by Stuart Woods
“Mr. Fisher?” the woman asked.
“Yes, Parker’s father asked me to come and see him.”
Parker looked at him questioningly, then caught on.
“When you’re done, if you’ll just pick up the phone by the door and dial zero and let us know, I’ll come back for Mr. Mosely.” She left the room.
Dink and Parker shook hands, half embracing.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Parker asked.
“Sit down, and I’ll tell you.”
They took the wing chairs by the window. “How are they treating you?” Dink asked.
“They’re about finished treating me, I think,” Parker said. “I pretty much snowed them from day one.”
“Have you seen Carson?”
“She’s in the women’s wing, but I see her at meals. We’ve had lunch together a couple of times.”
“How’s she doing?”
“She doesn’t look so hot. Coming down off a cocaine habit is a little raw, if you know what I mean. I’m glad I never used it much.”
“Carson has an addictive personality,” Dink said. “Some people are just made that way.”
“Yeah, I know. How the hell did you get out of that farm place?”
“Two ways. I snowed my keeper, and I turned twenty-one. The keeper took me to a movie in the village, and I took a hike and picked up my car from the place you left it. Thanks, by the way.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I came into my trust from my mother when I turned twenty-one,” Dink said, “and I’m well set up now. I snowed my dad, and he let me use a really nice apartment his firm owns. And guess who I’m having dinner with tonight?”
“Who?”
“Vanessa.”
“You dog. Fuck her once for me, will you?”
“I’d be delighted. If you see Carson, better not mention Vanessa.”
“Yeah, they’re, like, second-best friends, or something. Why did you come up here? It could be dangerous for you, you know. That cop that questioned me acted like he was going to make the world fall on you.”
“I figured that out,” Dink said. “They’re going to do nothing to any of us, because it would get Herb Fisher’s name in the papers, and his clients wouldn’t like it if their lawyer got charged with rape. It’s not dangerous, believe me, and I’ve got plans, sort of, for Mr. Fisher.”
Parker smiled. “Tell me.”
Dink leaned in. “Here’s what I need from you.” He had just finished telling Parker what he wanted when there was a knock at the door, and a woman came in. Dink and Parker stood.
“Mr. Fisher? I’m Mrs. Elliott. We spoke on the phone.”
“Of course, Mrs. Elliott. Do you have news for us?”
“Yes, I do. Mr. Mosely has been approved for discharge, just as soon as his father can come to sign him out.”
“That’s wonderful news, Mrs. Elliott. Congratulations, Parker, on completing your treatment. Mrs. Elliott, it occurs to me that I can give Parker a lift back to New York and save his father the trouble of a drive out here.”
“I’m afraid a parent will have to give written authorization,” she said.
“That’s all right, I have his father’s power of attorney, so I can sign him out. Isn’t this great, Parker? We can surprise your dad.”
“Oh, it’s great,” Parker said.
“Well, all right,” Mrs. Elliott said. “Parker, why don’t I walk you back to your room, and your can pack your things. Mr. Fisher, you may wait here, if you like, for Mr. Mosely to come back.”
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Elliott, for everything.” Dink shook hands with her, and she left with Parker.
Half an hour later, they were driving back to the city. “You can bunk with me for a while,” Dink said. “There are two bedrooms.”
“Great,” Parker replied. “I’m looking forward to this.”
49
The chopper slowed as it reached East Hampton and ran along the beach. The pilot looked back at Dino and Rosie. “It’s the smallest one,” he said over the intercom, while pointing down. “There’s a guy on the front porch. I’ll fly past and approach from the landward side. There’s a backyard.”
Dino looked down and from their height of about two hundred feet saw a man sitting at a table on the front porch of the house; he seemed to be eating breakfast. Dino gave the pilot a thumbs-up. “I see him,” he said. “There’s a hedge behind the house that separates it from what looks like a park. Can you put it down on that side of the hedge?”
