Unnatural Acts Read Online Free PDF Page B

have.”
    “If you say so.”
    “Mike, you’ve met a Woodman and Weld associate named Herbie Fisher, have you not?”
    “I have. Nice young fellow.”
    “And you know Marshall Brennan?”
    “I do. I invest with him.”
    “Good. Herbie was sent up to Yale to assist Marshall’s son,Dink, into a bucolic establishment in Connecticut where he was to receive attention for his gambling and drug problem.”
    “Sounds like Winwood Farm.”
    “One and the same. Unfortunately, in spite of Herbie’s stellar work, young Dink managed to extricate himself from the transportation provided and is now wild in the country.”
    “Uh-oh.”
    “Herbie is a bright fellow, but he has no experience in the tracing of missing persons. I thought, perhaps, that you might provide him with some assistance.”
    “Who’s buying? Herbie?”
    “Woodman and Weld, until they can bill Marshall Brennan.”
    “I can do that,” Mike said. “Is Herbie with you?”
    “Yes, he is.”
    “Put him on the phone.”
    “Of course.” Stone pointed at Herbie, then at the phone on the coffee table before the sofa in his office.
    Herbie went to the sofa and picked up the phone. “Mr. Freeman? Yes, sir. No, sir, I cut up his credit cards and gave his cash to the driver of the Winwood Farm van. He was wearing jeans and a polo shirt and a brown leather jacket and sneakers. I picked him up at his Yale dorm room. No, sir, I don’t know the name of his roommate or his friends, and I don’t know if he has a girlfriend. Yes, sir, I’ll be there in an hour.” Herbie hung up, and turned toward Stone. “Mr. Freeman is on it, and I’m to go to his office.”
    “Herbie, you’re about to have a very valuable learning experience. Watch how Mike and his people work and remember everything.”
    “Okay, Stone,” Herbie said, getting to his feet.
    “And don’t walk, Herbie, it makes you pant and sweat. Take a cab.”
    Herbie took his leave.
    Joan buzzed.
    “Yes?”
    “Dino on one.”
    Stone pressed the button. “Hey, Dino.”
    “We need to talk,” Dino said. “Elaine’s, eight-thirty?”
    “Dino,” Stone said sadly, “take a deep breath. Elaine’s is no more, remember?” Stone could hear the sound of Dino smiting his forehead.
    “Jesus, I’ve got to get my head on straight.”
    “Where shall we go?” Stone asked.
    “I have no idea,” Dino said.
    “I know how you feel. How about P.J. Clarke’s?”
    “Right,” Dino said, sounding relieved. “Eight-thirty.”
    “You book,” Stone replied. “They don’t hold a table for us at Clarke’s.”
    “Not yet,” Dino said, then hung up.

8
     
    HERBIE FISHER arrived at Mike Freeman’s Strategic Services office in exactly fifteen minutes and was shown in.
    “Good afternoon, Herbie,” Mike said, shaking his hand and waving him to a seat.
    “Good afternoon, Mr. Freeman.”
    “Please call me Mike.”
    “Yessir, Mike.”
    Freeman consulted a computer monitor on his desk. “Well, let’s see: Dink Brennan managed to steal back his wallet and cash before departing the Winwood Farm van, by the simple device of opening a rear door and jumping out when the van stopped for a light. Dink, it seems, is fleet of foot.
    “His roommate, Parker Mosely, who was returning to the dorm as Dink was driven away, followed the van and has confessed to picking him up upon his escape from the van.
    “Dink’s most likely destination is his girlfriend’s parents’ country house in Washington, Connecticut. Mr. Mosely did not give usthat information, but his mien on being asked about it gave my people to understand that that is where he might be. The girlfriend’s name is Carson Cullers, and her parents are Robert and Louise Cullers, of Ten-Ten Fifth Avenue, New York. They were apparently not aware of this spontaneous use of their country place.”
    Herbie was in awe. “Jesus, you found out all that in fifteen minutes?”
    “When you have good people in appropriate places it is remarkable what they can learn in