Wild Card

by Stuart Woods

  “You have a point.”

  “I think it’s time to go to the D.A. with what you’ve got.”

  “Well, let’s take a look at that,” Dino said. “Sherry has a dark story to tell, but nothing that would get a conviction in court. Whatever Jamie knows, the world knows already, so there’s no point in trying to kill her. So all we’ve got is Elise. If the D.A. will get us a warrant based on her story, we’ll go with Bob Cantor’s idea and use his new equipment to bug everything they say. Then maybe we can get a conviction on some attempted murder charges.”

  “Back up there a minute,” Stone said. “They’ve already shot Sherry in the head and show no inclination to stop trying. A couple of hours ago they were still trying to kill Jamie, and sending a rank amateur like Elise in there to bug the place could get her killed, too.”

  “We could wire her up, so that what she overhears can be recorded.”

  “And if they search her, she’ll never leave the building alive. What you’ve already got, though, is the conversation Elise heard about them trying to kill all of us, and that, combined with whatever she might have heard before, might be enough to get a conviction.”

  “Well, she’d be a damned fine witness,” Dino said.

  “Then go see Ken Burrows.”

  “All right,” Dino said. “I’ll try to get in there this afternoon.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot. The hospital detail just called, and Sherry can be released today. They want to know where to send her on a stretcher.”

  “To my house,” Stone said. “We can make her comfortable here, and I’ll hire a nurse to administer her medications and to be here in the event of an emergency.”

  “Okay. You’d better get the place ready for her.” Dino hung up.

  Stone called in Joan. “We’re going to have a visitor today, and she’ll be staying with us for a week or two. She’ll be arriving on a stretcher.”

  “This is Sherry, then?”

  “Right. Ask the housekeepers to get Peter’s old suite ready for her and to make room for a hospital bed. Then ask my doctor to recommend a private nursing service and a place to rent a hospital bed.”

  “Is she going to need a lot of monitoring devices?”

  “If she does, we’ll hear about it before she arrives.”

  “Okay, I’ll get right on it,” she said.

  * * *

  • • •

  Rance Damien, out of an abundance of caution, was reviewing the personnel files of the five secretaries who worked on the executive floor. He stopped when he came to a name: D’Orio. That was the maiden name of Elise Grant’s mother. He buzzed Elise, and she came in.

  “Have a seat, Elise,” he said pleasantly. She did so. “I was just reviewing everybody’s files for vaccinations, and I see that your mother’s maiden name is D’Orio.”

  “Yes, sir, that’s right.”

  “Where was she born?”

  “In Italy, but she came to this country when she was only three years old.”

  “Did she speak any Italian?”

  “She once told me that her mother and father wanted the family to be American, so they had a rule of speaking only English at home. Both my grandparents already spoke English, and they didn’t want my mother to be at a disadvantage when she started school.”

  “Did your mother retain any of her Italian?”

  “No, we only spoke English at home. My father was British, and I was sometimes accused by schoolmates of having an English accent.”

  “Did you ever study foreign languages?”

  “I took French in high school, but I was never really conversant. When I went to Paris, I could ask questions in French, but I couldn’t understand the answers.”

  “Have you ever visited Italy?”

  “I spent a week in Rome on a tour when I was in college.”

  Damien suddenly switched to Sicilian. “If you’re lying to me, I’ll have your tongue cut out,” he said, with a small smile.

  “Sir?”

  “Didn’t you understand me?” he asked in English.

  “No, sir.”

  “It’s not important, Elise. Thanks for coming in.”

  “Any time, sir. When are we getting vaccinations?”

  “That’s in the planning stages. We’ll let you know.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Elise returned to her desk and sat down. She made a point of going on with her work, as if nothing had happened, but she was having a hard time controlling her shaking. Something had happened. Damien was now suspicious of her. She hoped Bob had overheard her conversation with him through his bug.

  * * *

  • • •

  When she got home she was about to call Bob Cantor when her new cell phone rang. “Hello?”

  “Don’t say anything,” Bob said, “until I sweep your apartment. Say I got the wrong number, then hang up.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’ve got the wrong number. That’s all right, goodbye.” She hung up and switched on the TV news. A few minutes later there was a soft rap on her door. When she opened it, Bob Cantor came in with a toolbox and a finger to his lips. He motioned for her to sit down and say nothing.

  She watched the news but retained none of it. A few minutes later Bob came back and motioned her to follow him outside into the hall.

  “What did you find?” she asked.

  “Bugs in every room,” he whispered. “I heard your conversation with Damien and thought something might be up.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Go back inside, fix yourself some dinner, watch TV for a while, then pack a couple of suitcases. We’re going to get you out of here tonight.”

  Elise did as she was told.

  40

  The nurse arrived first, reminding Stone of Mrs. Doubtfire, save the Scottish accent. She took charge and began issuing rapid instructions to Joan.

  Joan came into Stone’s office with a list. “This is what that woman wants me to get!” she nearly shouted.

