Part 25 (1/2)
”Oh.”
”Let me ask you something, Stone: If you all of a sudden found out for sure that she did it, would you try to get her off, anyway?”
”That's my job.”
”You're not her lawyer; Blumberg is.”
Stone looked into his drink. ”It's still my job.”
”Oh,” Dino said, ”it's like that.”
”Well!” Mary Ann interjected. ”Isn't it nice to all be together again, and right here at home!”
”Don't try to cheer him up,” Dino said to his wife. ”It won't work.”
Michael, the headwaiter, brought menus, and they studied them silently for a minute, then ordered. Stone ordered another drink, too.
”Two before dinner,” Dino said.
”He's ent.i.tled,” Mary Ann pointed out.
They chatted in a desultory manner until dinner arrived, then ate, mostly in silence.
”Mary Ann,” Stone said, when the dishes had been taken away, ”your father came to see me this afternoon.”
”He did?” she asked, surprised. ”Where?”
”At my house.”
”That's interesting,” she said. ”He doesn't do much calling on people. What did he want?”
”To know my intentions toward Arrington and Dolce.”
”Is that all? What did you tell him?”
”That I don't know what my intentions are toward Arrington, but that Dolce and I are not getting married.”
”That wasn't what he wanted to hear, I'm sure.”
”I know, but I had to be honest with him.”
”That's always the best policy with Papa.”
”When he left, he said something that scared me a little.”
Dino spoke up. ”That's what he does best.”
”What did he say?” Mary Ann asked.
”He said Dolce is ill, and that she might be dangerous.”
”Oh,” Mary Ann said quietly.
”What did he mean by that?”
Mary Ann didn't seem to be able to look at him.
”I think Stone needs to know, honey,” Dino said. ”Answer his question.”
Mary Ann sighed. ”When Dolce doesn't get what she wants, she . . . reacts badly.”
”Now, there's there's news,” Dino snorted. news,” Dino snorted.
”Exactly how how does she react badly?” Stone asked. does she react badly?” Stone asked.
”She, ah, breaks things,” Mary Ann said slowly. ”People, too.”
”Go on.”
”When she was, I guess, six, Papa gave her a puppy. She tried to train it, but it wouldn't do what she told it to. It was like she expected it to understand complete sentences, you know? Well, she . . . I don't want to say what she did.”
”She broke the puppy?” Dino asked.
”Sort of,” Mary Ann replied. Her face made it clear she wasn't going to say any more.
”I think she's been stalking me,” Stone said.
”What?” Mary Ann said. Mary Ann said.
”She's shown up in a couple of places where I was. Unexpectedly, you might say. She registered at the Bel-Air as Mrs. Stone Barrington. She was on my flight home last night.”
”Oh, s.h.i.+t,” Dino breathed.
”I thought about trying to talk to her again, but I don't even want to be in the same room with her.”
”That's a good policy,” Dino said.
”I don't know what to do,” Stone admitted.
”I'd watch my back, if I were you,” Dino said. ”Remember what happened to the husband . . .”
”Oh, shut up, Dino,” Mary Ann spat. ”She's my sister; don't talk that way about her.”
”I'm sorry, hon, but Stone's in a jam, here, and we've got to help him figure this out.”
”Well, you're not helping by . . . what you're saying.”