Worst Fears Realized (Stone Barrington 5)

“The same.” The elevator stopped, and the men stepped into the private foyer of the apartment.

“Wow,” McElhenny said softly, looking around him.

“Inside there should be one woman; she was upstairs when I left. There are also two servants, a man and a woman, who live in, but I don’t know where their quarters are. I suggest the two of you search this floor, and I’ll check upstairs. Follow me upstairs when you’re sure there’s nobody down here.”

“Right,” the sergeant said.

Stone inserted the passkey into the lock and swung the door slowly open. He walked through the gallery as quietly as possible, but the three sets of shoes made noise on the marble floor. In the living room, Stone pointed to the two men, then around the apartment; he pointed to himself, then at the stairs.

The two cops started their search, weapons drawn.

Stone flipped off the safety on his pistol and started quickly and quietly up the carpeted stairs. The door to Sarah’s room stood open. He stuck his head around the doorjamb and quickly withdrew it. He had seen only the bed, which was now turned down. He stepped into the doorway in a crouch, the pistol held out before him. He took two steps into the room, and from his left came a piercing scream.

Stone swung the pistol around and found it pointed directly at Sarah Buckminster, who was entirely naked.

“Stone! What the hell are you doing?”

Stone pointed the pistol at the floor. “Are you alone? Is anybody in the house?”

“Of course, I’m alone; did you think I’d brought in another man as soon as you left?”

Stone took a deep breath and let it out. He put the pistol back on safety.

“What is going on?” she demanded.

“Why didn’t you answer the house phone?” he asked.

“Because I was in the shower,” she said. “I was a little sweaty from cooking, and I wanted to be fresh.”

Stone put his arms around her and held her for a moment. “I’m sorry I frightened you. You’d better get dressed and come downstairs,” he said. “The police are here.” He left her to get dressed. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the two cops were emerging from different rooms.

“All clear down here,” the sergeant said. “Did you find anything?”

“The woman is all right; she’s upstairs. I expect the servants are still in their quarters.”

There were hurried footsteps from the direction of the gallery, and all three men swung their weapons in that direction. Dino came around the corner. “Hey, it’s Bacchetti!” he cried, holding out his hands, one of which held a pistol. Everybody relaxed. “Is everything okay here?” Dino asked.

“Yes,” Stone replied. “Sarah didn’t answer the phone when I called from the lobby, and I was worried about her.”

“What the hell happened downstairs?” Dino asked.

“Our perp showed, pretending to be delivering a package; the doorman let him into the lobby. Apparently, he walked over to the desk, shot your cop, then held the gun to the desk man’s head and forced him to call up here and ask Sarah to come downstairs. I went instead and found the two men dead behind the desk. The doorman says that Anderson and Kelly pursued the perp into the park. I called for backup. That’s it.”

“You think he knew we were watching the place?” Dino asked.

“My guess is no. I thi

nk he shot the cop just to get the desk man’s attention. I don’t know where Anderson was when he came in; the elevator was locked.”

“That’s pretty fucking ruthless,” Dino said. “Our man has moved up from knives to guns, and he’s getting more dangerous.”

“Looks that way.”

Dino looked up at the staircase, causing Stone to turn around. Sarah was coming down the stairs.

“Sarah, you remember Dino Bacchetti,” Stone said.

“Of course,” she said, shaking Dino’s hand.