Page 13 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

Admittedly, it was probably a good thing the pip-squeak had stopped him from throwing the punch. If any of the federal investigators who’d taken Petry’s first business down caught wind of yesterday’s trial’s outcome, they’d likely be all over him again, thinking he was up to his old tricks. Earning an assault charge would only make that outcome more likely.

Petry growled in frustration, startling his driver. “You all right, Mr. Petry?”

“Just drive,” Petry said, then punched the button that raised the divider between them.

“Yes, sir. Sorry—” The driver’s voice was cut off as the barrier closed.

Petry stared out the window, seeing nothing through his rage.

It was only Wednesday, and this was already the second worst week of his career. And wouldn’t you know, both this and the first time had been caused by the same son of a bitch: Stone Barrington.

There was no way he would let the lawyer get a chance to do it a third time. There had to be a way to make Barrington suffer for his offenses without it being traced back to Petry. And the sooner that could happen, the better.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Nico Savage.

“Hey, boss,” said Petry’s personal lawyer and fixer.

“I got something that needs taking care of.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Lay it on me.”

“Find out everything you can about a lawyer named Stone Barrington.”

“The guy from the Baker case?”

“That’s the one.” Petry told him what had just happened, then said, “Find a weakness, something we can hit hard without it blowing back on us.”

“On it. Give me twenty-four hours.”

—

Nico started with a basic Internet search, expecting to find articles about other court cases but not much else. Instead, he learned Barrington was not only friends with New York City’s police commissioner, Dino Bacchetti, but also with several other high-profile individuals, making him one very well-connected lawyer.

Nico would have to tread carefully.

Typically, the biggest weakness a person had was family.Barrington had a married son who fit the bill. The problem was Peter Barrington and his wife, Hattie, were on the other side of the country. While it wasn’t out of the question that Nico could use them to pressure Peter’s father, the potential logistics nightmare made it less than desirable for a quick fix.

Nico wondered if there were any family members who lived closer. Parents, perhaps.

It didn’t take long to discover that the lawyer was an only child and that both of his parents were deceased. Nico did turn up one interesting fact about Barrington’s mother. Apparently, she’d been some kind of semi-famous artist. Nico had even found an article in which Barrington mentioned how important his mother’s paintings and legacy were to him. What Nico could do with that, he had no idea, but he filed the info in the back of his mind.

Another half hour of digging turned up next to nothing. It was clear he needed information not available to the general public. Good thing he knew people who specialized in that. He made a few calls and gave his contacts until the morning to get back to him.

—

Nico got a late start the following day, thanks to Jamie, the beautiful blonde he’d brought home from the club he hit after work. She’d woken him in the most delicious way, and they’d gone for round three. Or was it four?

Whatever the case, it was the reason he didn’t arrive at the office until eleven a.m. By then, he already had four messages from his boss wanting to know what he’d found out about Barrington.

Nico checked his e-mail and was happy to see all three of hiscontacts had responded. He started to read through the first file when Petry called his cell phone again.

“Hey, boss.”

“Where the hell have you been?” Petry demanded.

“Gathering info on Barrington.”

“And?”

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