“As any gentleman would. I followed them into a hallway where two men were waiting to jump me. I don’t remember much after that.”
“Did you get a look at them?” Dino asked.
“I direct you to my comment about not remembering much. But I do remember what the women looked like.”
“I bet you do.”
“I can give you descriptions of the men,” Fred said.
“You saw them?”
“I was waiting by the car when the women ran out from an emergency exit. That’s when I went inside and found the men looking at Mr. Barrington’s phone.”
“My phone?” Stone said. He looked around but didn’t see it. “Did they take it?”
“No, sir. They dropped it when they ran off. I thought it best to leave it at the crime scene for the police since it might have prints.”
“Why would they want to look at your phone?” Dino asked.
“No idea,” Stone said.
“Give me a sec,” Dino said.
He pulled out his cell and disappeared through the curtain. When he returned a few minutes later, he said, “The phone’s been dusted, but they only found one set of prints.”
“Mine, I suppose,” Stone said.
“Yours. Do you know if the muggers were able to unlock the phone?”
“Again, I refer you—”
“Yeah, yeah. You don’t recall anything. The question was for Fred, not you.”
“I see.”
“No, you didn’t see anything. That’s the problem. Fred?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Fred said, “but it did appear theyhadopened it and were reading something on the screen.”
“Someone’s bringing the phone here, so we can take a look at it,” Dino said. “Maybe you can figure out what they were looking at.”
“How would Fred be able to figure that out?” Stone asked. “It’s my phone.”
“Thatcomment was directed at you.”
“And how was I supposed to know that?”
“Because, and I quote, ‘How would Fred be able to figure that out?’ ”
“I suppose I can let that slide.”
“Thank you for your generosity. Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to do this to you? An unhappy client, perhaps? And before you say anything, those questions are for you.”
“All my clients are very happy, thank you.”
“What about people upset by something you didfora client?”
Stone considered it. “Nothing recent comes to mind.”
