Below the Belt

by Stuart Woods

  “Oh, all right,” Rawls said, struggling out of his chair. “Gimme a minute.”

  23

  STONE AND HOLLY DROVE ED back to Stone’s house, and they pulled the old station wagon into the garage, so nobody would see them enter the house. Bob greeted them as they came in the door.

  “Who’s this?” Rawls asked.

  “This is Bob.”

  “I used to have a Lab. Great dogs.”

  Bob allowed himself to be scratched behind the ears.

  Stone grabbed Ed’s bag and led the way upstairs to a bedroom. He left Ed to get settled and went back downstairs.

  “I feel better with Ed here,” Holly said.

  “So do I. I keep thinking we’re going to find him dead at his house.”

  Ed came back downstairs. “Did you open the strong case yet?”

  “No,” Stone replied.

  “That’s good. You don’t want to know too much at this point. As it is, they probably think I’ve told you everything.”

  “They?” Holly asked.

  “For want of a better name.”

  Stone fixed them all a drink, called Seth and Mary and told them they’d be three for dinner, then they sat down. Ed found the remote and turned on the TV to CNN. “I feel more connected if it’s on,” he said.

  “Ed,” Stone said, “why did you leave the strong case with Joe Adams?”

  “I saw Joe and Sue last summer, when they were on Mount Desert Island, and we talked about what I had. We agreed that I should put together what’s in the case as a backup, and I gave it to them before they went to Santa Fe in the autumn.”

  “What sort of shape was Joe in when you saw him last?”

  “He seemed lucid most of the time. Now and then he would call me Tom.”

  “He did the same with me when I saw him last,” Stone said. “Any idea who Tom is?”

  “I don’t know, maybe one of his Secret Service detail.”

  “I guess that makes sense. Did Joe know about your archive here?”

  “Sort of. I didn’t go into detail about my storage area.”

  “How much does Sue know?”

  “She was always there when Joe and I talked—mostly, I think, to kind of translate for Joe, if he lost the thread of the conversation. She could bring him back on track most of the time. When he got tired, he was more likely to wander, and she’d get him off to bed.”

  “How did they get him up and down stairs?” Stone asked.

  “He walked,” Ed replied. “He wasn’t that far gone.”

  “When I saw him a couple of weeks ago, he had one of those electric scooters.”

  “I suppose he was declining.” He saw something on TV and turned it up. They were talking about a state funeral for Joe Adams at the National Cathedral, with burial to follow at Arlington.

  “That’s fitting,” Ed said.

  “Do you think Sue will come to Maine this summer?”

  “I expect so. They have friends on Mount Desert, neighbors they know. They had a boy killed in Vietnam but no other kids.”

  “It’s going to be lonely for her,” Holly said.

  Mary called them to dinner.

  —

  AFTER DINNER, as they were moving back into the living room, they heard a siren from a passing vehicle.

  “That’s the volunteer fire department,” Ed said. He went to the front door and looked outside. “Oh, shit,” he said.

  Stone and Holly joined him at the door. “What is it?”

  “It’s my house,” Ed said, pointing at the flames in the distance.

  “It’s a good thing you’re here, Ed.”

  “Yeah, I guess they expected me to take another pill and be in bed by now.”

  “We’d better call the police,” Stone said.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ed replied.

  “Why not?”

  “Until the place cools down and the volunteers have a chance to poke through the ashes, they’re going to think I died there, and that’s okay with me.”

  “I see your point,” Stone said. “I think that early tomorrow morning we should get the Cessna over here to fly us to Rockland, then go to New York.”

  “Why New York?” Ed asked.

  “Safety in numbers, real cops, real FBI, should we need them. I have a large house. We’ll install you in a suite, and you can watch all the CNN you like while we figure out what to do.”

  “I hate to leave,” Ed said.

  “You don’t want to stay here now, Ed,” Holly said, “not until this is over.”

  “It won’t be over until after the election,” Ed said. “If then.”

  “Ed,” Stone asked, “are the firemen going to find your archive?”

  “Unlikely,” Ed replied, “unless they’re looking for it. There are two fire doors between the house and the archive, so it wouldn’t have burned.”

  Stone called Rockland airport and arranged for their pickup, then let Seth know their departure time.

  —

  THEY WERE AT the airport at six AM, before the island began stirring, so no one would see Ed’s departure. An hour later they were taxiing to the runway in Rockland for takeoff. Stone didn’t file a flight plan, and they flew back to Oxford, Connecticut. From there he filed, and they made a normal trip to Teterboro, where Fred was waiting with the car. An hour after that, they were pulling into Stone’s garage.

  Stone locked the strong case in his safe, then took Ed upstairs to his rooms, then he returned to his office and began catching up on work with Joan.

  “Who’s your guest?” Joan asked.

  “His name is Ed,” Stone replied. “That’s all you need to know.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  When she had returned to her office, Stone called Dino.

