Strategic Moves (Stone Barrington 19)

“What are they?”

Stone read from his notes.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. How are you going to handle it?”

“You have any suggestions?”

“Yes. First I’d send a stretcher and a couple of unarmed EMTs who are not cops up there and take the wounded man away. By the way, Collins says the wounding was an accident, completely non-intentional.”

“I can do that.”

“Then I think you should allow Collins to leave his gun in a desk drawer, lock it, and take an elevator down to the garage without a sniper taking him out.”

“Okay, done.”

“Remember, no cuffs. It’s my guess that Collins wants to leave this way so that he won’t be seen on television doing the perp walk.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“If you treat the guy respectfully, then I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with him. You need to brief the other officers in the car on that. In fact, I suggest that you meet Collins alone when he gets off the elevator, and that you put him in the front seat and get into the back. When you get him to the station, walk him in without cuffs and put him into an interrogation room and give him something to eat and drink while he waits for his lawyer.”

“Okay.”

“I am of the impression that he wants to talk to you, but only with an attorney present.”

“Who’s his attorney?”

“I have to make a couple more calls before I can tell you that.”

“Okay.”

“Wait for me to call you back before you send the EMTs upstairs. Collins says the guy is stable and not bleeding.”

“I’ll give you half an hour, Stone, no more.”

“Done. Where are you taking him?”

“The Seventeenth Precinct, on East Fifty-first Street.”

Stone hung up and called Peter Collins back.

“Hello?”

“It’s Stone. The police are willing to meet all your conditions. The hostage negotiator, Lieutenant Hank Willard, is going to escort you to the police station, and you won’t be seen on TV as a criminal. I suggest you make yourself presentable, suit and tie.”

“All right. When do we start?”

“I have to get your attorney lined up, then I’ll call you back.”

“All right.”

Stone hung up and opened his address book to the page of lawyers’ numbers he kept handy. It took him only a moment to settle on Milton Levine. Levine was short, bespectacled, and balding, and he did not look like a corporate legal eagle. He dialed his direct number.

“Who is this; tell me fast.”

“It’s Stone Barrington, Milt. Shut up and listen.”