“A few, actually.”
“Perfect. Tamlyn has a few things she needs to take care of in London, and I was thinking she could catch a ride over with you.”
“She would be most welcome. We will be leaving Teterboro at ten a.m., so she should be there by nine-thirty.”
“I’ll let her know.”
Stone wished her safe travels, then went downstairs to his office suite.
Joan looked up from her desk as he entered, and her smile quickly morphed into a wince. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing. Why do you ask?”
She pointed at the same spot on her chin where the bruise was on Stone’s.
“My face had an unfortunate collision with a fist. Twice, I believe.”
“Come here,” she said as she opened one of her desk drawers and rummaged through it. “Here it is.” She held up a glass tube of makeup, which he recognized as concealer, one that perfectly matched his skin tone. She had purchased it for a previous incident.
Stone frowned and tried to wave her away. “I don’t need that.”
“We can’t have you going out of the office looking like you were in a bar fight. Unless it was a bar fight.”
“It was not a bar fight. And what do you mean going out of the office? Have I forgotten something?”
“Fred will be out front to take you to Teterboro in”—she looked at her watch—“ten minutes. You’re flying to Martha’s Vineyard with Mike Freeman this morning, remember?”
“Iwasinvolved in an incident last night.”
“Your not-a-bar fight. You mentioned that already. Now come. This will only take a minute.”
Once she had covered his bruise, he started toward the door of his office.
“Where are you going?”
He stopped. “To get a few things together for the trip.”
“You forgot about something else, didn’t you?”
He thought for a moment. “Not to my knowledge.”
“Ashton Williamson?”
“Is that a new client?”
She sighed, then rose from her desk and looked down the hall. In a raised voice, she called, “Ash, can you come here for a moment?”
“Ash?” Stone said.
“It’s what he likes to be called.”
A young man exited one of the smaller offices, in the middle of pulling on his suit jacket. He jerked in surprise when he realized Joan and Stone were watching him, then plastered on a smile and hurried over.
“Mr. Barrington,” he said, holding out his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you. I recognize you from your pictures. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Stone glanced at Joan as he shook Ash’s hand. “Working with me?”
“Ash is your new associate. Bill Eggers sent us an email about it.”
