Worst Fears Realized (Stone Barrington 5)

Stone laughed. “What about Italian men?”

“Very automotive,” she said. “There’s an old joke that an Italian man uses a sports car as an extension of his penis, whereas an Englishman uses it as a substitute.”

“It sounds as though your best interests lie in the United States,” he said. “I don’t even own a car.”

“That explains a lot.” She laughed.

“Though I’ve been meaning to buy one. I do have a garage, after all.”

“It would be a pity to have an empty garage,” she said. She took him in her hand and began kneading gently. “Perhaps I’d better have one last go at you before you start dissipating your energies in fast driving.”

“I’m older than I used to be, you know. It might not work again quite so quickly.”

“Oh, I think it will.” She squeezed. “See? It’s responding very nicely.”

“I believe you’re right,” Stone said, breathing harder.

She rolled on top of him. “I’ll drive,” she said.

Stone regained consciousness with the doorbell ringing in his ears. He rolled over and glanced at the bedside clock: 7:15. He punched the intercom button on the phone. “Yes?” he grumbled.

“This is Detective Thomas Deacon of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office,” a deep voice said.

That had a familiar ring, Stone thought. It took him a moment to remember that Dino had pointed the man out at the party at Martin Brougham’s house. He’d disliked him on sight.

“I want to talk to you,” Deacon said.

“Did you ever hear of business hours?” Stone asked.

“Most people are up by this time.”

“Come back after nine o’clock,” Stone said. He looked over at the sleeping Sarah, lying naked, her breasts exposed. “Make that after ten o’clock.” He punched off the intercom.

The doorbell sounded again.

“What?” Stone growled.

“I want to talk to you right now, Barrington.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Stone said, switching off the intercom. He rolled over, gathered Sarah in his arms, and fell asleep again.

Next, it was the phone, and this time it was after nine.

“Hello?”

“It’s Dino.”

“Hi. Any luck catching our perp last night?”

“None,” Dino said. “My people scoured the park half the night; he must have found some hole to crawl into. They’re still watching all the exits; he might try to walk out this morning.”

“Did you find out what happened to Andy Anderson last night?”

“He had locked the elevator and gone to the staff john. When he heard the shots he got himself together as quickly as he could and went into the lobby with his weapon drawn. There was an exchange of shots; Andy thought he might have nicked the guy, but he was out of the building and into the traffic and over the wall, and Andy couldn’t fire again for fear of hitting somebody else. My guess is that Kelly was cooping in the car and was slow to react, then didn’t call for backup. Good thing you thought of that.”

“I hope this experience has rattled the perp,” Stone said. “Maybe he’ll think twice before trying it again.”

“Especially if Andy put a bullet in him; that’s twice he’d have been shot, after Mary Ann fired at him. It’s a shame nobody got him in the center of the chest.”