“I told you she shouldn’t go into that building,” Genevieve said. “He raped me.”
Eliza looked shocked. “You never told me.”
“I never told anybody,” she said.
Dino patted her hand. “I’m sorry, Genevieve. Don’t you worry, I’m going to make him pay for that.”
“Why don’t you call Bernstein back?” Stone said.
“He’ll call me,” Dino said. “He’s got enough on his hands right now without having to take my phone calls. His partner is in trouble; I shouldn’t have let him send her in there,” he said. “This is my fault all the way.”
“It was her call, Dino; she was on the spot, and you have to back her decision. Nothing is your fault.”
“Shit,” Dino said, banging on the table.
55
Bernstein screamed, “Mayday, Mayday,” and pulled out his gun, intending to shoot at the locks. He didn’t know if it would do any good. Then he heard Willa scream.
“My back is killing me, goddammit!”
Joe Dowdell came running with the crowbar. “I’ll try again!” he yelled.
“Not this door, the garage door!” Bernstein shouted.
Dowdell ran toward the garage door and ran the tip of the crowbar under it until it stopped where the door latched into the pavement. He worked it to no avail, then he stood on the end of the bar and put his whole weight on it. There was a metallic snap, and the door came unanchored from the concrete. All four cops got their fingers under it and managed to raise it about eighteen inches. Then the flying form of Shelly Pointer scooted under the door.
Shelly ran for the elevator. “It’s five floors!” she yelled back. “It’s faster to wait for the elevator.”
Bernstein, who was in the best shape of the four men, ignored her and ran for the stairs.
The elevator seemed to take forever.
“I don’t like the noises I’m hearing,” Pointer said. There were grunting sounds coming from their equipment. “And I don’t hear Willa at all.”
The elevator finally came, and the other three cops boarded it. As they passed the third floor they could hear Bernstein’s feet pounding on the steel stairs. He reached the fourth floor just as they did and was banging on the steel fire door.
Somebody let him in, and the five cops ran through the apartment to the curving staircase and, with Pointer in the lead, ran up the last flight.
As Pointer reached the top of the stairs she could see across the living room to the bar. Willa was on the floor, naked, and Daltry was behind and on top of her, oblivious to the five cops rushing across the room. Pointer got there first, and swung her gun at his head. There was a flash of blood, and Daltry fell sideways, clutching at his scalp and screaming. The four men fell on him.
Pointer shucked off her raincoat, went to Willa and covered her. “Oh, Willa, baby,” she crooned, stroking her hair. “What did that bastard do to you?” She turned back toward the cops. “Don’t kill him, for Christ’s sake! Get on the horn and get an ambulance down here, and tell them to send a fucking doctor, not just an EMT. Willa is unconscious!”
Back at Elaine’s, Dino answered his cell phone again. “What?”
Bernstein was breathing hard. “He’s hurt Willa,” he shouted into the phone. “We got him, but he’s hurt her.”
“Have you called for an ambulance?”
“Yeah, it’s on the way. We’ll probably end up at Bellevue; I’ll call you.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Dino said. He snapped the phone shut and turned to Stone. “You take care of the ladies,” he said. “I’ll call you when I know more.” His cell phone rang again, and he flipped it open. “Bacchetti.” He listened for a moment. “Great! Get him into the city pronto. I’m going to Bellevue, and when I know what’s going on there, I’ll come back to the precinct.” He snapped the phone shut again. “The state cops have arrested one Jerome Daltry at Devlin Daltry’s house in Sneden’s Landing on a parole violation. They’re bringing him down here. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” Dino ran for his car.
Willa Bernstein slowly came to in a dimly lit room. Somebody was holding her hand.
“Willa? It’s Shelly, baby, can you hear me?”
Willa nodded. “My head hurts,” she said. “And that’s not all. What happened?”