New York Dead (Stone Barrington 1)

“What are we going to do for some help with the search?” Stone asked. “Nobody here.”

“Well, shit,” Dino replied, “if you and me between us can’t find a corpse in a funeral parlor, we ought to turn in our papers.”

Stone led the way out. “She’s still alive, Dino. I can feel it.”

“When I can feel her, I’ll believe it,” Dino called after him, hustling to keep up.

Judge O’Neal was youngish, blonde, and extremely good-looking. She sat in her high-backed, leather chair, her robes thrown open and her legs crossed, and contemplated Stone.

Stone contemplated right back. The woman had been wearing an engagement ring during the year since he had first come across her, or he would have asked her out.

“The letters are enough for me,” O’Neal said, “even if he doesn’t talk dirty. A thousand letters is weird enough for a warrant. Nobody’s going to overrule.”

“I shouldn’t think so,” Stone said. “By the way, we’ve included his place of work in the warrant.”

“Off the record, Detective, for my own curiosity, what do you think happened to this woman?”

“Off the record, Judge, I am completely baffled, but I think she may still be alive.”

O’Neal’s eyebrows went up. “Get serious.”

Stone explained his terminal velocity theory.

O’Neal shook her head vigorously, and the blonde hair swirled around her shoulders. “That,” she said, “is the wildest theory I ever heard.”

“It may not be plausible, but it’s possible.”

Judge O’Neal uncrossed her legs and leaned on her desk, resting her chin in her hand. “I’ve got a hundred bucks says she’s stone dead – you should excuse the expression.”

Stone laughed. “I’ll take your bet, but the loser buys dinner.”

O’Neal pursed her red lips for a moment, then smiled. “You’re on,” she said, signing the warrant.

In the car, Dino looked sideways at Stone while dodging a bicycle messenger. “Jesus, Stone, why didn’t you just fuck her right there on the desk? I’d have been happy to watch.”

“Come on, Dino.”

“She’s got the hots for you, I’m telling you.”

“She’s wearing an engagement ring.”

“So what the fuck? She was wearing a wedding ring, that’s maybe cause for pause, maybe. A diamond ring is an open door. Anyway, you got a dinner date, just as soon as we find Sasha, dead or alive.”

Stone glanced at his watch. “Van Fleet should be at the funeral parlor by now. We’ll serve him there, then do the apartment.”

Chapter 12

Herbert Van Fleet’s mother didn’t like it. Stone and Dino waited quietly while Mrs. Van Fleet called her lawyer.

She returned grim faced. “All right, how do you want to go about this?”

“We’d like to see every room in the building,” Stone said.

“What are you looking for?” she demanded.

“Anything that might help us in our investigation,” Dino said, none too politely.

Seething, the woman took them through the building. Stone saw nothing out of the ordinary – at least, out of the ordinary for a funeral parlor. They finished up in the embalming room, where Herbert Van Fleet was working on a corpse. A tube ran from the man’s stomach to a pump, and the machine whirred quietly. Stone looked away.