître d’ strolled over. “Gentlemen, gentlemen,” he said soothingly. “If you keep this up, Mr. Cabot is going to have to arrest the whole dining room, and that would be bad for business. Cool it, please!”
Lance carved a chunk of steak. Stone stabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth. “I’m starved,” he explained, then stood up. “I will seek out dining companions elsewhere,” he said, and stalked out of the dining room.
“His check is yours,” Dino said.
17
The following morning,Stone called Ed Rawls at his home on Islesboro.
“Yes?”
“It’s Stone, Ed. How are you?”
“I’m all right. I take it you’re not, or you wouldn’t be calling me.”
“I’m trying to get to the bottom of this Collins thing,” Stone said, “and I keep running up against Lance Cabot.”
“And that surprises you?”
“It does. Have you seen the Maine ME’s report?”
“No.”
Stone told him what it contained and why he thought the things he did.
“That’s all logical, I guess. What doesn’t Lance like about logical?”
“That’s what I can’t figure out. He sat down with Dino and me at Clarke’s last evening and harangued us for half an hour.”
