D.C. Dead (Stone Barrington 22)

“You have a point. It’s been a while since I’ve had a matinee.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re back in the game,” Dino said. He clicked on the TV. “And so am I.”

The phone rang, and Stone answered it. He listened for a moment. “All right,” he said, “send them up.” He put down the phone.

“Send who up?” Dino asked.

“The front desk said there are two D.C. cops downstairs.”

The doorbell rang, and Stone let in two men he could have spotted as cops from has c”lf a mile.

“I’m Paulson,” one of them said, “this is Padgett.” He nodded toward his partner. “Are you Barrington?”

“I am,” Stone said. “Nice to meet you, gentlemen. That’s Lieutenant Bacchetti, NYPD, over there, glued to the ball game.”

Dino gave them a little wave.

Stone led them t

o a sofa. “What’s up?”

The two men sat down. “Well,” Paulson said, consulting his notebook, “the head doorman at the Watergate apartments tells us that you paid a Mrs. Hart a visit this afternoon.”

“I had lunch with her,” Stone said.

“And what time did you leave her apartment?”

“Around four.”

“Then maybe you can tell us how the lady got dead.”

27

STONE STARED AT THE COP. “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?”

“And you were the last person to see her alive,” the cop said.

“Tell me what has happened before you ask me another question,” Stone said.

The cop consulted his notebook. “A gentleman named Brandon arrived at the Watergate apartments at five P.M., and the doorman, as instructed by Ms. Hart, sent him straight up. No phone call was made. Mr. Brandon arrived on her floor, and when the elevator doors opened, he found Ms. Hart lying in the vestibule, wearing some sort of negligee, dead.”

“How was she killed?” Stone asked.

“It’s too soon for the ME’s report,” the cop said, “but from the looks of her, she was bludgeoned to death with a blunt instrument.”

“Time of death?”

“We don’t have that yet, but it happened sometime between when you arrived for lunch, a little after one P.M., and when Mr. Brandon arrived at five.”

Stone looked at his watch. “It’s five forty-five. How’d you get here so fast?”

“There’s a captain, a lieutenant, four detectives, and a crime-scene team on the spot. They didn’t need us, so we were sent over here as soon as we arrived.”

“How’d you know where to find me?”

“Are you kidding?” the cop asked. “Everybody in town knows about you two.”

“Yeah, I know,” Stone said. “It’s Washington.”