  “Bacchetti.”

  “Welcome me home,” Stone said.

  “Okay, welcome home.”

  “You two free for dinner at my house this evening?”

  “Special occasion?”

  “Not exactly, but I think you’ll find the company interesting.”

  “You mean, it won’t be just you?”

  “Holly’s here, and another guest.”

  “Male or female?”

  “I’ll let you figure it out. Six-thirty for drinks?”

  “We can do that. What are you being so mysterious about?”

  “All will be revealed at dinner.”

  “Really?”

  “Well, maybe not all—just enough to keep you engaged.”

  “Okay, pal, we’ll see you at six-thirty.” Dino hung up.

  24

  STONE AND HOLLY SAT in the study with the Bacchettis; Ed Rawls had not appeared yet.

  “So where’s your guest?” Dino asked.

  “He’ll be along.”

  “Ah, now we know gender—progress!”

  “I think you’ll find him an interesting man, if you can set aside any preconceived notions you might have.”

  “Preconceived notions—more progress! Is it Al Capone? I have some preconceived notions about him.”

  The phone buzzed, and Stone picked it up. “Hello?”

  “I fell asleep, so I’m running a few minutes late,” Ed said.

  “We’ll drink one for you.”

  “Is he not going to show?” Dino asked.

  “He’ll show, but he’ll be a little late.”

  “Why don’t you fill me in so I can dispel my preconceived notions?”

  “Oh, all right, it’s Ed Rawls.”

  Dino stared at him with furrowed brow. “Sounds familiar,” he said, then his face fell. “Holy shit, that Ed Rawls? Isn’t he in a federal pen?”

  “No, he was pardoned a couple of years ago. He’s been living on I
slesboro since then. This is the first time he’s been off the island.”

  “You’re having a traitor as your guest of honor for dinner?”

  “Dino, watch your preconceived notions.”

  “You mean he’s not a traitor?”

  “He is not. He was the Agency’s station chief in Stockholm, and he got in bed with a pretty girl.”

  “Was the pretty girl Russian?”

  “She was, but he thought she was Swedish. The KGB blackmailed him into giving them some information, but he was smart enough to only give them harmless stuff. Kate Lee got on to him and nailed him. He pled guilty and got twenty years, served seven, I think.”

  “About when he’d be eligible for parole.”

  “He would have had to serve every day of it, but he was helpful to his government in ways I don’t even know about, and Will pardoned him on the last day of his presidency.”

  “Well, if Will thinks he’s okay, I guess that’s good enough for me,” Dino said.

  “That’s awfully good of you, Dino,” his wife, Viv, said.

  “Sarcasm is unattractive,” he replied.

  “It was irony.”

  “Whatever.”

  Ed Rawls appeared in the doorway, dressed smartly in a blue blazer and a necktie. “Good evening,” he said. “I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

  “You didn’t keep us waiting,” Stone said, raising his glass. “You just gave us a head start.” He introduced Ed to the Bacchettis.

  Dino rose and shook his hand. “Thank you for whatever you did that got you a pardon.”

  “Dino!” Viv said.

  Ed laughed heartily. “First thanks I ever had,” he said, “whether I deserved it or not.” He sat down, and asked for a single malt, one ice cube.

  Stone poured him a Talisker.

  “Smoky and spicy,” Ed said, tasting it. “Perfect. Dino—if I may call you that . . .”

  “Sure, it’s my name.”

  “I believe you are this fair city’s police commissioner.”

  “And I thought you had been on a desert island for years.”

  “The New York Times arrives every day in time for cocktails,” Ed said. “I tend to memorize it.”

  “You have a photographic memory?” Dino asked.

  “It’s weirder than that,” Ed replied. “I just sort of absorb it without thinking about it.”

  “I could make great use of that faculty,” Dino said. “I don’t suppose it’s transferable.”

  “No, but it served me well in my work for many years.”

  “Are you married, Ed?” Viv asked. “Kids?”

  “My wife filed for divorce the day I pled guilty,” Ed said. “We had a daughter, but she died in the embassy explosion in Nairobi, in ’98, one of two hundred and thirty-two who did. It was her first posting for the Agency after she completed her training.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Viv said.

  “Thank you. It was an even greater loss for her country. She was a very bright young woman who would have had a spectacular career as a covert officer. She was fluent in French, German, and Swahili.”

  Fred Flicker entered the room. “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served in the dining room.”

  They tossed off their drinks and followed Fred in.

  Helene had prepared a mushroom bisque and a crown roast of lamb, and they drank two bottles of a Dancing Hares cabernet sauvignon, 2010. They moved on to dessert, apple pie à la mode, with a bottle of sauterne, a Chateau Coutet, 1978.

  Ed was more relaxed than Stone had ever seen him, and more charming, too. This was a new Ed Rawls, one that Stone liked a lot.

  Dino liked him, too. “Tell me, Ed, what really happened at Roswell, New Mexico, when that spacecraft crashed?”

