“Hello, Stone. Thank you for being so kind to Hattie while she was in Virginia.”

“It was a great comfort to Peter to have his friend there,” Stone said.

“We were both very taken with Arrington, and we’re sorry we won’t have her as a permanent friend.”

“Thank you.”

“Stone, when we left to fly back to New York with Mike Freeman, one of your pilots was kind enough to show me your Gulfstream jet. Mike thought you might want to sell it.”

“I think so, Sean. The Mustang is adequate for my purposes.”

“My partners and I have been looking for an airplane to buy, and I think a G-III might suit us very well.”

“It’s a very nice airplane,” Stone said. “Arrington bought it a little over a year ago, and it had had only one elderly owner up until then, so it’s a low-time airplane. I’d be happy to send you copies of the paperwork she used to make her decision. Mike advised her on the purchase, so he knows a lot about it, too.”

“Thanks. I’d like to see the paperwork and perhaps have our consultant on the purchase go down to Virginia and see it.”

“Of course. If you like the airplane, you might consider hiring the crew, too. Arrington was very pleased with them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Have you given any thought as to what you’ll do with the house and farm?”

“We’ll sell it, I think.”

“I’m not in the market for such a place, but I have a lot of very wealthy clients, so I’ll mention it here and there.”

Stone reminded him to read the Architectural Digest piece, and they said good-bye. Stone asked Joan to make copies of the aircraft material and messenger it to Sean Patrick.

“I think I’m going to go upstairs and lie down for a while,” he said to her.

“Aren’t you feeling well?”

“Just very tired,” he replied. He went upstairs and stretched out on the bed. He’d been having these periods of feeling exhausted since Arrington’s death, and right now, he couldn’t face any further work for the day.

Chapter 55

55

Stone and Peter got ready to go to Elaine’s for dinner and met downstairs.

“I’m going to go pick up Hattie,” Peter said. “We’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

Stone gave him some cash. “We need to open a bank account for you and set up an allowance.”

“Thanks, Dad, I’d appreciate that.”

“Joan will set it up on Monday.”

They walked to Third Avenue together and took separate cabs.

Peter wondered what this was about. Ordinarily, the doorman in Hattie’s building would have put her in a cab, and she would have met them at Elaine’s, but Hattie had said she wanted to talk about something.