“If you buy a handgun, you’re putting yourself and your fortune at risk.”

“How’s that?”

“In the past I’ve known two men who shot intruders in their homes, one of them fatally.”

“Didn’t they have that right?”

“They did, legally, but the civil lawsuits went on for years. One had to sell his house to pay the legal fees and settlement costs. The other, stuck with the huge medical bills of the intruder, has paid out nearly a million dollars, only some of it covered by his household insurance.”

“I don’t have any insurance.”

“Get some liability, at least twenty million. It’s fairly cheap. When complainants spot somebody wealthy, you become a target, no matter how right you are. I can arrange the insurance, if you like.”

“Please.”

“On the New York apartment and the Palm Beach house, as well?”

“Yes.”

“But don’t buy a gun,” Stone said emphatically.

“If that’s your best advice.”

“It is.”

—

THEY WERE CALLED to dinner, and Stone was seated between Susannah and Theresa, so he and Laurence didn’t pursue their conversation.

“Laurence, I see we both have had the attention of People magazine this week,” Susannah said.

“Of course, you’re Susannah Wilde. Your new picture looks interesting.”

“The difference between us is that I pursued the publicity, but you didn’t.”

“Tell me, does the reach of these magazines and tabloids extend to a place as remote as Santa Fe?”

“It doesn’t matter where you are,” Susannah replied. “Everybody with a cell phone camera is a stringer.”

“What’s a stringer?”

“A part-time reporter.”

“Ah.”

“I should think you’d be acquainted with that sort of journalism, coming from a place where tabloids have such a huge circulation.”

“Certainly that’s true of England, but somehow I’ve never come to their attention until now. Any advice?”

“Be courteously rude to them when they approach, and tell them nothing. People in my business have to be polite to them, because the public do read those papers—they’re available at every supermarket checkout. But you’re a private citizen, and if you communicate it to them that you expect to be treated as such, they’ll eventually get the idea. Above all, don’t smash any cameras or throw any punches. They love that sort of thing, and you’ll end up in court, as so many celebrities have.”

“And make no mistake about it,” Ed said, “you are now, officially, a celebrity.”

“That’s an alarming idea. I had thought Santa Fe would be out of that particular loop.”

“Alaska might be out of that loop, but hardly anywhere else in the United States or Europe,” Ed replied. “Just ignore them and be uncommunicative, as best you can.”

“Thank you, I’m grateful for the advice.” He turned to Theresa. “See what you’ve gotten yourself into?”

“I’m not complaining,” she said.