Unnatural Acts (Stone Barrington 23)

“Oh, come on!”

“You know that’s true. The Bureau is incapable of doing anything small, even when the situation demands it. Also, Shelley probably knew three-quarters of the New York field office by sight.”

“You have a point there,” Kerry admitted.

“Dino was smart enough to take only two detectives with him-both of them women.”

“I heard, and it was smart, I’ll give Dino that.”

“That’s mighty white of you.”

“I saw photos of Shelley’s body. She was unrecognizable-nose job, hair color, lots of new dental work. I swear, I wouldn’t have known her if I had been there, and I spent a couple of years in bed with her.”

“Nobody ever said Shelley was stupid,” Stone said.

“She was smart as a whip, and if she hadn’t been a woman, she’d have been in my job, and I in hers.”

“I expect that’s what made her so hard to nail,” Stone said. “I think her weakness was Dino.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope. The whole time we were in D.C. last year, she spent every night with Dino.”

“Well, of course, she was crazy, or she couldn’t have done what she did.”

“You mean Dino?”

“I mean half a dozen murders.”

“I’m sure the Bureau shrinks have had a wonderful time trying to figure that out.”

“You should see the reports-you can’t see the forest for the psychobabble.”

“Yeah, I’ve read a few of those.”

“Tell me about the DeCarlo girl.”

“For a start, you’d better not call her a girl around Dino-or around her, for that matter.”

“I guess not.”

“She’s probably a lot like a young Shelley,” Stone said.

“Is Dino putting her in for the Medal of Honor?”

“That would be a little over the top, but my guess is, he’ll get her the Police Combat Cross, because it fits her conduct, and he’ll probably get her kicked up to detective second class. Dino won’t sign the orders himself, but he knows whose shell-like ear to whisper into.”

“I expect he does.”

“My advice to you, Kerry, is, when you see Dino, don’t bring up your field office’s noninvolvement, and I wouldn’t mention it to anybody else in the department, either.”

“I suppose that would be resented.”

“All the way up to the commissioner. If you can’t see Dino without avoiding that, then don’t see him at all-just write him a nice note on your best stationery and copy the commissioner.”

“I’ll do both,” Kerry said. “Now, tell me what happened in that bar.”

“The girls went in first and established themselves at the bar. Dino came in a few minutes later and looked at every face in the room. He didn’t spot her.”