Stuart Woods: Insatiable Appetites

“We’re almost finished, and we’re back on the record. Do you know who Eduardo has appointed as his executor?”

“He told me long ago that I would be his executor, and that the fact was in his will, and he has never said anything to indicate that he changed his mind.”

Stone removed a document from his briefcase and handed it to Mary Ann. “This is a representation agreement between Eduardo’s executor and Woodman & Weld. Please take your time and read it, particularly with regard to our fees, and if you agree, sign both copies.” He handed the papers to her. “If we should subsequently learn that Eduardo appointed a different executor, we must have that person execute the document.”

Mary Ann read the entire agreement, then signed it, and returned it to Stone.

“Thank you,” Stone said. He signed the documents and returned one to Mary Ann.

There was a sharp rap on the study door.

“Come!” Mary Ann said.

Pietro entered the room, looking agitated. “Anna Maria,” he said, “your father is awake.”

Mary Ann hurried around the desk. “Come with me,” she said, and Stone and Herbie followed her down the hall and up the stairs. The stairway and the upstairs hall were lined with pictures, which Stone wanted more time to look at, but not now.

At the end of the upstairs hallway, double doors opened to a bedroom that could only be described as baronial in size and decor. Eduardo lay in an electric bed that had been raised enough for them to see his face. He was surrounded by beeping, flashing medical equipment, and a doctor, a nurse, and a priest were at his bedside. Eduardo seemed alert and was smiling.

The priest, whom Stone recognized as the cardinal of New York, said, to nobody in particular, “It’s a miracle of God.”

An elderly woman sitting in a chair on the other side of the room burst into tears.

Stone approached the foot of the bed. “Good morning, Eduardo,” he said. “It’s good to see you looking well.”

Eduardo struggled a little to speak but finally said, “I am not well. I will die soon.”

“That is in God’s hands,” the cardinal said.

“You may think so,” Eduardo replied. He motioned to Stone to approach, and the others stood back a little to allow him near the old man. He raised a hand and beckoned Stone closer. “Everything is in order,” he whispered. “It’s all in my safe.”

Stone wanted to ask him the combination but thought better of it.

“Papa!” Mary Ann said. “Speak to me, tell me what you want.”

“You must ask Stone,” Eduardo said, then he closed his eyes and his head fell to one side. Next to the bed, a machine that had been beeping now emitted a steady electronic tone, and wavy lines indicating heartbeat and respiration flattened.

“Save him!” Mary Ann said to the doctor.

“Your father signed a do-not-resuscitate order last year,” the man said. “There is nothing more I can do for him.”

Mary Ann burst into tears, and the nurse led her to a chair.

Stone left the bedside to those attending Eduardo’s remains. He took Pietro, who was weeping quietly, aside. “I’m sorry for your loss, Pietro,” he said. “Now you must give me all the keys to Eduardo’s study.”

Pietro beckoned for Stone to follow and led him into a large dressing room, which could have accommodated the stock of a small men’s clothing store. Suits, jackets, trousers, and shirts filled it, in neat rows. Pietro went to the top drawer of a built-in dresser, opened it, and handed Stone a bunch of keys on a ring, then he removed a similar ring from his own pocket and handed those over, too. “That is all the keys to the house,” he said. “I will need to lock up tonight.”

“Thank you, Pietro,” Stone said, and pocketed the keys.

Stone went back into the bedroom, approached Mary Ann, who had stopped weeping and was simply staring into the middle distance. “He was a wonderful man,” Stone said. “I’ll miss him.”

He went to the doctor and said quietly, “I am the attorney for the estate. Please give Ms. Bianchi the death certificate.”

He turned toward Mary Ann. “Please excuse us.” He beckoned to Herbie to follow and left the room.

Stone got out his iPhone and took photographs of the pictures in the hallway, then he went from room to room, peeking in and photographing still more art. Finally, he led Herbie downstairs to the study and closed the doors behind him.

Herbie sank into a chair. “That was dramatic,” he said. “What did Eduardo say to you?”

“He said, ‘Everything is in order. It’s all in my safe.’”

Stone walked to the bookcase Mary Ann had indicated and found a concealed latch that opened it. A double-doored safe, perhaps five feet wide and eight feet tall, occupied the space behind it.

“You want me to get us a safecracker?” Herbie asked.

Stone thought about that and remembered something. He went to the safe, spun the dial, then started turning it back and forth.

“So you’re a safecracker now?” Herbie asked.

Stone tried the safe’s wheel, but it did not budge. He spun the dial again, and tried it again, this time turning the dial in the opposite direction. He took hold of the wheel and turned it. “Voilà,” he said.

“How the hell did you do that?” Herbie asked.

“Eduardo sent me a note with the combination included. He just neglected to say in which direction to start.” He closed the door and relocked it, then closed the bookcase.

“Don’t you want to see what’s inside?”

“Not yet,” Stone replied, returning to the desk. “I’d rather do it when Mary Ann isn’t around.” He sat down and looked through the items she had been removing from the drawers when he had arrived. There was a checkbook showing a balance of more than $150,000, a desk diary and an address book, a gold pocket watch, a gold cigarette case, and a gold Dunhill lighter.

“I didn’t realize Eduardo smoked,” Herbie said.

“I think he must have quit a long time ago,” Stone replied, “but he didn’t throw away these elegant accoutrements. I want you to call the office and ask Bill Eggers’s assistant to recommend someone to come in and catalog everything in the house. Have them start first thing tomorrow morning.”

Herbie got out his phone and made the call.

The door opened and Mary Ann entered. “I’ve spoken to the cardinal. There will be a high mass said at St. Patrick’s Cathedral a week from today at two PM,” she said. “I have other arrangements to make, so I will return to my office in the city and make them there. Please begin your work here.”

“Mary Ann,” Stone said, “I’m getting everyone together for dinner at my house tonight at seven. We’d be delighted if you would join us.”

“I’m not sure Dino and his wife would enjoy that, but I’ll come if I can. May we leave it that way?”

“Of course. It will be very casual.”

She nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

Herbie closed his phone. “Eggers’s guy is on it. He’ll have a team here tomorrow. Shall we take a look in the safe?”

“Give Mary Ann a few minutes to clear the house,” Stone said, “then we’ll open it.”

They heard a car door slam and the sound of the vehicle driving away. Stone went to the bookcase, released the catch, and opened it. He entered the combination, spun the wheel, and opened both doors of the safe.

“Very neat,” he said. There were shelves and drawers filled with files and a case containing a watch winder behind a glass door. The watches were slowly rotating. On a shelf at waist height was a row of red envelopes, perhaps a dozen of them. “Get a legal pad and let’s start making a list of the contents,” he said to Herbie, who complied.