New York Dead (Stone Barrington 1)

“Okay, I think. He said I’m okay.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Dino, where’d you get the arrest warrant for the weapons charge?”

“Hagler had that, too. He came up with it right after you left.”

Stone nodded.

Dino got into the unmarked car and drove away.

Stone walked briskly down the street to the corner drugstore and found a phone. He got the number from information, and, when he told the secretary who he was, she immediately put him through.

“Hello, Detective Barrington?”

“Mr. Palmer, Hank Morgan has been arrested on a weapons charge. If I were you, I’d get up to the precinct without delay.”

There was a stunned silence from Palmer’s end of the line.

“Good-bye,” Stone said.

“Thank you, Detective,” Palmer managed to sputter before Stone hung up.

Stone walked slowly up Sixth Avenue, not looking for a cab yet. He felt something of the traitor, but he had wanted to do something to redress the balance. He was in no hurry to get to the precinct. He didn’t want to be involved in what was going to happen there.

Chapter 25

In spite of his lengthy walk, Stone got to the precinct before Morgan’s lawyer did. Dino’s desk was empty.

“Dino’s got the dyke in interrogation room three,” a detective at a nearby desk told Stone.

Three had a two-way mirror. Stone walked hurriedly down the hall and let himself quietly into the adjacent viewing room, which was empty. He sat down on a folding chair and took in the scene next door. Morgan was seated at the steel table facing the mirror, with Dino and the ADA on either side of her. She sat rigidly in the uncomfortable chair, gripping the arms. Her knuckles were white. Tears streamed down her face. A tape recorder was on the table.

Stone looked at his watch. She would have been in the interrogation room for nearly an hour. Where was Palmer?

“I want my lawyer,” Morgan sobbed.

“You already had your lawyer,” Dino replied, “and now you’re going to talk to me.”

“I have nothing to say to you,” Morgan said adamantly, her voice quavering.

Stone could tell she was near breaking. Anything could happen now.

“We’ve got you cold on the weapons possession charge,” Dino said. “That’s five to ten, and you won’t get sent to a country club. You’ll be in there with all the other bull dykes – the muscle freaks, the murderers.”

“I have nothing to say,” Morgan nearly screamed.

“Let’s put the weapons thing aside for the moment,” Dino said, his voice kinder. “Let’s talk about Sasha.”

“I don’t want to talk about Sasha,” Morgan said. Her head sagged forward until her chin touched her chest. “I don’t want to talk about anything.”

Dino leaned forward and lowered his voice.

Stone strained to hear him over the speaker.

“Look, nobody’s saying you murdered Sasha; I know you loved her, and you wouldn’t hurt her on purpose. It was an accident, I know that. You just had a little tussle, and Sasha fell, that’s all. You must have felt terrible.”

To Stone’s astonishment, Morgan nodded slowly. Her face was shiny with tears, and she made no effort to wipe them away.