Swimming to Catalina by Stuart Woods

Author:Stuart Woods
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harper
Published: 2009-03-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

Stone had a mid-morning breakfast on his terrace overlooking the hotel’s gardens, thinking about what Hank Cable had said at dinner the night before. He needed a witness to get enough on Ippolito to persuade his superiors to go after somebody so prominent. Stone could think of only two candidates. He telephoned the first.

“Hello?” Her voice was careful, neutral.

“Barbara, it’s St…Jack Smithwick.”

“What number are you calling, please?”

“Is he there?”

“I’m sorry, you’ve dialed the wrong number,” she said. Then, just before she hung up, she whispered “Call in an hour.”

At loose ends, Stone went down to the swim, read the papers at poolside, then asked for a phone and called again.

“Hello?”

“I believe the appropriate question is, ‘Is the coast clear?’”

She laughed. “Yes, it’s clear.”

“You free for lunch?”

“Sure, and I’ve got a car this time.”

“Meet me at the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and bring a bikini—a very small one.”

“I’ll be there in an hour.” She hung up.

Stone swam a few laps, then hailed a poolboy and arranged for a cabana.

She saw him from a distance, then walked toward him, along the poolside, unbuttoning her cotton dress as she came.

For a moment he thought she was stripping in public, but when she stepped out of the dress she was wearing a very, very small bikini. She turned heads, and they didn’t stop looking when she sat down at the table next to him and gave him a big wet kiss.

“I was hoping you’d call,” she said. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

“I’m glad I did. I ordered us both a bacon cheeseburger; I hope it’s as good as the last one.”

“I’m sure it will be,” she said.

They ordered piña coladas, and then lunch came. When they were finished, Stone got serious.

“Barbara, I want to ask you some questions, and I hope you’ll give me straight answers.”

“Okay.”

“First of all, was everything you told me about yourself the other night the truth?”

“Yes, but that’s more than I can say for you.”

“What?”

“Your name isn’t Jack Smithwick, is it?”

Stone reddened. “How did you know?”

“You think I’m so dumb that I can’t tell when a man gives me a false name? Anyway, nobody is named Smithwick.”

“I apologize,” he said.

“Let’s start over.” She held out her hand. “I’m Barbara Tierney.”

Stone took the hand. “My name is Stone Barrington.”

“Stone,” she said. “I like that.”

“It was my mother’s maiden name.”

“It’s nice. Now, why didn’t you tell me your real name from the beginning? I would have liked you a lot better.”

It escaped Stone how she could possibly have liked him better than the first time they met. “If you’ll forgive me, I’ll answer that later, but I will tell you the truth.”

“All right. What do you want to know from me?”

“What do you know about Martin Barone?”

She blinked. “How do you know his name?”

“I got lucky.”

“Stone, you said you’d tell me the truth.”

“I had him investigated, but I didn’t find out much; I need to know more.”

“Why on earth did you have him investigated?”

“I promise, I’ll fill you in, but later.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.