She appeared speechless for a moment, then recovered. “Please give me a moment.” She walked to the edge of the terrace and made a phone call. Her back was to them, but she seemed to be speaking vociferously. She turned and covered her phone. “Twenty-one million,” she said.

Stone shook his head and began to stand up. She turned back to the phone, then ended the call. “Done,” she said to the men. “They’ve already begun work on the closing documents.”

“They should be sent to Mr. Herbert Fisher at my firm for review,” Stone said. “May we meet in his office at, say, eleven AM?”

“Of course,” she said. “Mr. Hayward, I hope you will be very happy here.”

“I’m sure I shall be,” Laurence replied. “Would you mind if we stayed on for a while so that I may review the furnishings?”

“Not at all. This is your home now, pending closing, of course.”

“Oh,” Stone said, “please tell your people that the apartments will be purchased separately, and the buyer will be the LBH Corporation, of Palm Beach, Florida. A condition of the sales is that no one who does not need to know Mr. Hayward’s name will know it, and any requests from anyone for his name will be declined. We expect absolute confidentiality.”

“I understand completely.”

“Very good,” Laurence said. “Although I have not had time to assess all the furnishings, would you do me the favor of calling the owner of the wood furniture and ask them to remove it all tomorrow morning? I shall be replacing those pieces with antiques.”

“As you wish.”

“Have a wonderful day, Ms. Gotham.”

“I already have,” she said, and left.

They spent more time there, while Laurence made a list of the pieces of furniture he was replacing.

“You play piano?” Stone asked.

“Since childhood,” Laurence replied. “At Oxford I began playing with a jazz trio. We played weddings, bar mitzvahs, college parties—wherever the work took us—and I enjoyed it.”

Fred was waiting for them on the street. “Where are you headed?” Stone asked.

“To the Park Avenue Armory,” Laurence replied. “I can get a cab.”

“Nonsense. Take the car and Fred. It’s a nice day, and I could use a little exercise.”

“Thank you, Stone.” Laurence got into the car and gave Fred the address, then he made a call.

“Theresa Crane.”

“It’s Laurence. I’ve bought an apartment.”

“Congratulations!”

“Would you please have all my things delivered to apartment 15 at the Fairleigh on Park Avenue after one o’clock tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“And may I ask a personal favor?”

“You may.”

“Would you unpack the clothes and put them away in the master dressing room upstairs? I’ll be shopping for furniture and art.”

“I’d be happy to.”

“The concierge will give you the key. One other thing—dinner tomorrow night?”

She paused for a moment. “Yes,” she said, finally.

6