“Sure thing,” the pilot said. Well past the house now, he swung inland.
Dino felt the deceleration and heard the chopper’s noise decline. “They must have some sort of quiet mode,” he said to Rosie.
“That’s right,” the pilot said, “we do. With the house and the hedge between us, he probably won’t hear us land.”
“Perfect,” Dino said. He looked out the window at the enormous beach houses. “Abney must have a very old house,” he said to Rosie. “His is a lot smaller than the others, and on less land.”
The chopper slowed again and Dino could look over the pilot’s shoulder through the windshield and see their landing spot coming. “Tighten your seat belt,” he said to Rosie.
“Can I take the train back?” Rosie asked. She was looking a little pale.
“Sissy!” Dino said, and he heard the pilot chuckle.
“Fifty feet and descending,” the pilot said. “How long will you be?”
“Just long enough to drag the bastard back here by his ears,” Dino said. “Keep it running.” The machine touched down and Dino opened the door and jumped out, followed closely by Rosie.
“Solid ground!” Rosie yelled, gleefully.
“Come on, we’ve got to find a break in this hedge,” Dino said, trotting along the twelve-foot-high thicket. “There’s no going through the thing.” They came to a road and turned toward the beach. The hedge turned, too. “The driveway’s gotta be along here somewhere,” Dino muttered, slowing down.
“Just ahead,” Rosie said. “You want to go in the back door?”
Dino got to the driveway and peeked around the hedge. A silver BMW was parked in the driveway. “Nah, I want to ruin the guy’s breakfast. Let’s go around.” He unholstered his weapon and held it at his side, as did Rosie, as they walked around the house. At the edge of the porch railing they stopped and looked around the corner. The table, chair, and some dishes were there, but no Abney.
“Which way, boss?”
“I’ll take the front, you go around back. He might be in the kitchen, so watch yourself. Yell out if you have trouble.”
The two parted company, and Dino walked casually around the corner of the porch and up the steps. The front door was open, but the screen door was closed. He tried it: latched. Dino took a credit card from his pocket, slipped it past the jamb, and moved it up, flipping the latch off. The gun at his side, he slipped through the screen door, closing it quietly behind him, then stopped and listened. Nothing. “Yoo-hoo, Mr. Abney,” he called out. “It’s your neighbor. Are you decent?”
He heard the rear screen door slam and heavy footsteps running. “Stop! Police!” he heard Rosie shout, then the footsteps were climbing stairs. “Mr. Abney, it’s the police!” Dino yelled. “Come downstairs with your hands up, or we’ll come up after you!” There was more running upstairs, then the noise stopped in what sounded like the front corner of the house.
Dino walked through the dining room and saw Rosie standing in the kitchen a yard or two from the stairs. She pointed upward, and he nodded. He walked to the stairs, and she joined him. “Follow me up, and walk near the wall. The steps will squeak less there.”
Rosie nodded. “Gotcha, boss.”
Dino started up the stairs slowly, his back to the wall and his gun pointed upward. At the top of the stairs, he stuck his head out for a second, then snatched it back. “Hallway,” he said to Rosie. “Mr. Abney! NYPD! Step into the hall, and let me see your hands in the air!”
“Go away!” a voice yelled back. “You can’t come into my home!”
“Mr. Abney, I’ve got a warrant for your arrest for murder, attempted murder, and assault on a police officer! I can do anything I want, and your house is surrounded by a SWAT team. Would you rather have them come in after you?”
Silence.
Dino stepped up the last step and into the hallway. Staying close to the wall, he moved quietly along toward an open doorway, perhaps twelve feet away.
“Ready?” he whispered to Rosie.
She nodded.
Dino swung around and charged through the door, his weapon extended. Abney was standing near a window, a gun pointed at his temple.
“Put the gun down, Abney, or I’ll shoot you where you stand,” Dino said.
Abney didn’t move. “Go ahead, shoot me.”
