Lucid Intervals (Stone Barrington 18)

“For murder,” the young woman replied.

“On what evidence?” Stone asked.

“Mr. Fisher was the only one present when she was thrown off the roof,” she said.

“Excuse me,” Stone said. “What evidence do you have that she was thrown off the roof?”

“Well, she’s dead.”

“Have you considered suicide?”

“Why should I consider suicide?”

“Because it’s one of two possibilities,” Stone said. “Either she was thrown off the roof, or she jumped.”

“What is her motive for suicide?”

“What is Mr. Fisher’s motive for murder?”

“I’m sure that will emerge.”

“Well, if a motive emerges, you may have cause to arrest Mr. Fisher but not now. Tell you what. Send a couple of Lieutenant Bacchetti’s detectives over to a restaurant called Sette Mezzo, on Lexington near Seventy-sixth. Mr. Fisher and Ms. Seidman had dinner there last night. Ask the headwaiter and their waiter what their demeanor was during dinner there. You

’ll be told that they were very happy, enjoying each other’s company. You see, he was in love with her, and they planned to marry.”

“If they were so happy, why would Ms. Seidman commit suicide?”

“Anger is a motive for suicide; people kill themselves all the time, because they think it will hurt the people they’re mad at.”

“You say he was in love with her. Was she in love with him?”

“In my opinion, no,” Stone replied. “Ms. Seidman was a working prostitute who had serviced Mr. Fisher on a number of occasions, and when Mr. Fisher won a large sum in the New York State Lottery, her interest in him became more… acute, shall we say. And so did the interest of her employer.”

“You still haven’t given me a motive for suicide,” Ms. Rentz said. “Why was she angry?”

“She was angry because Mr. Fisher had asked her to sign a prenuptial agreement. She didn’t want to go back to her pimp and tell him that, so she was between a rock and a hard place. I had already spoken to her earlier about a prenup, and she became angry at the mention of it. She was uncontrollably angry before she jumped.”

“We didn’t find a prenup in the apartment,” she said.

“That’s because I hadn’t given it to Mr. Fisher yet. He asked her to go and see me about it.”

“Without her own attorney?”

“I would have insisted on that,” Stone said.

“Why didn’t you give Mr. Fisher the prenup earlier?”

“Because I’ve been out of town for a few days, in Maine. I just got back today. My secretary will be happy to give you a copy of the prenup I had prepared.” He gave her the address and Joan’s name.

“When the detectives arrived, Mr. Fisher feigned not to know that Ms. Seidman had… met her death. How could he have missed that?”

“Because he was sitting on the toilet, reading a magazine, when she jumped. When he was finished there, he got dressed and went to look for her, but she was gone. He thought she had gone shopping, because that’s what she usually did.”

“How can he prove that?” she asked.

“Mr. Fisher will agree to a colonoscopy,” Stone replied.

Dino burst out laughing.