“Okay, don’t tell me,” he said to Carpenter. “You want a drink and some dinner?”
“Yes, please. I’ll start with one of those bourbon whiskies.”
Stone flagged down a waiter. “Bring her what I’m having,” he said.
“And what are you having?” Carpenter asked.
“Unborn calf,” Stone replied. “With a very nice sauce.”
“Sounds yummy,” she replied. “Okay, Dino and I were in the same meeting.”
“About what?” Stone asked, puzzled.
“If we told you, we’d have to kill you,” Dino said.
Elaine roared with laughter, then she got up and hopped to another table.
“You know,” Carpenter said, “your Herbie Fisher character wasn’t entirely useless.”
“That’s right,” Dino said, flipping idly through the Post.
“You mean, because of the picture he took?”
“Can you think of any other way he wasn’t entirely useless?” Dino asked.
“Now that you mention it, no.” He turned to Carpenter. “You said it was the only one in existence. What did you mean by that?”
“I meant it’s the only one in existence.”
“Thank you for the clarification. Why is it the only one in existence?”
“Because she has scrupulously avoided ever being photographed.”
“In her entire life?”
“Since she was about twelve, in school.”
“Why?”
“Because she doesn’t want anybody to know what she looks like.”
“All right,” Stone said. “Who is she?”
“She’s a woman who goes around assassinating people,” Carpenter said. “And the luckiest thing in your life is that she doesn’t know you’re responsible for the only photograph ever taken of her.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Dino said, handing Carpenter the Post and tapping an item on Page Six.
Carpenter read aloud. “ ‘Rumor has it that the strange death of Lawrence Fortescue (Mr. Elena Marks), caused by a peeper photographer who fell through a skylight while taking candid snaps of Mr. M. and a certain young lady doing disgusting things to each other, was organized by a fairly sleazy Gotham “lawyer,” with a very “hard” name, who hired the falling photog. Any guesses? We’ll bet he’s supping tonight at Elaine’s.” ’
Carpenter put the paper down. “Oh, shit,” she said.
“Oh, yeah,” Dino agreed.
14
Stone looked at Dino and Carpenter narrowly. “I hope this is some kind of joke.”
“I’m afraid not,” Carpenter said seriously. “My people are very interested in finding her, and they asked me to liaise with the NYPD. That’s why Dino and I were in the same meeting. Since we were already acquainted, I picked him to liaise with.”