“We’re in Florida, remember? Actually, I don’t, but I encourage some of my female officers to.”

“Which female officers?”

“The ones who look good in shorts. It encourages tourism.”

Their drinks arrived, and they sipped them appreciatively.

“Now that’s a vodka gimlet,” Holly said. “You can tell if it’s right by the color. It should have a pretty, green tinge.”

“And it does.”

“Stone, I need your advice about something.”

“Shoot.”

“This is legal advice and must remain confidential.”

“Shoot.”

“I have five million seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars I don’t know what to do with.”

“Buy a jet airplane.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You want me to introduce you to my broker?”

“No.”

“What do you want to do with the money?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea.”

“You could give it to your favorite charity.”

“That would involve a paper trail.”

“Uh-oh,” he said.

“What’s the matter?”

“This is illegal, isn’t it?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you about.”

“Okay, where’d you get the money?”

“Well, last year I was investigating this thing where the proceeds of various crimes were being put into a vault back home. I was watching some of these guys unloading a van filled with suitcases and boxes. And, wanting to know what was in them, I snatched one of them, a large briefcase, which turned out to be filled with five million seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars.”

“And where is the money now?”

“In a tree.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I climbed a tree and wedged the briefcase into the branches.”

“This is in Florida?”

“Yes.”

“They have hurricanes in Florida. What if there’s a hurricane?”

“Then there will be hundred-dollar bills all over Indian River County, and my problem will be solved.”

“All right, let’s go to basics: This is illegal; you’ve committed a crime.”

“I figured.”

“Why did you do this?”

“Well, I took the briefcase to find out if they were transporting cash, so I could hardly hand it back to them. I hid it, and I didn’t even think about it until a couple of weeks after we had arrested the whole bunch.”

“Why didn’t you give it back then?”

“Give it back to whom? The criminals? They were all in jail.”

“Did you tell anybody about this?”

“Yes. I told Grant Harrison, my FBI friend. Well, former friend. This was before he became such a bureaucratic ass.”

“And he didn’t arrest you?”

“I told you, we were, ah, friendly at the time.”

“How friendly?”

“Very friendly.”

“And he didn’t do anything about this?”

“About the money? No.”

“Well, that makes him an accessory.”

“Funny, that’s what I told him the last time he mentioned it to me.”

“What did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything. In fact, he stopped talking altogether for quite a while.”