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“If I had to guess,” Stone said, “I’d say, not so hot”

“Oh, it’s not so bad,” Eggers replied

“Then what drags you away from home and hearth, into this den of iniquity?”

“You re Irish ex-cop, used to do little chores for you from time to time?”

“Teddy? He dropped dead in P J Clarke’s three o”

“From what?”

“How s can an Irishman in an Irish bar drop dead of?” Stone asked, rhetorically

“Yeah,” Eggers admitted

“And ould I need somebody like Teddy?” Stone asked

“You re Teddy used to do with the water pistol?” Eggers asked

“You mean, after he kicked down a door and had his camera ready, how he squirted his naked subjects do, so they’d grab at theraphed in bed with each other?”

Eggers chuckled “That’s the one I adenuity”

The drinks ca, contemplative moment

“So, you’re in need of that kind of ingenuity?” Stone asked at last

“You reers asked Bill Eggers was the ious New York law firm to which Stone was of counsel, which meant he sometimes did the work that Wood

“Elena Marks?” Stone asked

“The very one”

“I remember” Elena Marks was heiress to a departh standing of the No Visible Means of Support Club

“You remember that funny little clause you wrote into her prenup?”

“You ht with his pants around his ankles in the company of a lady other than Elena, he would forfeit any clailish—handsorace, which meant he didn’t have a receptacle in which to relieve himself

“The very one,” Eggers said

“Has Larry been a bad boy?” Stone asked

“Has been, is, and will continue to be,” Eggers replied, sipping his Scotch

“I see,” Stone said

“Now that Teddy has gone to his reward, who do you use for that sort of thing?”

“It’s been quite a while since that sort of thing was required of ily