“At Second and Thirty-fourth, stopped at a light,” the detective replied. “Wait a minute. The cab’s light is on and a guy is getting in.”
“Stop the cab,” Dino said. “Arrest her for tampering with evidence. She stole the pistol.”
The detective switched on his flashing light and drove up next to the cab. His partner got out and shone a light into the rear seat, then got back in. “Lieutenant,” he said into the radio, “she’s not in the cab anymore.”
“What?”
“She’s not there. We saw the lawyer get out, but not the woman. We thought she was still inside.”
“Oh, swell,” Dino said. He hung up and called Stone’s house.
“Hello?” Stone said. Carpenter picked up the other bedside extension.
“We’ve lost her,” he said.
“How?” Stone asked.
“My guys saw Kaminsky get out of the cab at Seventy-seventh Street, but not La Biche. Now she’s not in the cab anymore. What’s more, she stole back the pistol and the ice pick, took them right off the table in the interrogation room when I went to the door. Didn’t any of you behind the mirror see that?”
“We were talking to each other,” Stone said.
“It’s not your fault, Dino,” Carpenter said. “It’s ours.”
“Sorry, babe,” Dino said. “I can put an APB out for her for stealing the pistol, if you like.”
“Can you prove she stole it?”
“I can, if I can catch her with it.”
“And what do you think the chances of that are?”
Dino was quiet.
“Good night, Dino.” Carpenter hung up.
So did Stone. “What now?”
Carpenter dialed a number. “Mason,” she said.
Stone picked up the extension.
“Mason,” a man’s voice said.
“Tell me you’re still on her,” Carpenter said “We’re not, I’m afraid,” Mason replied. “There was no way we could get to the precinct before she left.”
“I was afraid of that. The NYPD lost her. They’ve been chasing an empty cab since Seventy-seventh Street.”
“Good God. Why didn’t they hold her?”
“That one is our fault, I’m afraid. We never filed any charges against her, and the NYPD had nothing on her. They found a pistol in the ladies’ room at Elaine’s, but the ballistics didn’t match the slug from the diplomatic killing, and she didn’t use a gun on the others.”
“I’m very sorry to hear it,” Mason said.
“On top of everything else, she stole the pistol back from the police, walked right out of the precinct with it in her handbag.”
“So where we are now sounds very much like square one.”
“Very much.”