Wild Card (Stone Barrington #49)(5)

Stone hurried to the office of Major Bugg, the estate manager. “Where’s your medical kit?” he asked.

The major took it from a closet and followed Stone to the gym. “What’s happened?”

“One of our guests has had a mishap.” They entered the exercise room where Mick had Calvert lying facedown on the massage table, his pants and shorts stripped off. There was a bleeding trench running across Calvert’s right buttock.

Mick opened the case and began removing things. “Lidocaine, good. Penicillin, too. And here’s a suturing kit.”

“Do you need a doctor’s help, Mick?”

“I’m a licensed physician’s assistant,” Mick replied. “I can do suturing.” He injected lidocaine around the wound and cleaned it carefully, then he trimmed the edges with scissors, threaded a suturing needle, and completed a dozen stitches. “There,” he said, “that’ll hold him. He’ll need a tetanus shot, though.” He found the vial and used a fresh syringe. “You’ll be fine, Craig, until the lidocaine wears off and you have to sit down.”

“Who the hell would want to shoot me?” Craig asked nobody in particular.

“I think the shooter was likely aiming at me,” Stone said. “You just happened to be in the way.”

“Felicity said something like this would happen, and it has.”

“For God’s sake,” Stone said, “don’t tell her she was right.”





4


Stone found Craig another pair of sweatpants and tossed his bloody ones into the trash, while Major Bugg returned the medical kit to its home.

“You’re sure you don’t want to call the police?” Stone asked.

“Don’t even think about it,” Mick said. “Somebody at the police station will leak it to a reporter and by cocktail time it will be all over the news. You’ll have two dozen photographers crawling all over your estate trying to snap a photo of Craig Calvert’s ass. And we don’t want that, do we?”

“I don’t want Felicity to know, either,” Craig said.

“Where is she today?”

“At her office. She left early this morning.”

“Go back to her place, pack your bags, and leave her a note saying you’ve been called back to London for a script conference. Then come over here, and we’ll put you up for a few days. You’re not going to want to answer anybody’s questions about why you’re limping or sitting funny.”

“Stone is right,” Mick said. “If the insurance company hears that you’ve been shot, they’ll put you in hospital for a whole new physical. That, and the resulting publicity, will screw up the shooting schedule. It will also increase the insurance premium, and your producers won’t like that.”

“Thank you for the offer, Stone,” Craig said. “I accept. Let’s go pack, Mick.” He hobbled out of the house and, with Mick’s help, headed for the dock in the golf cart.

Stone told Major Bugg to have rooms prepared for Mr. Calvert and Mr. O’Leary—but not too close to his own. Then he went upstairs and found Jamie drying her hair.

“Well,” she said, “that was a long workout.”

“Shorter than planned,” Stone replied, “and you’re going to envy me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve spent the last half hour gazing at Craig Calvert’s bare ass.”

“You’re right, I envy you. How did he come to expose himself to you? I may want to try myself.”

“Someone took a shot at us when we were out running—at me, very probably—and Calvert’s ass got in the way. He’s moving in with us—rather, with me—for a few days while he heals up.”

“Where is he sleeping?”

“You don’t need to know. Let’s go down for some lunch.”

“Just a minute,” Jamie said, “did you say someone shot him?”

“It was only a flesh wound, as they say in the movies.”

“I take it that it wasn’t a passing hunter.”

“Craig’s ass does not resemble a grouse.”

“Are we in danger?” she asked.

“Isn’t that why we left the States?”

“It’s not why I left the States,” Jamie said.

“Well, you can add that to your list.” He hustled her to lunch.



* * *



? ? ?

    They were having sandwiches in the kitchen when Dino called.

“Hey,” Stone said. “Are you on your way?”

“We’ll be there in the morning the day after tomorrow,” Dino replied.

“Good. We’ve had some action here. Is Viv listening in?”

“I am,” Viv said.

Stone told them what had happened. “Viv, will you call your London office and get some people down here?”

“Sure, they know the drill by now. So there’s going to be a movie star in the house?”

“I’m afraid so. I may have to sit on Jamie the whole time.”

“You may have to sit on me, too,” she replied. “That Calvert is a dish.”

“I’ll do whatever sitting on you is required,” Dino said.