“Would you like me to tell you something about Ms. Kiesler that you don’t know?”

“Thank you, no. I’d prefer to hear it from her.”

“As you wish, but she may prefer to keep it from you.”

“As she wishes.”

“If your curiosity overwhelms you, call me.”

“Goodbye, Lance.”

“Goodbye, Stone.”

18

Hedy took her easel back into the mews and set it up, while Stone returned to his book. He had been reading for no more than ten minutes when a chime chimed. It took Stone a moment to remember what rang the chime, then it came to him: it rang when somebody opened the door in the big gates. By the time he got to his feet, somebody was ringing the doorbell.

He opened the door to find Rick LaRose, as predicted. “Hello, Stone,” Rick said, smiling and offering his hand.

“How did you get in?” Stone asked.

“I have a key,” Rick replied. “Have you forgotten from whom you bought this house?”

He had bought it from the Paris station, which had formerly used it as a safe house. “How are things at the Paris station?” he asked as he offered Rick a chair.

“Fairly calm at the moment. It’s one of those welcome periods where we’re not in the middle of a flap of some sort.”

“It sounds restful.”

“Boring, is more like it.”

“Lance said you are going to ask me to do something I won’t want to do.”

Rick looked a little embarrassed. “Well, yes. What’s more, it’s not something that I want to ask you to do.”

“As bad as that?”

Rick shrugged.

“Are you just trying to make things less boring for yourself?”

“Oh, sure, but there’s a real purpose in it, too. It’s something that could help us make things materially better in Europe.”

“Better for whom?”

“For Europeans.”

“Okay, spit it out.”

Rick was now looking sheepish. “We’d like you to let us leak your location to Leo Casselli.”

Stone winced. “I don’t think I could have heard you correctly, Rick.”

“I’m afraid you did.”

“Look, I’ve just fled Rome in order to get out of Casselli’s reach. How far do I have to go? London? Iceland? Home to New York?”

“It’s like this,” Rick said. “There’s a guy in Rome, Massimo Bertelli, who has just taken over the DIA, the Italian department that is trying to root out the Mafia.”

“I’ve heard the name,” Stone said.

Rick looked surprised. “Where did you hear of him?”

“From Dino Bacchetti.”

“Dino Bacchetti in New York?”

“Right now he’s upstairs taking a nap.”

“I didn’t see him on the arrivals list,” Rick said.

“Arrivals list?”

“Every day the embassy circulates a list of prominent Americans who are visiting France. Dino wasn’t on it.”

“It’s a private visit,” Stone said. “He’s just here for the weekend, with his wife.”