Stone shook the man’s hand and sat down.

“Drink?”

“I’ll stick with San Pellegrino,” Stone said.

Mike ordered the water for them all, and menus arrived. He waited until lunch was on the way before continuing. “Stone, Hank is CEO of Steele Security, the insurance company.”

“Ah, of course,” Stone said.

“Steele, as you probably know, is a broad-based insurance company, offering just about every sort of coverage.”

“Yes, I’ve seen the ads,” Stone said. “You’re an old-line company, aren’t you, Hank?”

“Since 1850,” Hightower replied.

Mike continued. “Hank and I have worked out a way for Steele to offer its best customers additional coverage from Strategic Services: personal security, various travel coverages, et cetera. For instance, many of Steele’s clients when traveling domestically or abroad take along expensive items, like jewelry.”

“Yes,” Hightower said, “and these days, with all the terrorism in the world, many of our customers are feeling a bit nervous about the personal safety of themselves and their families—kidnapping, robbery, that sort of thing.”

“I can understand that,” Stone said.

“We’re going to need a legal framework to cover our collaboration,” Mike said, “and we’d like your firm to draw that up.”

“We’d be very happy to do so,” Stone replied. “Hank, can you supply me with an outline of your collaboration, the specific services involved, and your various responsibilities to each other?”

“I can,” Hightower said, “and I will have it in your hands by tomorrow.”

“Then I should think that, in a week or so, Woodman & Weld will have a draft agreement for you both to review.”

“Thank you, Stone,” Hightower said. “There’s something else: we’ve been with a large law firm downtown for a dozen years or more, but for the past year or two we’ve been feeling neglected. I know you’ve heard this before: we’re not getting the kind of prompt attention to our needs as in the past, and we’re not getting the attention of the senior partners. In short, we’re being taken for granted.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Hank,” Stone said with a straight face, although he was delighted to hear it. “May we be of service?”

“I think that’s a very good possibility,” Hightower said. “I’d like to meet some of your people.”

“I’ll be very happy to arrange that,” Stone said. “I think we should start by having you meet our managing partner, Bill Eggers, and perhaps you might bring your in-house counsel, as well. Bill can give you both a precise description of the breadth and depth of our services and how we might be of help to you.”

“I’d like that,” Hightower said.

They talked further over lunch, and Stone left them with a promise to get back to Hightower with a firm appointment to meet with Eggers.