“I’m known as Dino, off duty,” Dino said.

“And I’m known as Eliza, off duty.”

“What would you like to drink?” Stone asked.

“I think a very dry martini with two olives,” she replied.

Stone waved at a waiter and ordered.

“So this is Elaine’s?” Eliza said.

“It is indeed. Unpretentious, isn’t it?”

“Cozy. I like it.”

“The food is a lot better than it gets credit for. Restaurant critics don’t like it because they can’t get a good table, not being regulars.”

Eliza noticed the cane hanging on the spare chair. “Are you using that?”

“Yes, the painkiller is wearing off, but I have another twenty-five minutes before I can take another pill.”

The martini was placed before her, and she sipped. “You can’t take another pill.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re drinking,” she said, pointing at the nearly empty glass of bourbon. “Those pills don’t mix with alcohol. You might run amok.”

“I never run amok.”

“Have you ever taken those pills with alcohol?”

“No.”

“If you do, it will be your first experience with running amok, and Lieutenant Bacchetti will have to arrest you.”

“But I’ll be in pain.”

“My prescription is, have another of whatever you’re drinking, and I predict you’ll feel very little pain.”

“And that woman is a doctor,” he said to Dino. He waved at a waiter for a refill, then he glanced toward the front of the restaurant and saw Elaine walk in, right on time. But he was distracted by a face in the front window.

“Excuse me a moment,” Stone said, grabbing his cane and hobbling toward the door. He let two other people enter, then went outside. A couple of smokers were standing on the sidewalk, to his left, shivering and nursing their drug addiction; Stone turned to his right and saw Devlin Daltry standing there, smiling insolently at him.

32

Daltry turned to face him, stepping away from the window. “Oh, I see you’re using a cane these days,” he said, still smiling. “When I finish with you, you’ll be in a wheelchair.”

Stone glanced to his right, through the restaurant window and into the bar. A man was standing there, staring at them, a camera in his hands.

Stone flashed his badge. “You’re under arrest for making terroristic threats,” he said. “Don’t move.” He flipped open his cell phone and punched the speed-dial number for Dino.

“Bacchetti.”

“I’ve just arrested Devlin Daltry for making terroristic threats. Come out here and take him off my hands, will you?”

“Sure thing.”

Stone snapped the cell phone shut. “You thought I would hit you and your buddy in there would get a picture, right?”

Daltry looked around him.

“If you run, you’ll add fleeing arrest to the charges.”