“Now, why would you want me to do that?” Dino asked. “You’ve got years of life ahead of you, all of them in prison. You’ll love it-lots of sex.”
“I’ll shoot myself before I’ll let you take me,” Abney said.
“Go ahead, you son of a bitch!” Dino shouted. “Do us all a favor!”
Abney pulled the trigger, and simultaneously with the noise, the window behind him shattered and blood and brains sprayed all over the wall and the remaining window. Abney collapsed like a felled ox.
Dino walked carefully over to him and kicked the gun away from his body. Dino holstered his weapon and turned to Rosie. “You didn’t hear what I said to him.”
“I didn’t hear anything but the gunshot,” she replied.
“I’ll go call this in,” Dino said. “You go tell the chopper pilot we’re going to be an hour or two. Tell him to call his dispatcher and see if he can wait. If he can’t, he can go, and we’ll take the train back.”
Rosie nodded and headed for the stairs.
Dino looked around the bedroom. It was sweetly decorated, frilly, even. There was nothing remarkable about it: a couple of department-store prints, some yellow curtains, now bloodstained, a bed, unmade.
He walked back down the stairs, got out his cell phone, and called his precinct, then asked for the captain.
“Egan,” a gruff voice said.
“It’s Bacchetti,” he said. “I’m at Ed Abney’s house in East Hampton.” He read him the address. “Abney blew his brains out while we watched.”
“Saves us a lot of trouble,” the captain said. “You want me to get the locals to the house?”
“I don’t see any way around it. I’ll make sure the scene is properly secured and lots of photographs taken, and Rosie and I will give them statements, then we’ll chopper back to the city. My car is at the West Side helipad.”
“Good work, Dino,” the captain said. “You want me to get out a press release, or wait for you?”
“Go ahead. Just say that we gave him every opportunity to surrender, but he chose to end his life. And say that his death solves the murder of Annette Redfield.”
“It will be done.” The captain hung up.
So did Dino. He took a seat on the living room sofa and called Abney’s office.
“Bright Lights, Ink,” the receptionist said.
“This is Lieutenant Bacchetti. I was there earlier today.”
“Yes, sir, I remember.”
“Let me speak to Margie.”
“One moment.”
“This is Margie.”
“It’s Lieutenant Bacchetti. I’m at Abney’s East Hampton house.”
“Did you get him?”
“He got himself-blew half his head off to keep from going to jail.”
She let out a long sigh. “I had a feeling,” she said. “I’ve got his will right here. It was in my safe.” She giggled. “He left me everything: the business, his apartment, the Hamptons house.”
“Congratulations!”
“I won’t be needing any partners. If you’ll excuse me, Lieutenant, I need to get my people together and explain things to them before this breaks on the news.”
“It’ll be on the six o’clock shows.”
“I’ll have time to contact our clients before then,” she said. “Goodbye, Lieutenant, and thanks!” She hung up.
DINO WAS still sitting on the living room sofa when the East Hampton cops arrived.
50
Stone put down the phone on his desk and walked back to the kitchen and into the garden, where Marla was relaxing on a chaise longue. There was a script in her lap and a bottle of gimlets and two glasses on the table next to her.
Stone sat down and kissed her, then poured them both a gimlet. “I’m sorry I took so long. I was talking on the phone with Dino.”
“How is Dino?”
“Never better. He cleared Annette Redfield’s murder this morning.”
“What does ‘cleared’ mean?”
“Well, in this case, he didn’t make an arrest.”
“You mean, Ed Abney is still free?”
“Ed Abney is dead. He shot himself when Dino went to arrest him.”
“Oh, God,” she said, putting a hand to her face. “I’m never going to have to be afraid of him again.”
“That’s right, and it’s a good thing, too. Abney nearly killed a female NYPD detective last night. She’s recovering in the hospital, be out in a few days.”
