by Stuart Woods
“Well,” Kate said, “we’re going to be in Santa Fe next week for a fund-raiser. Why don’t we take a look at it?”
“Better yet,” Stone said, “why don’t you stay at the house? Ed Eagle can arrange for you to discreetly see the property next door.”
“Perhaps,” Will said, “we could do some sort of property swap—your Santa Fe place for our Georgetown house.”
“That’s an interesting idea,” Stone said. “I know your house, of course, but after you’ve been to Santa Fe we can talk more about that. Also, a client of mine, Laurence Hayward, bought a magnificent penthouse on Park Avenue, with Central Park views, and I think he’s bitten off more than he can chew. He has houses in Santa Fe, Palm Beach, and in England. Perhaps you could take a look at his penthouse.”
“Why not?” Will said, and Kate was nodding furiously.
“Something else you can do for us,” Will said, reaching into a pocket and retrieving a loop-shaped piece of metal with a USB plug on one end. He handed it to Stone.
“What’s this?” Stone asked.
“It’s a thumb drive containing volume one of my memoirs, which runs from my birth in Georgia to Kate’s election as President. I’ve been working on it for three years, and I’d like you to find me a publisher and make a deal.”
“I’ll look forward to reading it,” Stone said, slipping the device into his pocket. “We could make the deal even more attractive if we include Kate’s memoirs.”
“What a good idea!” Kate said.
“And, of course, I could also offer Holly’s book.”
Holly looked startled. “What book?”
“Your memoirs, dummy,” Kate said.
“I’m writing my memoirs?”
“Trust me,” Stone said, “it will be a great read.”
Holly shrugged. “Okay, I’m in.”
“Suddenly, I’m a literary agent,” Stone said.
“You’ll be a great one,” Will replied.
“I’ll bring in my team at Woodman & Weld to handle your legal matters,” Stone said. “I already have sort of a firm within the firm that handles a couple of other clients’ accounts.”
A butler appeared and called them to dinner.
“This is wonderful,” Kate said. “All our problems solved before dinner!”
“We do what we can,” Stone said.
60
Stone and Holly lay entwined in Lincoln’s bed, or at least a reasonable facsimile.
“Things are moving fast, aren’t they?” she said.
“Blindingly fast,” Stone replied.
“Thank you for suggesting I rent Will and Kate’s house. It’s a wonderful place, and I’ll have space to entertain after I take office.”
“We’ll find a way for you to live there as long as you’re in Washington.”
“Am I going somewhere else, after I’m booted out of Foggy Bottom?”
“We can think about that some more. We’ve talked about it, if you remember.”
“I can’t make any decisions now, there’s too much ahead.”
“Neither can I, so we’ll both have lots of time to think about it.”
“You’ll come and visit, won’t you?”
“Do you think we can get away with shacking up in Georgetown while you’re secretary of state?”
“I think we should find out,” she said.
“I think we should run that by Will and Kate, but not until after the election.”
“Fair enough.”
“Are you sleepy yet?”
“No, do you want to do it again so soon?”
“Well, sure, but I want to tell you about the past few weeks—a lot has happened.”
“Shoot.”
Stone began with St. Clair’s attempted takeover of the Carlsson Clinic, omitting details of Marisa, and continued until the present day. “There,” he said. “Now you’re all caught up with me.”
Holly replied with a small snore.
“Holly?”
Nothing.
Stone freed his arm, which was getting numb, turned over, and fell asleep himself.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I am happy to hear from readers, but you should know that if you write to me in care of my publisher, three to six months will pass before I receive your letter, and when it finally arrives it will be one among many, and I will not be able to reply.
However, if you have access to the Internet, you may visit my website at www.stuartwoods.com, where there is a button for sending me e-mail. So far, I have been able to reply to all my e-mail, and I will continue to try to do so.
If you send me an e-mail and do not receive a reply, it is probably because you are among an alarming number of people who have entered their e-mail address incorrectly in their mail software. I have many of my replies returned as undeliverable.
Remember: e-mail, reply; snail mail, no reply.
When you e-mail, please do not send attachments, as I never open these. They can take twenty minutes to download, and they often contain viruses.
Please do not place me on your mailing lists for funny stories, prayers, political causes, charitable fund-raising, petitions, or sentimental claptrap. I get enough of that from people I already know. Generally speaking, when I get e-mail addressed to a large number of people, I immediately delete it without reading it.
Please do not send me your ideas for a book, as I have a policy of writing only what I myself invent. If you send me story ideas, I will immediately delete them without reading them. If you have a good idea for a book, write it yourself, but I will not be able to advise you on how to get it published. Buy a copy of Writer’s Market at any bookstore; that will tell you how.
Anyone with a request concerning events or appearances may e-mail it to me or send it to: Publicity Department, Penguin Random House LLC, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.
Those ambitious folk who wish to buy film, dramatic, or television rights to my books should contact Matthew Snyder, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 98212-1825.
Those who wish to make offers for rights of a literary nature should contact Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit, 445 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022. (Note: This is not an invitation for you to send her your manuscript or to solicit her to be your agent.)
If you want to know if I will be signing books in your city, please visit my website, www.stuartwoods.com, where the tour schedule will be published a month or so in advance. If you wish me to do a book signing in your locality, ask your favorite bookseller to contact his Penguin representative or the Penguin publicity department with the request.
If you find typographical or editorial errors in my book and feel an irresistible urge to tell someone, please write to Sara Minnich at Penguin’s address above. Do not e-mail your discoveries to me, as I will already have learned about them from others.
A list of my published works appears in the front of this book and on my website. All the novels are still in print in paperback and can be found at or ordered from any bookstore. If you wish to obtain hardcover copies of earlier novels or of the two nonfiction books, a good used-book store or one of the online bookstores can help you find them. Otherwise, you will have to go to a great many garage sales.
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