Page 14 of Near Miss

“Isn’t that a crime?”

“It is to you, of course. But a sober judge would take a different view, and the DA would yell at me for hauling him in.”

“Where’s Matilda?”

“She stopped by her place to pick up some clean clothes,” Joan said. “I expect she’ll be along soon.”

“We need to find out absolutely everything she knows about Trench,” Stone said.

“You want to buy him a present?” Dino asked.

“I want to buy him a prison term.”

“Well, you’re going to have to wait until he does something provable to you.”

“I would have thought that blackjacking me was probable cause.”

“It would be, if we could prove he was involved. Fred erased the only guy who could have testified against him.”

“Was Fred, ah, a little hasty in his judgment?”

“No, Huff’s hand—the one without the blackjack—held a .25 automatic, just the thing for putting your lights out permanently, if the blackjack failed to operate as intended.”

“Well, at least Fred is free and clear. Has he still got his carry license?”

“I saw to that.”

“Good, in case he has to shoot somebody else. Did Huff have a sheet?”

“A couple of bar fights. I guess he was staying in practice.”

“How about Trench?”

“About two hundred parking tickets. I handed that off to a guy in the DA’s office who makes life hell for people who tear up their tickets.”

“I’d like to see him in something more permanent than parking ticket hell.”

“Maybe he’ll give us another shot at him,” Dino said. “Of course, that would mean he’d have to take another shot at you first.”

“I know, I know, you want me to carry all the time.”

“Everywhere but on the tennis court.”

“They’ve probably got a holster made for that. It would be intimidating to your opponents, too. Nobody would want to play with you.”

Stone’s secure cell phone rang.

“One guess who that is,” Dino said.

Stone pressed the button. “Hello, Lance.” Lance Cabot was director of the Central Intelligence Agency, for whom Stone and Dino performed consulting duties.

“I’m delighted to hear that you can still speak,” Lance said, not sounding delighted.

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t a matter of national security.”

“Are you quite sure about that?”

“I don’t have any reason to believe that was the case.”

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