Hot Pursuit Read Free

was a protégé of mine.”
    “Then I suppose Greta has you to thank, as well.”
    “In a roundabout way, I guess. She didn’t lose any time remarrying, did she?”
    “Nope. I think they were an item before her husband’s untimely death.”
    “Whom did she marry?”
    “Larry Goren, a hedge-fund zillionaire.”
    “Her late husband was also one of those, wasn’t he?”
    “Greta has always been attracted to money.”
    Fred appeared in the doorway. “The car is out front, Mr. Barrington.”
    They both polished off their drinks and left the house.

3
    THEY BEAT DINO and Viv to Patroon and ordered another drink. A jazz group was playing, a new wrinkle of which Stone approved.
    Mike Freeman ambled over. “Good evening.”
    “Hi, Mike,” Stone replied. “Pat, this is Mike Freeman, an old friend and business associate. Join us, Mike.”
    “I’m stag tonight. Sure you don’t mind?”
    “Not in the least.”
    Mike signaled to Ken Aretzky, the owner, that he was joining Stone, then sat down and ordered a drink.
    “Dino and Viv will be here soon,” Stone said, looking at his watch. “I think.”
    “I thought you were in Wichita,” Mike said, “and yet here you are with a beautiful woman.”
    “She’s not a woman, she’s a pilot,” Stone said. “Pat did the acceptance for me at the factory, and the insurance company okayed her to do the first flight with me. We just got in this afternoon.”
    “How’s the new Citation M2?”
    “Wonderful. It’s already parked in your hangar. Pat, Mike is the head of Strategic Services, a large security company, and they own a hangar at Teterboro.”
    “How convenient,” Pat said.
    “Pat is starting a new business, running the flight department for owner-operators, like me.”
    “Good idea.”
    “I’m her first client. I had to fire her to get her to have dinner with me.”
    “What’s your business called?” Mike asked.
    “The Pat Frank Flight Department.”
    “Catchy.”
    “I thought so, too.”
    Dino and Viv finally arrived, and introductions were made. They had just ordered drinks when another man approached the table. Dino introduced everybody to Everett Salton, who was the junior senator for the state of New York. Stone had never met him but was usually impressed with what he heard about the man in the news.
    “Will you join us, Ev?” Dino asked.
    “Thank you, but the senior senator and I are having dinner, as if we don’t see enough of each other. Another time, I hope.” The senator said good night and wended his way to his table.
    “Good guy,” Dino said. “I think.”
    “You think?” Stone asked. “Don’t you know?”
    “He’s a politician—you can never really know a guy like that, you just know what he’s for and against, issue by issue, and sometimes even that changes with the wind.”
    “You know, since becoming commissioner, you’ve also become a cynic.”
    “I’m a realist, that’s all. You, however, are a pushover for anybody who’s nice to you.”
    “Nonsense.”
    “Name somebody who’s nice to you that you don’t like.”
    Stone thought about that for a moment. “Well . . .”
    “A pushover, like I said.”
    “I think that’s a good personal trait,” Pat said.
    “Do you like Pat?” Dino asked.
    “Of course, she’s nice to me.”
    —
    THEY WERE BACK at Stone’s house by eleven, and he kissed her good night at her bedroom door. “I don’t suppose you need tucking in?”
    “I can handle it, thanks.”
    “Do you have an early start tomorrow?”
    “Not so early. The movers are supposed to show up at noon.”
    “Then wander down the hall around seven and have breakfast with me.”
    “Sounds good.”
    “What would you like?”
    “Whatever you’re having.”
    “See you at seven.” He kissed her again and went to the master suite, undressed, and left a message about breakfast for Helene, his housekeeper. He turned on the news, but there was nothing much new since the early-morning shows, and he fell