“You are a perfect angel,” Stone said.
“We can discuss that on another occasion,” Felicity said, “but in the meantime, I think you should prepare yourself for a further visit from Mr. Owaki or his associates.”
“I have already taken steps,” Stone said, “which reminds me, I must make a call to the hotel manager regarding his most infamous guest.”
“Go, then. See you soon.”
“Yes, indeed.” Stone called the hotel and asked to speak to the manager.
“Yes, Mr. Barrington?” the man said.
“I hope business is good,” Stone said.
“It is very good, sir. We are maintaining an occupancy rate in the region of ninety-five percent.”
“I’m delighted to hear it. However, I’m calling to ask you to free up some space—that occupied by a Mr. Owaki and, perhaps, some of his associates.”
“Ah, yes, a large suite and two smaller rooms. You would like them all to vacate?”
“I would.”
“How soon?”
“With immediate effect.”
“As you wish, sir. What reason shall I give Mr. Owaki?”
“Tell him that your headquarters have instructed you to evict him, and that he and his associates will oblige the management by leaving quietly.”
“Certainly, sir. Would you like us to pack his luggage?”
“What a good idea! Neatly, of course, then set it on the front steps for collection on his return. How much is his bill?”
“They arrived only yesterday, sir, so it’s right at three thousand five hundred pounds, so far.”
“Hand him his bill, marked ‘Paid,’ and send a copy to my New York Office, which will reimburse you.”
“As you wish, Mr. Barrington. I’ll see to it immediately.”
“Oh,” Stone said, “if you should find any weapons when you are packing his things, retain them and turn them over to the chief of the local constabulary, and be sure to tell Mr. Owaki or his representative that you have done so.”
“It will be done, sir. Is there anything else? Anything at all?”
“Thank you, that will do it,” Stone said, “and I will favorably mention your cooperation to the main office at the first opportunity.”
“How very kind of you, sir.”
“Goodbye.” Stone hung up.
Carl Atkins, who had overheard the conversation, was laughing quietly. “Good idea to disarm them, Mr. Barrington.”
“We must try and keep the peace, Carl. By the way, I’m reliably informed that Mr. Owaki and his party will be told to leave the country tomorrow.”
“I don’t know how you arranged that, sir, but I admire your skills and your connections.”
Stone turned to the butler, who had been present the whole time. “Would you please ask the head groom to saddle two of the horses for Ms. Harmon and me, and to bring them around front?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And would you let Ms. Harmon know that we are going riding?”
“Immediately, sir.”
“Anything else I can do for you, Mr. Barrington?” Atkins asked.
“Yes, you can loan me a compact firearm and a holster,” Stone said.
“Right away, sir.” Atkins left at a trot for the cottage where his crew were staying.
Stone’s phone rang. “Hello?”
“It’s Dino. Are you still alive?”
“Perfectly so,” Stone replied.
“I mean, I heard that Owaki is in your neighborhood.”
“Meg and I met with him only a few minutes ago, and, with the able assistance of Dame Felicity, we have rattled his cage sufficiently for him to be out of the country tomorrow.”
“Which means he’ll be coming back into my jurisdiction,” Dino said. “Thanks a lot.”
“I expect so. Can you think of any way to make his arrival memorable?”
“I expect so. I’ll alert U.S. Customs at Teterboro, which is where he lands his Gulfstream. Might they be carrying any weapons?”
“Perhaps, but I have managed to put some of them beyond his reach. Perhaps a strip search by customs might turn up anything he has left.”
“I’ll suggest a full cavity search, too,” Dino said. “Those customs guys love that. When are you coming back?”
“I don’t know—a day or two, I guess. Meg has to close on her new apartment.”
“I spoke to the head of the committee,” Dino said. “She’s a shoo-in.”
“I’ll tell her, she’ll like that.” They said goodbye and hung up.
54
As Meg left the house, a stableman walked around the corner, leading two beautifully groomed horses.
“Yours is the mare, mine the gelding,” Stone said.
“I hope I can tell which is which,” she said, lifting a leg so that the groom could hoist her into the saddle.
Stone managed on his own. “We’ll walk them for a couple of hundred yards, to let them loosen up,” he said, and they did so. At the end of that Stone’s gelding was champing at the bit, and a tap of the heel into his flank achieved a comfortable gallop. Meg pulled up alongside him. “Wall coming up,” Stone said. “Are you up for that?”
“Sure I am,” she said.
They took the stone wall that divided Windward Hall from the hotel’s estate and galloped across the acreage of its front lawn.
“Magnificent house,” Meg said. “You should have bought that one.”
“I wasn’t looking for a stately home,” Stone said. “And there are at least sixty staff there, not counting the hotel keepers.” He noted that two bellmen were piling up luggage at the bottom of the front steps. “Mr. Owaki appears to be checking out,” he said, as the black Maybach pulled up to the front of the house.
He edged the gelding up into a full run, and Meg kept right up. They took another wall, then pulled up into some trees to rest the horses. Stone got down and took a small bag from its place behind the saddle. “Would you like a beer?”
“What a good idea!” They sat down with their backs against a tree and drank the cold lager.
“I would jump you,” Meg said, “if riding clothes weren’t so difficult to deal with.”
“They’ll come off easily enough when we get back,” Stone said, kissing her lightly.
“I’ll look forward to watching.”
Stone gave her a leg up onto the mare, then got onto the gelding,
Then Meg pointed back to where they had come from. “Look!” she shouted.
Stone pulled his mount around to face Windward Hall. From the rear of the house a column of black smoke was rising. He dug his heels into the gelding. “Come on, we’ll run them the whole way!”
The horses sprang forward and hardly noticed the stone wall when they topped it. Stone could hear a siren in the distance, and as they drew up in front of the house, a fire truck drove around to the rear.
Stone and Meg jumped down and handed their horses to the waiting groom, then she followed him up the front steps, into the house and down a hall toward the kitchen. The fire was not inside but at the rear of the building. They ran out the kitchen door and found flames from some unidentifiable pile of material licking at the rear wall. The firemen were spooling out their hoses.
Stone and Meg watched anxiously from the rear as the firemen applied water to the burning pile, then, when that failed to stanch the flames, they produced extinguishers and sprayed it with foam. Gradually, the flames lessened and finally stopped, buried under a white mass of fire suppressant.
“Thank God,” Stone muttered.
“Do you think this has something to do with Owaki?” Meg asked.
“Who else hates me enough to want to burn down my house?” Stone asked.
“Well, there must be a woman or two,” Meg said, “even in England.”
* * *
—
THE FIREMEN had removed their protective gear and were being fed sandwiches and tea by the kitchen staff.
“Do you know what the burning material was?” Stone asked their chief.