New York Dead (Stone Barrington 1)

“Who lives in the other apartment across the vestibule, number 10-K?”

“My assistant, Cary Hilliard. You met her the other night.”

Stone nodded. “And would she have a key?”

“No.”

“Did she know that Sasha was moving in here?”

“No. Sasha wanted her change of address kept quiet until she had moved. She liked to control what people knew about her.”

“Where do you normally keep your passkey?”

Harkness held up a gold key ring. “Here, with my other keys. They’re always in my pocket. Always. I lost some keys once, and it was such a pain in the ass that I’ve had a thing about it ever since.”

“Who else knew that Sasha was buying the apartment?”

“The owners; the board of directors, four other people besides me – they had to approve the buyer – the doorman, and, of course, anybody Sasha might have felt like telling.”

Stone remembered Sasha’s change-of-address cards, unmailed. “I want to go through this stuff. Are you going to cooperate, or am I going to have to go to the trouble of getting a search warrant?”

“All right” – Harkness sighed – “do what you have to do, but I’m going to be here while you’re doing it.” He walked across the room and settled his large frame in a chair. “Have at it,” he said.

Nearly two hours later, Stone wrote a receipt and handed it to Harkness. “I want her checkbook and her other financial records – these two boxes here.”

“When do I get them back?”

“When I’ve had a chance to go over them thoroughly, or when Sasha turns up alive, whichever comes first.”

Harkness stared at the two boxes.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” Stone asked.

“No,” Harkness replied. “If it will help to find out what happened to Sasha, you’re welcome to the records.”

They parted at the front door of the building, and the detectives lifted the two boxes into the trunk of their car. As they got in, Dino spoke up. “If Harkness keeps his keys in his pocket all the time, then his wife might have gotten to them when he was asleep. If he was fucking Sasha, the lady might have taken an interest in her moving into the building.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Stone said. “I don’t even know if Harkness has a wife.”

“He’s a big guy, isn’t he? Wouldn’t have much trouble tossing a lady off a balcony, he felt like it.”

“I thought of that,” Stone said.

Chapter 14

“If you’re going to start out the evening kissing like that, then we’re never going to make it to dinner,” Stone said, feeling her breasts against him. The front door was still open, and he kicked it shut.

“Couldn’t help myself.” She grinned. “Say, all the way over here, I’ve been wondering where in this house you’re going to offer me a drink. I mean, the place is a wreck.”

“Follow me,” he said, and he led her to the kitchen.

She stood and looked around the room. “it’s beautiful,” she said. “You didn’t do this yourself.”

“I did, with a little help. I didn’t build it, I just restored it, refinishing all the original cabinetwork and fitting in the new appliances. It’s the only room in the house that’s done, except for the floors.”

“It’s like a turn-of-the-century dream,” she said, opening a cabinet. “And you’ve got your aunt’s china, too.”

“Hers and my mother’s. I could feed an army, if I had a working dining room.”