“Eleven.”
“Okay, Mitzi,” Stone said, “I’m going to give you three minutes with Sharpe, then call that extension. Answer it, say, ‘Send him up,’ and tell Sharpe your driver is on the way up.”
“Okay.”
“What if she’s unable to answer the phone?” Rita asked.
“Then I’ll interrupt you,” Stone said. “By that time you should have completed the deal. Make sure you do that immediately after he arrives. Tell him you have to be somewhere. Make up something.”
“What if Sharpe wants to meet your friends from Charleston?” Rita asked.
“I’ll tell him they’re just in town for the day and have a full schedule,” Mitzi replied.
“I’m sure you can handle anything he throws at you,” Stone said.
“I’m moved by your confidence in me, sir,” Mitzi said, curtseying.
Rita spoke up. “If he throws his dick at you, there’s a large pair of scissors on the desk in the study.”
“Always use the right tools,” Mitzi said. “That’s what my daddy always told me.”
The phone rang, and Rita answered. “Send him up,” she said.
Stone looked at his watch. “Already?”
“It’s Tom,” Rita said. “Don’t have a heart attack.”
“What do you want me to do?” Emma asked.
“Put on your maid’s uniform, just in case Sharpe comes to the kitchen.”
Emma put down her coffee cup and left the room. “Be right back,” she said.
Mitzi looked at Stone. “You’re more nervous than I am,” she said.
“I have a better imagination than you do,” Stone replied. “I can think of a dozen things that can go wrong.”
39
TOM ARRIVED AND WAS GIVEN a croissant and some coffee. “Are you playing in this game?” he asked Stone.
“Only if I’m needed from the bench,” Stone replied.
Emma returned to the kitchen wearing a maid’s uniform, but not the one she had worn when she served canapés. The skirt was short, the stockings were black fishnet, and the bodice was tight and featured lots of cleavage.
Stone burst out laughing. “Can you come and play maid at my house?” he asked.
“Emma,” Rita said, pointing at the door, “you get out of that garb right now and put on the uniform I gave you. This is not a French farce.”
“I don’t know about that,” Stone said, watching her go.
The phone rang, and Mitzi picked it up. “Send him up,” she said, then hung up. “It’s Sharpe. He’s half an hour early.”
“Rita,” Stone said, “get that money into the safe and make sure that Mitzi knows how to open it-then get to your room.” The two women ran out of the kitchen.
Emma came back wearing a more prosaic maid’s uniform.
“Emma,” Stone said, “as soon as Rita is back in her room, let Sharpe in, show him to the study, and get back here. You, Tom, and I will be drinking coffee together, should he decide to have a look around.”