Joan came into the garden with some letters. “Marla, your neighbor dropped off your mail. There was something hand-delivered, too.” She handed the packet to Marla.
Marla opened the hand-delivered envelope first. “It’s from Bright Lights, Ink,” she said.
“Are you their client?”
“They’re publicists for the show I just finished.”
“What does it say?”
“I’ll read it to you:
Dear Marla,
We want to tell you about a big change at Bright Lights, Ink. Ed Abney is no longer in charge. As a matter of fact, it has been some years since Ed did any active publicity work for the company. Senior staff did the work, and Ed took the credit.
For our existing clients, like you, our work will continue as usual, but Ed is gone. Police went to his East Hampton home this morning to arrest him on charges of the murder of a woman and assault on a police officer. Rather than go to jail, Ed took his own life. The newspapers and TV will give you the details.
I have been with the agency for twelve years, and I am its new president. I will take great pleasure in seeing that your account is handled in an outstanding and personal fashion. If you have any questions or requests, please call me, day or night.
“It’s signed by Margie, his secretary. She’s a terrific lady, and I always thought she was the brains there.”
“Then she still is,” Stone said.
“I’ve got some news for you,” she said.
“I hope it’s good news.”
“I hope it is, too. This morning I read your son Peter’s play, the one he produced at Yale last winter.” She tapped the script in her lap.
“Did you get the script from my study?”
“No, my agent had it hand-delivered to me this morning. It’s coming to Broadway, and I’ve been asked if I have any interest in directing it.”
“Do you?”
“Let me ask you a question first. Does Peter know that you and I are… friends?”
“No, that’s such a recent event that I haven’t had time to tell him yet.”
“Did you suggest to someone that I direct it?”
“No. Peter told me when the play opened at Yale that there was talk of a New York production, but I haven’t heard anything about it since, until now.”
“Do you want me to direct it?”
“Apparently Peter does, or they wouldn’t have contacted you. My opinion doesn’t enter into it. For my part, if you choose to direct it, I’ll be happy for you both.”
“Then I think I’d like to do it. It’s charming, funny, and, in the end, very moving. I think a play like this-small cast, one set, put into a small theater
like, say, the Music Box or the Helen Hayes-could have a long run.”
“May I ask a favor of you?”
“You may.”
“You didn’t see the play at Yale?”
“No.”
“Well, Peter played the lead, and he was very good in it.”
“You want me to cast him again?”
“No, I’d rather you didn’t. That’s the favor I’m asking.”
“Why don’t you want him in the play?”
“Because of what you just said. I don’t want him tied to the long run of a play, even if it’s his play. I want him at Yale, finishing his degree, before he does something like that.”
“I can understand that. All right, if I do it, I won’t cast him. Will he be disappointed?”
“Maybe, I’m not sure. We haven’t discussed it.”
“Perhaps it’s best if I don’t use anyone from the original cast,” Marla said. “They’re all students, and what you’ve just said about Peter probably applies to them, too.”
“I can’t argue with that reasoning.”
“Then I’ll tell them I’m interested, and if the offer is right, I’ll do it.”
“That’s great! Do you want me to tell Peter?”
“No, let him hear about it through channels, then he can have the thrill of telling you. There’ll be time enough later to tell him about us.”
“Peter’s girlfriend wrote the incidental music, and it’s very good.”
“I’ll hear it, and if I like it, I’ll use it.”
“That would make your playwright very happy. In fact, I think you should expect him to insist.”
“Then I’ll try very hard to like the music.” She took a sip of her drink and sat back.
“Everything all right, now?” Stone asked.
“Everything seems just about perfect,” she said. “Ed Abney got what he deserved, I’m not out of work anymore, and, best of all, I’m here with you.”
“Pilots have an expression,” Stone said. “‘Severe clear.’”
“What does it mean?”
“It means that the way ahead is clear of foul weather and even clouds, the air is smooth, and visibility is unlimited.”