Page 5 of Black Dog

“Ah. What else?”

“I don’t think he’s, clinically speaking, an alcoholic or a drug addict, but I believe that he has sampled, at least once, whatever is available in the world of consciousness-altering pharmaceuticals. His drug of choice seems to be some very expensive product of Scottish agriculture and distilling—sometimes to excess, hence the step-grandchildren.”

“Would you describe him as heedless?”

“Of almost everything,” Joan replied.

“What of his judgment?”

“Little, or none.”

“Moral character?”

“Unknown to him.”

“It sounds as if I’m going to soon hear from him with a request for further funds.”

“Before the day is out is my best guess.”

“I’m not going to refuse his calls, exactly, but he should never be put through to me immediately, nor should he ever be in possession of my cell phone number.”

“Certainly not. Anything else, boss?”

“Yes, why did you recommend me to Aunt Annetta?”

“Because, in my judgment, the fees accruing to Woodman & Weld will far exceed whatever trouble Eddie turns out to be.I thought it preferable to make rain, rather than to stay high and dry.”

“Joan, am I ever going to want to hide from my new charge?”

“Frequently, I fear,” Joan replied.

The office line rang, and Stone indicated that Joan should use his desk phone to answer it. “Woodman & Weld, the Barrington Practice.” She listened for a moment, then covered the phone. “Eddie wants me to send a check for $2,200 to the phone company for the installation of four telephone lines and a superfast Internet connection to his suite at the Yale Club.”

“Tell him it’s time to open a bank account.”

Joan did so, then hung up before he could protest. “That was good,” she said. “I think we’ve established a baseline for saying no to Eddie.”

“Next time he tries something like that, tell him to try moving to a room rather than a suite at his club. If you receive any bills for anything from him, mark the envelopes ‘not at this address’ and forward them to him at the Yale Club. That includes any bills from the Yale Club.”

“Any further instructions?”

“Yes, if you receive calls or mail or a request for bail money that mentions Eddie as being my client, deny it. Say that Woodman & Weld has his trust fund for a client, not Eddie Jr.”

“Sounds as if you want to sever all ties.”

“I would if I could, but we can reduce the number of ties to as near zero as possible.”

The phone rang again.

“Dino,” Joan said.

“Hi, there.”

“Dinner, Clarke’s, seven o’clock?”

“Done.” They both hung up.

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