“So you arranged Jim’s death?”

Freeman turned to face him. “I most certainly did not! My, God, I loved the man!”

Stone shrugged. “I had to ask.”

“Does Felicity believe that Jim was Whitestone?”

“Pretty much,” Stone said.

“Are you under some ethical obligation to tell her the truth?”

“I’m no longer employed by her service,” Stone said. “She paid me off and fired me the day before yesterday.”

“I think it might be best for everyone if she continued to believe what she believes,” Freeman said.

Stone thought about that for a few minutes as they moved through the night at 400 miles an hour. Finally, he spoke. “I concur,” he said.

They flew along for another ten minutes without talking. Stone wondered if Freeman had fallen asleep, but then he stirred.

“Since we don’t know what’s waiting for us in New York,” Freeman said, “I think we have to get Felicity back to London, and quietly.”

Stone thought about it. “Once again, I concur. How are we going to get her home quietly?”

“Leave that to me,” Freeman said. “I think it would be best if you accompanied her.”

“I can do that,” Stone said.

“Have her ready to go tomorrow night. You’ll be picked up at nine at the Plaza. Someone will call your suite and ask if the package is ready for pickup. You reply, ‘Not until tomorrow at noon.’ He’ll give you instructions.”

Eighty miles out of Teterboro, Stone tuned in the ATIS and jotted down the information. He loaded the Instrument Landing System for runway 19, and as soon as he was handed off from Boston Center to New York Approach and got his first vector, he activated the approach. He got graduated instructions to descend to 3,000 feet and was cleared for the approach. His was the only airplane on the air at that time of night.

The Mustang’s autopilot flew the airplane down the ILS, and Stone made one of his better landings. Shortly, they were in a Mercedes headed for Manhattan and the Plaza.

57

Stone woke a little after nine and ordered breakfast sent to the suite’s living room, leaving Felicity to sleep. He showered, shaved and dressed, then went downstairs and got a taxi.

He was dropped off in the block behind his house and entered the Turtle Bay Gardens through the rear entrance, then walked to his own back door and let himself into the kitchen. Helene was surprised to see him. “I think Miss Joan has someone waiting to see you,” she said.

Stone grabbed a mug of coffee and went into his office. Joan buzzed him immediately. She always seemed to know when he was there. He pressed the button.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“There’s a Mr. Smith to see you,” she said.

“Send him in.” Stone wondered what Captain Scott Smith was doing in New York.

“I’m going to the bank,” Joan said. “Be back in a few minutes.”