“Then it’s unlikely that you’ll ever see that again. I’d suggest keeping your checkbook in your safe.”

“Good advice, Dino, and thank you again.” They hung up, and Laurence buzzed Marge.

“Yes, Laurence?”

“Do we have a safe?”

“No.”

“Please order one for your office—no, better make it two, I’d like one in my dressing room, as well.”

“Right away.”

Laurence hung up and dismissed the incident from his mind. After all, he could afford the loss.

18

LAURENCE AND THERESA took the elevator down to the garage. “I’ve something to show you,” he said, taking her hand and walking her around a corner. “You like it?”

Theresa put a hand on the Porsche and walked around it.

“The dealer delivered it this afternoon.”

“It’s gorgeous,” she said.

Oliver was waiting beside the Bentley.

“Theresa, something popped into my mind after the police left. Your brother, Butch, was in the apartment that day when you put away my clothes.”

“That’s right, he was.”

“Would he have had access to a key to the place?”

Theresa thought about it. “No, someone from the front desk walked us upstairs and let us in. Neither of us had a key. The door locked itself when we left. I hope you don’t suspect Butch of anything.”

“Oh, no, I was just trying to think of who else might have a key.”

“And my key was in my purse the whole time we were in England.”

“That’s right.”

Oliver drove them to a restaurant farther uptown, Caravaggio, where Stone and the Bacchettis awaited them, at Laurence’s invitation. He introduced them to Theresa.

“I hear you’ve had a problem,” Stone said.

“Yes, someone got into my apartment and stole some checks from my checkbook. They got three hundred thousand while we were in England.”

“I didn’t know you were in England.”

“Yes, my stepfather had a heart attack and bypass surgery. I went to be with my mother while he recovers, and he’s doing well. We had planned just to fly around the country, but we went across the Atlantic.”

“Did the airplane do well?”

“It did very well indeed.”

“How about you?”

“My mentor pilot said that he could be of no further use, so I’m on my own now.”

“Laurence,” Dino said, “did you have any further ideas about how someone could have gotten a key to your place?”

“The only thing I can figure is that some member of the hotel staff used a pass key.”

“My people ran a check on everybody who might have had access,” Dino said. “Nobody with a criminal record, and most of them are longtime employees.”

“Well, I’m just going to have to let it go,” Laurence said. “Let’s order.”

They did so.

“Are you going to do any more flying soon?” Stone asked.