  “Joan,” Stone said soothingly, “don’t argue with her, just get what she wants. Do we need monitoring equipment?”

  “No. And she doesn’t want Bob Cantor sleeping in the same room.”

  “By the way, Bob called, and we’re going to have to put up Elise Grant for a while, so please ask Helene to get a room ready for her right away.”

  “Who’s next? The cast of Cats?”

  “She’ll be here any minute.”

  “There’s always a room ready,” Joan said. “We’ll put her next to Sherry. They can keep each other company.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Dino turned up next, and Stone took him up to the study and gave him a stiff drink, which he seemed to need.

  “Tell me,” Stone said, suspecting bad news.

  “Bad news,” Dino said. “Ken Burrows is holding us back. He might as well have an anchor out.”

  “What’s his problem?”

  “He says that Elise’s story is not enough to get a judge to issue a warrant for the executive offices of a major investment bank.”

  “Does that translate into a major campaign donation?”

  “I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that,” Dino said. “The Thomases are in half of the hip pockets in the city.”

  “Bob Cantor is going to be here any minute with Elise, and we can’t let her go back to work at H. Thomas.”

  “She seemed to be doing pretty well.”

  “She’s not an undercover cop, Dino, or a CIA operative. She’s a twenty-four-year-old woman—a brave one, I’ll grant you—but with no tradecraft. She’ll get nervous, make a mistake, and there goes your witness.”

  Bob and Elise entered the study as if on cue. Stone made them ea
ch a drink. “Now what’s going on?” Stone asked.

  “I think Rance Damien is onto me,” Elise said. “He went through my personnel file and found that my mother’s maiden name is D’Orio, and he questioned me closely about both her knowledge of Italian and mine. I think I held him off, but . . .”

  “But suddenly, her apartment is bugged,” Bob said.

  “Since when?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like coincidences.”

  “Who does?” Dino asked.

  “Oh, God,” Elise said suddenly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I forgot to turn off the answering machine that my mother gave me. If my mother calls, she’ll leave a message in Sicilian.”

  “And the bugs will pick it up,” Bob said. “Give me your keys.”

  Elise handed them over.

  “I’ll be back in twenty minutes,” Bob said. He took a swig of his drink and left.

  “Did you hear anything new today, Elise?” Dino asked.

  “No, not a word.”

  “I had a talk with the district attorney today,” Dino said, “and he doesn’t think we have enough to get a warrant for bugging the H. Thomas offices.”

  “If I don’t show up for work tomorrow, Damien will know something’s wrong,” she said.

  “We don’t think you should go back to work in any case,” Stone said. “It’s getting too dangerous for you.”

  “That’s a relief,” she replied.

  They drank and chatted for a few minutes, then Bob Cantor returned.

  “Well?” Dino asked.

  “There was a message on the machine: in Sicilian. They’ll have a voice-activated recorder picking up any sound. Elise is blown.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Stone said. “We were going to assume that she was, anyway.”

  The doorbell rang, and Fred came into the study. “The lady on the stretcher is here,” he said. “Mrs. Doubtfire has taken charge upstairs.”

  “I believe her actual name is Miss Hartley,” Stone said. “We’d all better get used to calling her that, or we’ll slip up, and I don’t want to be there when that happens.”

  “Nor do I, sir,” Fred said.

  “I’d better go up and see her,” Bob said.

  “Don’t stay too long, Bob,” Stone interjected. “Mrs. Dou . . . ah, Miss Hartley has nixed your sleeping in Sherry’s room.”

  “What is she, a nun?” Bob asked. He didn’t wait for an answer.

  Stone called Dino into the living room for a moment, leaving Elise alone. “It occurs to me that we’d better get Elise’s mother out of her apartment. She’ll be in trouble the minute they hear her message in Sicilian.”

  “Do you have room here for anyone else?” Dino asked.

  “She can bunk in with her daughter, but now that you mention it, the traffic is getting a little heavy around here.”

  “I’ll see what I can do about moving them into a safe house,” Dino said. “We keep a few places for witness protection, and I did hire her as a confidential informant.”

  “Good idea.” They went back into the study. “Elise, we think we should bring your mother here tonight. I can send you and Fred downtown in my car to pick her up. Will you call her and explain everything?”

  “Sure,” Elise said, “and thanks for thinking of that.” She picked up the study phone and dialed a number. “No answer,” Elise said. “I’ll try her cell.” She dialed another number. “Mom?” she said, then lapsed into Sicilian. She stopped and covered the receiver. “Should she go back to her apartment?” she asked.

  “No,” Dino said firmly. “Where is she now?”

  “She just got out of a movie on Sixth Avenue, at Eighth Street.”

  “I’ll have an unmarked car pick her up. Tell her to stay near the box office.”

  Elise spoke to her mother in Sicilian at some length. Finally, she said goodbye and hung up. “She took some convincing,” she said, “but she’ll be there.”

