“I have spent the last couple of days driving down here from Canada with a friend.”
“What is your friend’s name?” Dino asked, taking out his notebook. “I’d like to corroborate that.”
“His name is Michel Robert. He is Canadian.”
“And where might I find him?”
“Frankly, I don’t know,” she said. “We had a petit contretemps. He left me in New York and went away, I don’t know where. May I ask on what evidence you suspect me of these preposterous charges?”
“We’ll get to that later,” Dino said. “Excuse me a moment.” He got up and went outside to speak to Mellon.
“She asked a good question, Dino,” Mellon said. “On what evidence do you suspect her of these murders?”
“There’s a British intelligence agent on the way here now who can identify her and tell you about her background,” Dino said.
“Was she carrying anything that we can use?”
“No,” Dino said, “but before I arrested her at Elaine’s she went to the ladies’ room. That’s being searched now.”
Two detectives walked in, and one was holding a large Ziploc bag containing a black pistol and a silencer, as well as an ice pick.
“Am I glad to see that,” Dino said. “Go dust if for prints, fire it for ballistics, and check it against the slugs from the guy on Park Avenue, and be quick about it.” He turned back to Mellon. “Feeling better now?”
“A little,” Mellon said. “Can you tie her to the murder?”
“You just heard me tell my guys to go do that, didn’t you?”
“Have you printed her?”
“Not yet. We can do that now.”
A small, plump man bustled into the room “Where is my client?” he demanded.
“Hello, Sol,” Mellon said. “Who brought you into this?”
“She did,” Mellon said, pointing through the glass. I want to talk to her now, and I want everybody out of here while I do it.”
“How long do you need?”
“I’ll let you know, George. Now get out of here and let me do my work.”
Dino, the captain, and the deputy DA filed out of the room and went to Dino’s office. “Who is that guy, George?”
“His name is Sol Kaminsky, and he’s a very smart lawyer. But unless you can tie this woman to that weapon and the weapon to one of these murders, he’s not going to have to be very smart.”
32
Stone crossed the Harlem River Bridge, slowing down only for E-ZPass to let him through. He looked at his watch: He never would have believed he could have gotten to Manhattan this fast.
“What’s taking us so long?” Carpenter demanded.
“We’ve just broken the world record for a trip from Washington, Connecticut, to Manhattan,” Stone said, “and by half an hour.”
She sniffed. “So you say.”
Dino, the captain, and the deputy DA had been chatting uneasily for forty minutes, while Sol Kaminsky talked to his client. The two detectives walked into Dino’s office and placed the pistol, silencer, and ice pick on his desk.
“What?” Dino asked.