Cold Paradise (Stone Barrington 7)

“You did?”

“Coming out of Verdura, the jewelry store.”

Liz came up the gangplank.

“Liz, you saw him?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“And?”

“And I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?”

“I don’t know if it’s Paul.”

“But you said you recognized him in Easthampton by the way he walked and his body language.”

“It was different this time,” she said. “Anyway, I only saw him for a minute.”

“Liz,” Callie said, “you had a very good look at him. I was there; I saw him, too.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Liz said crossly, “but I just can’t swear that he’s Paul. He may be and he may not be.”

Stone’s cell phone vibrated, and he opened it. “Hello?”

“It’s Dan Griggs. The two ladies got a real good look at the guy. What does Mrs. Harding say?”

“Inconclusive,” Stone said, walking away from the group.

“How could it be inconclusive? She got a good look at him, and she used to be married to the guy.”

“All I can tell you is what she told me,” Stone said. “She seems pretty annoyed about our pressing her on it.”

“I don’t get it,” Griggs said.

“Frankly, neither do I. I thought that if we just put Bartlett in front of her, she’d make him, and that would be that.”

“You think she’s not playing this straight?”

“I honestly don’t know, Dan. She’s protected him in the past, after all.”

“But she’s supposed to be scared of the guy. You’d think she’d want to be rid of him and would help us do it.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Dan.”

“Well, if Mrs. Harding can’t identify the guy, and if Lundquist can’t come up with enough evidence for a murder warrant, I’m not going to be able to keep men on this. We have other problems to deal with, you know.”

“I know you do, Dan, and I don’t blame you. Has Lundquist not heard from his office?”

“He’s called them twice, but the lab is still working on the car.”

“Okay. Ask him to call me when he gets word. If he’s going to arrest Bartlett, I’d like to be there when he does it.”

“I’ll tell him.”

Stone ended the call and stood there thinking for a moment. He was getting tired of this, too. He punched 411 into the phone, asked for the number of the Colony Hotel and waited while the operator connected him.