  Dino got on the phone and gave the orders. “Tell them to call me when they’ve got her aboard.” He accepted another drink from Stone.

  “She’ll be all right here for a day or two,” Elise said. “She and I wear the same size of everything, so she can wear my clothes.”

  “Tomorrow, we’ll send her to her apartment with a policewoman to escort her,” Dino said, “so she can pick up some things.”

  Bob Cantor came back. “Sherry’s already out,” he said. “I think Mrs. . . . Miss Hartley gave her something.”

  “Bob,” Elise said, “I just thought of something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I forgot to turn off your bugs before I left the office today.”

  Dino brightened. “Maybe we’ll hear something we can use, even if not in court.”

  “I’ve got the bugs on a recorder,” Bob said.

  “Something else,” Elise said. “If we pick anything up, it could be in Sicilian, so you’ll need either my mother or me to translate for you.”

  “Good,” Dino said. “My Sicilian is pretty rusty.” His cell phone rang. “Bacchetti.” His brow furrowed. “Where exactly are you? Keep looking.” He hung up and turned to Elise. “My cops can’t find your mother at the theater.”

  41

  Elise ran to the phone and dialed her mother’s cell phone. “Mom, call me immediately, please.” She hung up. “No answer. I left her a voice mail. I’ll text her, too.” She sent the text, then sat down to wait.

  “Let’s not get too excited,” Stone said. “There may be a good reason she didn’t answer.”

  “I have this awful feeling,” Elise said. “This is all my fault; if I hadn’t left my answering machine on . . .”

  Dino’s phone rang. “Bacchetti.” He listened. “Your instructions are the same.” He hung up.

  Before he could speak, Elise’s phone rang. “Mom?” She lapsed into Sicilian, then finally hung up. “She went back inside to use the ladies’ room, and there was no signal in there. They’re on the way here now.”

  Stone asked Fred to meet her in the garage and bring her up to the study. “All right,” he said to the room, “everybody’s safe now. We’ll have some dinner when she gets here. Elise, what’s your mother’s name?”

  “Elena Grant.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Shortly, Fred entered the study with Elena, and Elise introduced everybody. Elena recognized Dino and let loose with a stream of Sicilian, while Dino tried gamely to keep up.

  “Mom,” Elise said. “Let’s speak English.”

  “Sure,” Elena said. “His Sicilian is pretty spotty, anyway.”

  “It’s been a long time,” Dino said defensively.

  Elise took her mother into the living room and spent several minutes explaining what was going on, then dinner was served, and they all sat down.

  * * *

  • • •

  Dino put the phone down and picked up his after-dinner cognac. “Okay, I’ve nailed down a hotel suite for them over on Lex, not so far away. They can move in tomorrow morning.”

  “That’s good news,” Stone said.

  “I had a call from the D.A.,” Dino said, “but I didn’t return it. I’ll let the son of a bitch wait until tomorrow morning. There’s nothing he can do tonight, anyway.”

  “Tell him we have a growing crowd of fugitives from Thomas justice,” Stone said.

  “I don’t think that would move him.”

  “What would move him?”

  “Maybe if the Thomases canceled their campaign contribution.”

  Stone laughed. “That sounds like our D.A.”

  * * *

  • • •

  Stone was in bed when Jamie called. “I was just wondering about you,” he said.

  “Wondering if I
was dead or alive? Well, I’m alive, by the grace of God. No exploding flowers today. Maybe they’ve lost track of me.”

  “Don’t count on that. Listen to your security people, they’ve done a great job so far.”

  “Well, I’m not in a coffin—not even in traction. I guess that’s something.”

  “How are you handling the road?”

  “It’s wearing,” she said. “I don’t care how good the food is. You may find a little more of me to grab hold of when I get back.”

  “I won’t complain.”

  “How about some phone sex?” she asked.

  “I’ll wait for the real thing.”

  “You just want me super-horny when I get home,” she replied.

  “That’s a nice thought.” He brought her up to date on the day’s events.

  “How many people is that staying at your house?”

  “I’ve lost count. Two of them are moving into a police safe house tomorrow, that’s a start.”

  “When I get home, can we go somewhere?”

  “I thought you were homesick.”

  “I’ll get over it. Didn’t you say you have a house in L.A.?”

  “I do.”

  “That might be fun.”

  “It would be. Let’s see where this whole business goes before we make travel plans.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, if there’s no phone sex in the offing, I’m going to sleep.”

  “Do it well.” They hung up.

  * * *

  • • •

  The following morning Stone woke later than usual. When he got to his office, Joan announced that Elise and her mother had just left, under the care of Fred.

  “I’m moving Mrs. Doubtfire to Elise’s room,” she said.

  “Don’t call her that, or I’ll start doing it.”

  “I’ve already called her that, and she loved it. First time I’ve seen her smile. She was going to sleep on a cot in Sherry’s room, but Sherry drew the line there.”

  “I haven’t been up to see her yet. How’s she doing?”