“Goodbye, Joan.”
“You said that already.”
She hung up before he could.
Stone’s Bentley pulled up infront of P. J. Clarke’s at seven-thirty on the dot.
“Thank you, Fred,” Stone said, and climbed out of the back seat.
He had barely shut the door when Dino’s city-provided sedan stopped behind the Bentley.
Dino exited, then leaned down and said something to his driver before joining Stone.
“Shall we?” Dino said, motioning to the restaurant.
“We shall,” Stone said.
They were immediately shown to their table and had their drink orders taken.
“So why the change of dinnertime?” Stone asked.
“The mayor.”
“That’s your whole answer?”
“Isn’t it enough?”
“I suppose it is.”
“How are you? Josie help you get over Tamlyn yet?”
“Josie?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I heard from Ben that you showed her your mother’s paintings, and that the two of you seemed to really hit it off. Have you taken her to dinner yet?”
“If you must know, we had dinner last night.”
“So that’s when you closed the deal.”
“I’m pretty sure she would not appreciate it being called a deal. And besides, nothing was closed.”
“Is that code for something?”
“It’s not code for anything. All we had was a nice meal and excellent conversation.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Dino scrutinized Stone for a moment. “Why?”
Knowing Dino would eventually find out anyway, Stone told him about what he’d said to Josie and how they were going to take things slow.
Dino stared at him for a moment, then pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Stone asked.
“Nine-one-one. We need to get you to a hospital right away. You’re not well.”
