The western suburbs of Philadelphia, the Main Line.
This was a community of traditional, old-money families. Mansions hidden behind century-old trees projected an air of understated luxury.
William Saint Cloud had recently purchased a new villa here.
Though it was called a villa, it was actually an estate.
The three-acre French-style estate boasted perfectly manicured lawns, a private tennis court, and a massive fountain in the northwest corner of the front yard. A marble statue of Venus stood at the fountain's center.
Ten in the morning.
Raymond Stock, dressed in his signature Tang suit and holding a brass compass, walked into the mansion.
William, wearing a silk robe and holding a cup of sobering tea, followed behind, looking somewhat nonchalant.
If not for Leo's earlier comment at the coffee shop—"Let him give it a try"—William would never have allowed this fellow, dressed like the owner of a Chinese restaurant, to set foot in his home.
