Page 133 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

“At the risk of repeating myself, we stopped counting a few years ago,” Dino said.

“Would Petry try to kill you?”

“I have no doubt he’d like nothing better than to see me take my last breath. But until that happens, I’m sure he’ll be content with hurting me in other ways.”

“Like possibly doing something to your mother’s paintings?”

“It’s no secret how important they are to me. It’s one of the places he could hurt me the most.”

She stared at Stone. “Exactly what kind of law do you practice?”

“Only the good kind,” he said.

“Excuse me for butting in,” Billy said. “But I need to know how you’d like to proceed.”

“We should go to the police,” Monica said.

“Okay,” Stone said, “let’s say we do. With what we have right now, we could probably convince them to open an investigation into Simon Duchamp. And they might even turn up enough evidence to arrest him and shut down his operation.”

“Call me crazy, but isn’t that what we want?” she asked.

“It is, but it’s notallwe want.”

She chewed on her lip, thinking, then said, “You’re worried that Petry will get away?”

“I am, but again not my largest concern.”

“That would be your mother’s paintings,” Dino said.

Stone nodded. “If Simon begins receiving attention from the police, Petry might act sooner than he’s currently planning.”

“And we still don’t know when that is or what he’s going to do,” Monica said.

“Correct.Butwe might be able to find out. Do that, and we can put them all in prison and save my mother’s paintings in the process.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Dino said.

Monica turned to him, confused. “Isn’t this one of those conversations you shouldn’t be here for?”

“In the future, if anyone asks, I was inside taking a nap,” Dino said.

Stone rubbed his chin. “I think I know of a way to learn what Simon’s been up to without tipping off that we’re onto him. As far as Petry goes, though, it would probably be best if he thinks I don’t know he’s in town. Billy, do you think your friend can deal with finding out his plan?”

“I’ll ask, but I’m sure he can.”

“What about me?” Monica asked.

“Assuming Simon was involved in setting you up and knows who you are, you can’t be anywhere near him.”

“Do you have any reason to believe Petry knows about Monica?” Billy asked.

“That doesn’t seem like the kind of business Simon would share with a client, so I doubt it.”

To Monica, Billy said, “I’ll let my friend know you’re available if he needs help.”

“Thank you.”

Chapter 39

---