STONE DROPPED BY THE KLEMM REAL Estate Office in Washington Depot, which was the business district, a mile from Washington Green, and picked up the keys to his new house.
Carolyn Klemm greeted him with enthusiasm and presented him with a cold bottle of good champagne and a list of tradesmen, repairmen, gardeners, and other necessary help for any homeowner.
He stopped at the Washington Market and picked up some groceries for the weekend, then at the local liquor shop, where he bought a mixed case of wines, half a dozen bottles of spirits, and some mixers. Finally, very excited, he drove up the hill, turned left at the church, and, a couple of hundred yards later, rolled past the fringe of evergreen trees and into his own driveway. It was the first house he had ever bought.
He got out of the car, unlocked the front door, and walked inside. The place was cavernously empty and spotlessly clean. He unloaded his groceries and booze, put the perishables and white wines into the fridge, then carried his suitcases upstairs and unpacked, placing his things in the smaller of the two master closets, both of which contained drawers and shelves.
He walked back downstairs to find the UPS deliveryman on his doorstep, and the man trundled half a dozen large boxes into the kitchen, got a signature, and left. Stone began unpacking the dishes, pots and pans, and other housewares he and Sarah had bought, but before he got very far, the ABC Furniture van arrived, and most of the next hour was spent distributing furniture around the house. When the deliverymen had left, he went back to work in the kitchen, and in another hour he had it organized.
He was upstairs putting the new sheets on his new bed when the phone man arrived. Stone put him to work, then went back to his own tasks. He had just finished putting the bedroom and bath in order when the phone man pronounced himself finished. Stone tried the various extensions around the house, heard a dial tone at each, thanked the man, and signed off on the installation. He did some straightening of the new furniture, lamented the lack of pictures and other ornaments in the place, then treated himself to a beer. He had just sat down when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“It’s Dino; I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“The phone just got turned on; what’s up?”
“You said you spoke to Arlene Mitteldorfer’s divorce lawyer earlier today?”
“That’s right.”
“Was his name Bruce Goldsmith?”
“Yes, and what do you mean, ‘was’?”
“He got popped at lunchtime, less than an hour after you and I spoke.”
“How did it happen?”
“He was leaving his office for a trip to San Francisco. He got into his car, a black Town Car pulled alongside, and somebody put one round into his head at point-blank range. No noise, probably a silencer. Got the backseat of a nice, new BMW all messy.”
“Jesus; I warned him to get out of town; I guess he didn’t go fast enough.”
“I guess not.”
“Don’t tell anybody where I am, okay, Dino?”
“Who else knows?”
“Just a girl, who’s coming up tomorrow, Bill Eggers, and Vance Calder and Arrington.”
“They’re in town?”
“No, they’re up here; Vance has a house less than five miles from mine. I’m having dinner with them tomorrow night.”
Dino gave a long chuckle. “She can’t stay away from you, can she?”
“Nothing like that; Vance wants us all to be friends. Come to think of it, she said something to that effect in the last conversation I had with her, last year.”
“You’re a braver man than I am, Stone, going to their house all by yourself.”
“I’m not going by myself; I’ll be well armed with a beautiful woman.”
“Anybody I know?”
“Nah; a new lady.” He half expected Dino to call him on the lie.
“This is all too civilized for me,” Dino said.
“What are you doing about Palmer’s opening on tomorrow night?”
“Maximum effort; the department finally believes me about this business.”
“It’s about time. Have you put out an APB on Mitteldorfer?”
“I’m not at that point, yet; we don’t really have any hard evidence on him, nothing to tie him to these crimes but our suppositions and a lot of bodies.”
“I think you ought to get his most recent prison photograph into the Sunday papers, along with the artist’s drawing of the hit man. You can say that Mitteldorfer may be in danger, and you want to talk with him. At least, that’ll get his face out there, and you might get a tip from a citizen.”
“Good idea; I don’t think I’ll ask the brass; I know a guy at the Times. How’s the house?”
“The stuff Sarah and I bought all arrived, and I’ve spent the afternoon making it habitable. Still needs a lot of pictures and lamps and other things.”
“Have a good weekend; when you coming back?”
“I don’t know; I may not come back at all; at least, not until Mitteldorfer has popped you, and I have to look for him, myself.”
“Don’t hold your breath, kid; he’s not going to get a crack at Dino. The department has lent me a special car, not unlike your own.”
“A Mercedes?”
“No, just a Crown Victoria that could take a hit from a tank. They’ve been using it to transport VIPs to and from the UN.”
“That’s good news.”
“You bet it is. I gotta go.”
“Keep me posted.”
Dino hung up, and so did Stone. Immediately, the phone rang again.
“Hello?”
“Stone? It’s Carolyn Klemm; how are you coming with the house?”
“It’s in pretty good shape for the first day, I think.”
“My husband, David, and I are going to grab a bite at our local joint, the George Washington Tavern; why don’t you join us? It’s real casual, and a lot of the weekend crowd will be there.”
“Thanks, I think I’d like that,” Stone replied.
“Want us to pick you up?”
“Just give me directions; I’ll meet you.”
“Go back down the hill to the Depot, cross the river, then a right at the intersection, and you’ll see it on your right. About seven?”
“See you there.” Stone hung up, relieved not to have to spend his first evening in Connecticut alone.
Pity about Bruce Goldsmith, he thought. But not much of a Pity.