He walked back downstairs to find the UPS deliveryman on his doorstep, and the man trundled half a dozen large boxes into the kitchen, got a signature, and left. Stone began unpacking the dishes, pots and pans, and other housewares he and Sarah had bought, but before he got very far, the ABC Furniture van arrived, and most of the next hour was spent distributing furniture around the house. When the deliverymen had left, he went back to work in the kitchen, and in another hour he had it organized.

He was upstairs putting the new sheets on his new bed when the phone man arrived. Stone put him to work, then went back to his own tasks. He had just finished putting the bedroom and bath in order when the phone man pronounced himself finished. Stone tried the various extensions around the house, heard a dial tone at each, thanked the man, and signed off on the installation. He did some straightening of the new furniture, lamented the lack of pictures and other ornaments in the place, then treated himself to a beer. He had just sat down when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“It’s Dino; I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“The phone just got turned on; what’s up?”

“You said you spoke to Arlene Mitteldorfer’s divorce lawyer earlier today?”

“That’s right.”

“Was his name Bruce Goldsmith?”

“Yes, and what do you mean, ‘was’?”

“He got popped at lunchtime, less than an hour after you and I spoke.”

“How did it happen?”

“He was leaving his office for a trip to San Francisco. He got into his car, a black Town Car pulled alongside, and somebody put one round into his head at point-blank range. No noise, probably a silencer. Got the backseat of a nice, new BMW all messy.”

“Jesus; I warned him to get out of town; I guess he didn’t go fast enough.”

“I guess not.”

“Don’t tell anybody where I am, okay, Dino?”

“Who else knows?”

“Just a girl, who’s coming up tomorrow, Bill Eggers, and Vance Calder and Arrington.”

“They’re in town?”

“No, they’re up here; Vance has a house less than five miles from mine. I’m having dinner with them tomorrow night.”

Dino gave a long chuckle. “She can’t stay away from you, can she?”

“Nothing like that; Vance wants us all to be friends. Come to think of it, she said something to that effect in the last conversation I had with her, last year.”

“You’re a braver man than I am, Stone, going to their house all by yourself.”

“I’m not going by myself; I’ll be well armed with a beautiful woman.”

“Anybody I know?”

“Nah; a new lady.” He half expected Dino to call him on the lie.

“This is all too civilized for me,” Dino said.

“What are you doing about Palmer’s opening on tomorrow night?”