  “Dino,” Ed said, looking serious, “if I told you that I’d be arrested all over again, and this time, they wouldn’t let me go.”

  They moved back into the study for cognac and coffee. They had just settled down when Stone’s cell phone rang. He looked at the number and recognized it. “Excuse me,” he said. He left the room and came back five minutes later.

  “That was a captain in the Maine State Police,” Stone said. “First, I should tell you that Ed’s house burned down last night, while we were at dinner at my house.”

  “Was it an accident?” Dino asked.

  “They don’t believe it was—there was evidence of an accelerant found. The captain said their preliminary conclusion was that it was a suicide.”

  Everybody was quiet while digesting that.

  “Well,” Ed said, “I’m glad it was only a preliminary conclusion. I’d miss me.”

  Everybody laughed, except Stone. “The body was found in the living room, and the police were puzzled by something.”

  “I should think they were,” Ed said.

  “Underneath the body of the man they found an FBI badge in a wallet. His picture ID burned, but the badge survived.”

  “Well, Ed,” Dino said, “you never told us you were an FBI agent.”

  “They ran the badge number,” Stone said, “and it didn’t exist. Ed, they apparently believed that you had been impersonating a federal law enforcement officer, which would be a serious crime, if you weren’t dead.”

  “Stone,” Dino said, “is this about the strong case downstairs in your safe?”

  25

  STONE STARED AT DINO. “How the hell do you know about the strong case?”

  “I think Will Lee was concerned about your safety,” Dino replied, “or maybe just about the safety of the strong case. I guess he wanted a backup. Anyway, he called me.”

  Stone relaxed. “You gave me a scare for a minute. I thought I was doing this in the strictest confidence, but apparently not.”

  “Maybe Will thought it was okay to share it with your best friend in the world.”

  “Apparently so. I just wish he’d told me.”

  “Does he know about the fire at Ed’s house?”

  “Not from me.”

  “You may not be his only source of information,” Dino said.

  “Good point,” Ed Rawls said. “He might be in touch with someone on the island.”

  “Or someone in the Maine State Police,” Stone pointed out.

  “At this stage of the game, I don’t think it matters,” Ed said.

  “And what,” Dino asked, “is the game?”

  “Politics is my best guess.”

  “Well, why don’t we take a look at the contents?” Dino asked. “We’re all good friends here.”

  “I don’t think you want to do that,” Ed said.

  Dino turned toward Stone. “What is he talking about?”

  “I don’t know. He told me the same thing, and I took him at his word.”

  “Maybe you should take him at his word, too, Dino,” Viv said.

  Dino made a grunting noise and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

  “Contain your curiosity,” Viv said. “You might be happier for it.”

  “I’ve never been happier for not knowing something.”

  “You might be happier not knowing what happened at Roswell,” Ed said.

  “I was joking.”

  Ed grinned. “So was I.”

  “Ed,” Holly said, “just out of curiosity, how did you come to have the strong case? Not what’s in it, just the case.”

  “I was issued it for an operation many years ago,” Ed replied, “and somehow it never made its way back to Technical Services.”

  “Did you have occasion to open it during the operation?”

  “Actually, no. Someone else had the key. That person removed the contents and gave me the case and the key.”

  “But you opened it to place its current contents inside?”

  “Yes,
I did.”

  “How did you know how to open the case safely?” Holly asked.

  “Safely?” Dino asked. “What does it do, squirt you in the eye if you open it wrong?”

  “Something like that,” Holly replied, “unless you know the drill.”

  “What’s the drill?”

  “Don’t tell him, Holly,” Stone said.

  “Do you know how to open it, Stone?” Dino asked.

  “No, I don’t, and I don’t want to learn.”

  “So Holly and Ed are the only ones who know how to open it.”

  “The only ones here,” Holly said.

  “Well, Stone,” Dino said, “if something should happen to you, I’ll remember not to open the case.”

  “Much better for everybody,” Ed said.

  Stone’s cell phone rang, and he looked at it. Blocked number. “Excuse me,” he said, and left the room to answer it.

  “Hello?”

  “Is your friend from Islesboro all right?” Will asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Is he with you?”

  “Yes. My other friend is here, too. Apparently, you told him about the package, as well.”

  “I thought it prudent to do so.”

  “How did you know about the arson?”

  “Someone I know got a call from someone who knew.”

  “I must say, I’m impressed with your networking skills.”

  Will laughed. “It comes from a lifetime of keeping index cards and computer files on people I met along the way. I’ve got a pretty good memory, too.”

  “What do you want me to do now?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” Will said. “Secure the package and hang on to it. There is something your friend from the island can do, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Some people we know down in Virginia would like to have a word with him. Could that be managed where you are now?”

  “It could be, if he wants to speak with them.”

  “Can you think of any reason he wouldn’t want to?”

  “No, but he might have his own reasons.”

  “May I speak to him?”