New York Dead (Stone Barrington 1)

“I continued down Second Avenue all the way to Houston, then turned right, then left on Garamond Street. That’s where I live.”

“Did you see anyone you knew?”

“At two thirty in the morning?”

“Anyone at all. Someone else in your building?”

“There is no one else in my building. I live over a former glove factory.”

“We’d like to see your apartment. May we go there now?”

“Why?”

“It would help us in our investigation. If you had nothing to do with what happened to Miss Nijinsky, then we’d like to be able to cross you off our list of suspects.”

“I’m a suspect?” Van Fleet asked, surprised. “What do you suspect me of?”

“Well, we haven’t established the cause of… what happened, yet.”

“Was there a crime?”

“We haven’t determined that yet.”

“My impression from the news was that Sasha’s fall was a suicide attempt.”

“That’s certainly a possibility. We treat any unknown cause of death as homicide, until we know otherwise.”

“Then you suspect me of a homicide you’re not sure was committed?”

“As I said, Mr. Van Fleet, everyone who had anything to do with her is a suspect, until we know for sure what happened. Do you object to our seeing where you live?”

Van Fleet shrugged. “Not really, but I think I should ask my lawyer how he feels about it.”

“That’s your right.”

“Unless you have a search warrant.”

“We c

an get one if we feel it’s necessary.”

“If a judge feels it’s necessary, you mean.”

“We can get a search warrant.”

“I watch a lot of police shows on television, you see. I understand these things.”

“You object to our seeing your apartment, then?”

“No, I don’t, not really. However, I don’t think you have a good enough reason to ask. If you do have a good enough reason, then you can get a search warrant, can’t you?”

“It would certainly make us feel better about you if we had your cooperation, Mr. Van Fleet.”

“Please don’t misunderstand me, Detective Barrington, I’m most anxious to help. I greatly admire Sasha, and I would do anything I could to help you resolve what happened to her. But I don’t really see how visiting my home would help you, and I think such a visit would be an unwarranted invasion of my privacy. Of course, a judge may feel differently, and, if so, I’ll be happy to cooperate.”

“I see,” Stone said. He was getting nowhere.

“Is there anything else I can do to help you?”