Stuart Woods - Cold Paradise

“I have to call Thad and tell him,” Liz said, running for the phone in the saloon.

Stone sat down beside Dino.

“Is this all over, Stone?”

“I hope so,” Stone replied.

“But you’re not sure?”

“It’s not going to be over until it’s over.” He thought about that for a moment. “And maybe not even then.”

“What’s the problem?”

“The problem is Manning. He’s still just as angry and, apparently, as nuts as he was the day you arrested him in New York. He’s got a good lawyer-Ed Ginsky-but I don’t know if Ed can control him.”

“I know who Ginsky is,” Dino said. “He’s had a lot of experience dealing with angry spouses.”

“I wonder how much experience he’s had in dealing with crazy ones?”

“Everybody who’s getting a divorce is crazy for a while,” Dino said.

Stone picked up the phone. “I’d better call Bill Eggers and find Liz a local lawyer.”

Liz came running back from the saloon. “Thad’s coming back tonight!” She ran toward her cabin.

Stone placed the call to Eggers and told him what he wanted.

“I don’t know the Florida law offhand,” Eggers said, “but it sounds pretty straightforward.”

“That’s what I think. You know somebody in Palm Beach?”

“No, but somebody here in the shop will. I’ll have somebody call you.”

“Okay.”

“How’s everything going?”

Stone gave him a recap of recent events.

“This is kind of messy, isn’t it?”

“As divorces go, yes; but we might conclude a nasty case as well.”

Thad Shames came aboard his yacht late in the afternoon in high spirits. He swept Liz into his arms, kissed her, then shook hands with Stone and Dino, then he turned back to Liz. “Right here, in front of these witnesses, I want to ask you: Will you marry me?”

“Oh, yes!” she cried, and they kissed again.

Dino glanced at Stone and rolled his eyes.

“Isn’t this romantic?” Callie asked Stone.

“Oh, yeah,” Stone replied.

“Let’s do it this weekend,” Thad said enthusiastically.

“I’d love that!” Liz said, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks.

Stone and Dino exchanged glances. Stone was horrified, Dino amused.

Liz went to repair her makeup, and Stone made Thad sit down with him and Dino.

“Thad,” Stone said seriously, “don’t you think you ought to wait until Liz is divorced before you get married?”

“Oh, that’s just paperwork,” Thad said. “You’ve already got the signed property settlement and divorce papers, and anyway, legally, she’s a widow-twice, in fact. Both deaths are a matter of public record.”

“Thad, rushing into this could make your life a lot more complicated. Why do that? I haven’t looked into the Florida law, but with signed papers and a settlement, it shouldn’t take long to get a decree. Relax and enjoy being engaged for a while.”

“Listen, Stone,” Thad said. “I’ve waited a long time for this girl, and I’m not going to let her get away. I’m not going to relax until we’re married and on our honeymoon.”

Callie came with drinks for all of them.

“Callie, we’re having a Sunday afternoon wedding,” Thad said. “Invite everybody who was at the housewarming, plus the New York list. Call the caterers and find out how I get a marriage license and, if necessary, a blood test.”

Callie grabbed a pad and started taking notes.

“And, Stone, Dino, I want you both to stay for the wedding,” Thad said.

Stone looked at Dino, and they nodded.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Dino said.

“And, Thad,” Stone said, “we’re going to need some outside security for this occasion.”

“Callie, take care of it,” Thad said. He got up. “I’m going to get a shower and change for dinner. Please book us a table somewhere, Callie.” He departed for the house.

Callie sat down next to Stone. “How much security are you going to want?”

“Let’s see,” Stone said, looking toward the house. “We’ll want two men, dressed like the car parkers, out in front of the house. There should be two men in each public room in the house, dressed as guests, four in the garden and two on the yacht. How many is that?”

“Eighteen.”

“Ask for twenty-four, and I want them to have radios.”

“Do you want them armed?”

Stone thought about that.

Dino spoke up. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea, having that many armed men in a crowd. After all, we don’t know these guys, don’t know how good they are.”

“We’ll have one armed man in each room, in the garden and on the yacht,” Stone said. “Tell them we want only their best-trained and most experienced men carrying.”

“All right,” Callie said.

“And I want them here an hour before the party, so I can brief them.”

“Okay.” She made a note of that.

“Anything else you can think of?” Stone asked Dino.

“Well, let’s see,” Dino said, “we could have a couple of machine guns mounted on the roof, and maybe a bazooka or two.”

Callie laughed.

“Why do you think he’s kidding?” Stone asked.

She laughed again. “I’d better go book us a dinner table,” Callie said, “and I’ve got a lot of phone calls to make.” She headed toward her cabin.

“Thad is completely nuts, isn’t he?” Dino asked.

“He’s nuts about Liz, no doubt about it.”

“I’ve never seen anybody move so fast.”

“It’s the money. The superrich are accustomed to having what they want, when they want it, and that usually means right now.”

“It’s a pretty short time to put together a big wedding.”

“Frankly, I’m surprised we’re not doing it tonight. But don’t worry, this is what Callie does, and she’s used to doing it Thad’s way.”

“Sounds like it’s going to be a hell of a party,” Dino said.

“Or a hell of a mess,” Stone said.

They had dinner at an Italian restaurant, Lucda, on a covered terrace, and Stone was gratified that gunfire did not break out. He did not enjoy himself very much, though. He was preoccupied with Paul Manning, and he didn’t even understand why.

Everything Manning was doing made sense. He was making money, he was removing the possibility of prosecution for insurance fraud, he was getting on with his life. So why was Stone so worried?

When he got back to the yacht that night, he started to crawl into bed with Callie, then stopped and went to the phone.

“This is Berman,” the voice said.

“Bob, it’s Stone. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nah, what’s up?”

“Got a pencil?”

“Shoot.”

“I want everything you can find-and I mean everything -on a William Charles Danforth.” He read him the P Street Washington address. “I want a full bio, and I want to know how far his credit history goes back. Do a criminal record check, too, and I want a photograph. I especially want a photograph.”

“Will do. How soon?”

“Tomorrow, as early as possible.”

“I’ll call you.” Berman hung up.

Stone got into bed and snuggled up to Callie. Now that he felt he was doing something, he could pay her the proper attention.

Dino finished his coffee. “How are we dressing for this shindig on Sunday?” he asked.

“Black tie," Callie replied.

“In the afternoon?”

“The wedding’s at six, with a small group of invited guests. Everybody else arrives at seven.”

“Oh, good, for a minute I thought we were going to be gauche and wear black tie in the afternoon.”

Callie laughed. “You gauche, Dino? Never!”

Dino gave her a sweet smile. “Stone, I gotta go shopping. You come with me.”