I can tell you that what this involves goes way beyond anything you can imagine. Sounds like a cliché from some lousy movie, I know. But in this case, it happens to be true. See, actually the real world is way more complicated and dangerous than how the movies and TV make it out to be. Stone didnt reply. He was trying to figure out what to do about the giant boulder rushing at them. He aimed his left headlight at it. Hang on! he said. You came up here and shot the shit out of the place. Come on, Dino, Stone managed to say. She was pointing a silenced pistol at me. Why else would I say that? Im not sure which one he is, but he has the haircut. Maybe. Yes. Chapter 82 Chapter 9 Neatly printed on heavy, pale yellow stationery. Stone Barrington didnt know any of them, except the last. He held it up to the light and found a watermark:Strathmore. He buzzed his secretary, Joan Robertson. Unless counsel can show that it has some specific bearing on the case, Judge Garey said. Oh, Your Honor, this is on redirect examination, Hamilton Burger protested. Anything that Dorley has to say to her, Mason explained, can be said through me. You may or may not have noticed it, Della, but the man was careful to say that all the shares of stock were in the trust. Dont ask questions, and dont get out of the car. Ill explain when I see you. Devine took a breath and rolled his neck from one side to the other, letting the tension ease. If I may use the phone, Your Honor. And it was true, or so the official business press had always dutifully reported. A string of Cowls ancestorshad inherited great wealth, but his grandfather apparently had been a lousy businessman and lost half the fortune. Cowls worthless father had sponged off his inheritance, and what he didnt lose in gambling, he squandered in bad investments. When Brad Cowl had come along, there was little if anything left. But he had worked hard and graduated summa cum laude from his Ivy League college. After that the man had,in around two decades, built his eponymous firm up into the same league as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch. Thats what Im paying you for. So whatd you do? I said. Hire some new people?.