He called his service manager and instructed him to clean the car, and especially the upholstery. He wanted it to have that new-car smell when Hugh Gordon got into it.

He had to find a way to get Barbara happy again. He enjoyed being wealthy, and divorce would not be a good idea. He had seen the effect that rejection had on Barbara, and he did not wish to replace Ed Eagle as the object of her enmity.

—

STONE ACCEPTED AN invitation to lunch with Bill Eggers, the managing partner of his law firm, Woodman & Weld. They met at the Four Seasons, where Eggers had a regular table.

Eggers ordered his usual martini, and Stone had mineral water. He had found that it was important to have a clear head during these seemingly informal lunches with Bill.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get to see more of you at the convention, Bill,” Stone said. “It got rather busy.”

“That’s quite all right, Stone. All the insiders I know are giving you credit for swinging the nomination to Kate Lee.”

“That’s an exaggeration,” Stone said.

“Still, it makes you an important FOK.”

“A what?”

“Friend of Kate.”

“Ah, yes.”

“If she gets elected, of course. But right now, it looks like her election to lose. Have you seen her commercials?”

“Just one, on Morning Joe, earlier today.”

“I think they’re brilliant. Henry Carson, assuming he gets the Republican nomination, is going to look like the usual Republican stuffed shirt when compared to her. Hank makes Mitt Romney look like a hippie.”

Stone laughed.

“And it doesn’t hurt that half the men in America could imagine themselves in bed with Kate.”

“Well, half the men you’re acquainted with, Bill.”

“Stone, as you know, we’re thought of as a Democratic law firm, and we’ve been very close to Will Lee’s administration.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I’d like us to be much closer to Kate’s administration,” Eggers said. “That’s why I gave her super PAC a million dollars a while back. I assume that’s why you did, too.”

“No, that’s not why. I just think she’d make a terrific president.”

“That, too,” Eggers said, smiling slightly. “Here’s my advice, Stone—turn a section of your iPhone into a Rolodex of people close to Kate. It will become useful next year.”

Stone couldn’t disagree.

“And now that the convention is over, perhaps you could turn your attention to making some rain?”

“I’m always on the alert for new business, Bill. But remember, I have to go to Paris this fall for the opening of L’Arrington there.”

Eggers groaned.

“What, isn’t Marcel duBois a good enough client?”

“Well, now that you mention it, yes. Find me two or three more like him while you’re over there.”

“Bill, there aren’t two or three more like Marcel.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, Bill, I do.”

Chapter 51