Stuart Woods - Lucid Intervals

Table of Contents

BOOKS BY STUART WOODS

FICTION

Kisser
Hothouse Orchid
Loitering with Intent
Mounting Fears
Hot Mahogany
Santa Fe Dead
Beverly Hills Dead
Shoot Him If He Runs
Fresh Disasters
Short Straw
Dark Harbor
Iron Orchid
Two-Dollar Bill
The Prince of Beverly Hills
Reckless Abandon
Capital Crimes
Dirty Work
Blood Orchid
The Short Forever
Orchid Blues
Cold Paradise
L.A. Dead
The Run
Worst Fears Realized
Orchid Beach
Swimming to Catalina
Dead in the Water
Dirt
Choke
Imperfect Strangers
Heat
Dead Eyes
L.A. Times
Santa Fe Rules
New York Dead
Palindrome
Grass Roots
White Cargo
Deep Lie
Under the Lake
Run Before the Wind
Chiefs

TRAVEL

A Romantics Guide to the Country Inns of Britain and Ireland (1979)

MEMOIR

Blue Water, Green Skipper (1977)

G. P. PUTNAM S SONS Publishers Since 1838 Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Copyright 2010 by Stuart Woods

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions. Published simultaneously in Canada

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lucid intervals / Stuart Woods.
p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-101-18697-8

1. Barrington, Stone (Fictitious character)Fiction. 2. Attorney and clientFiction.
3. Private investigatorsFiction. 4. Lottery winnersFiction. I. Title.
PS3573.O642L
813.54dc22

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

http://us.penguingroup.com

This book is for Ted and Barbara Flicker.

E laines, late.

Stone Barrington and Dino Bacchetti were sitting at their usual table, eating penne with shrimp and vodka sauce, when a young man named Herbert Fisher walked in with a tall young woman.

Stone ignored him. Herbie Fisher was the nephew of Bob Cantor, a retired cop with whom Stone had worked many times. Bob Cantor was Herbies only connection with reality. Herbie Fisher, in Stones experience, was a walking catastrophe.

Herbie seated his girl at a table to the rear, then walked back and took a chair at Stones table. Hi, Stone, he said. Hi, Dino.

Dino, Stone said, you are a police officer, are you not?

I am, said Dino, spearing a shrimp.

I wish to make a complaint.

Go right ahead, Dino said.

Whats going on, Stone? Herbie asked.

Stone ignored him. There is an intruder at my table; I wish to have him removed.

Remove him yourself, Dino said. Im eating penne with shrimp and vodka sauce.

You are a duly constituted officer of the law, are you not? Stone asked.

Once again, I am.

Then it is your duty to respond to the complaint of an upstanding citizen.

What kind of citizen?

Upstanding.

Im not at all sure that the word describes you, Stone.

Herbie, whose head was following the conversation as if he were seated in the first row at Wimbledon, said, No kidding, Stone, whats going on?

Stone continued to ignore him. Dino, am I to understand that you are ignoring a citizens complaint?

You are to understand that, Dino said, mopping up some vodka sauce with a slice of bread. Do your own dirty work.

Stone, Herbie said, Im rich.

Thats rich, Dino replied.

No kidding, Im rich. I won the lottery.

How much? Dino asked.

Dont encourage him, Stone said.

Thirty million dollars, Herbie replied.

How much you got left after taxes and paying off your bookie and your loan shark? Dino asked.

Im warning you, Stone said. Dont encourage him, hes dangerous.

Approximately fourteen million, two, Herbie replied. I want to hire you as my lawyer, Stone, he continued.

Why do you need a lawyer? Dino asked.

All rich people need lawyers, Herbie said.

Could you be more specific? Dino asked.

Dino, Stone said, stop this, stop it right now. Hes sucking you in.

Prove youre rich, Herbie, Dino said.

Ill be right back, Herbie said. He got up, walked back to where the girl sat, picked up her large handbag, came back to Stones table and sat down. He lifted up the handbag and opened it wide, displaying the contents to Stone and Dino. What do you think that is? he asked.

Well, Dino said, gazing into the purse, that would appear to be approximately twenty bundles of one-hundred-dollar bills each, or two million dollars.

Absolutely correct, Herbie said.

Do you always walk around with that much money, Herbie? Dino asked.

Only since I got rich.

Oh.

Stone, I want to retain you as my lawyer. Ill pay you a one-million-dollar retainer in cash, right now.

Stone stopped eating. Dino, have you had any recent training at recognizing counterfeit bills?

Funny you should mention that, Dino said. We had a guy in from Treasury the day before yesterday who gave us a slide-show presentation on that very subject.

Would you examine the bills in the bag, please?

Dino dipped into the bag and came out with a hundred-dollar bill. He held it up to the light, snapped it a couple of times and laid it on the table. Entirely genuine, Dino said, then he turned to Herbie. They dont hand out millions in cash at the lottery office, you know. Where did you get it?

I cashed a check, Herbie replied.

Stone flagged down a passing waiter. David, he said, would you please go and find me a good-sized paper bag?

Sure, David replied. He went into the kitchen and came back with a plastic shopping bag. No paper bags. Will this do?

Yes, Stone said, accepting the bag and handing it to Dino. Will you please put one million dollars of Herbies money into this bag, Dino?

That okay with you, Herbie?

Sure, go ahead, Herbie replied.

Dino held the plastic bag close to the purse and counted out ten of the bundles. He handed the bag to Stone. There you go.

Just put it on the floor beside me, Stone said, and Dino did so. Stone looked at Herbie for the first time. All right, youve got my attention; Ill listen for one minute.