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ago.”
    “How could you know that?”
    “I had a drink with Sean Donnelly last night. He was the lead detective on the case, retired fifteen years ago.”
    “I thought he was dead.”
    “He looks kind of dead, but I ran into him at P.J. Clarke’s, so unless he’s pulled off a resurrection, I guess he didn’t die, quite.”
    “I guess.”
    “So, what sort of shape is Fratelli in after twenty-five years inside?”
    “Oh, he’s in remarkably . . . Wait a minute, I never mentioned that name.”
    “So the shyster’s seal is still intact. Relax. Is Fratelli walking and talking?”
    “Both.”
    “So Eddie Buono told him where the loot was.”
    “Maybe. Maybe some of it.”
    “How much?”
    “Don’t be so fucking nosy.”
    “I’m just curious.”
    “I know you’re curious, but I can’t have you whispering in Donnelly’s shell-like ear.”
    “Why would I give a shit if John Fratelli has dipped into Buono’s honeypot?”
    “I seem to recall that you are a highly placed police official, chief of detectives, namely.”
    “I’m off duty,” Dino said.
    “You haven’t been off duty since the day you graduated from the academy. And you would just love to bust this case wide open.”
    “I wouldn’t mind seeing Donnelly get the credit for that.”
    “Not going to happen,” Stone said.
    “So where’s Fratelli?”
    “On vacation.”
    “Florida, huh?”
    “Stop doing that! I didn’t mention Florida!”
    “You’re a mine of non-information,” Dino said.
    “Dino, you can’t act on any of this. You said you could keep a secret.”
    “No, I didn’t. I said I wouldn’t tell Viv.”
    “That was about the Kate thing, not the . . . client thing.”
    “I’ll have to review our conversation in my mind, to see if that’s true.”
    “Don’t review, take my word for it. I’m not having a client of mine who’s done his time getting sent up again for, ah, accepting an inheritance.”
    “Oh, well, the statute’s expired, hasn’t it?”
    “Right.”
    “Unless ‘inheriting’ this sum is a new crime? Like receiving stolen goods?”
    “Let it go, Dino.”
    “Okay, okay, I’m just busting your balls.”
    “It’s what you do best, isn’t it?”
    They ate their dinner and talked about other things.

6
    Stone’s ass had barely touched his office chair the following morning, when Joan buzzed. “Mike Freeman on one.”
    Stone heaved a rueful sigh and picked up the phone. “I know, Mike, and I’m sorry.”
    “I hope something terrible happened to you that prevented your being there,” Mike said.
    “You’re beginning to sound like Dino.”
    “I’m beginning to understand Dino’s attitude,” Mike said.
    “I got embroiled in a discussion about a client and didn’t realize that I’d missed the event until it was too late. I offer my abject apologies.”
    “Kate asked for you. A lot.”
    “I’ll write her a note,” Stone said. “Maybe if I include a check for a million dollars, that will mollify her.”
    “A very good idea.”
    “What’s the name of the superPAC?”
    “The Best Woman.”
    “Won’t people guess whom it’s for?”
    “We’re hoping most people will think it’s for Hillary Clinton.”
    “Good luck with that.”
    “Look, this is going to get out anyway. I was amazed that it didn’t make yesterday’s papers.”
    “So was I. The event is already a day and a half old, and nothing’s out there. Is it possible this could last awhile?”
    “I don’t think so,” Mike said. “Frankly, I’ll be relieved when it breaks.”
    “When it does, everybody will accuse Kate of being a spoiler for the other candidates. I’ll bet she starts getting write-in votes in primary states.”
    “You go write her a note, now,” Mike said. “I’ll see you later.”
    Stone hung up, got out a sheet of his best stationery, and wrote his apology. He buzzed Joan. “Please make out a check to something called ‘The Best Woman.’”
    “For how much?”
    “A million