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Joan laughed. “It does, doesn’t it?” The phone rang and she answered it. “Woodman & Weld, the Barrington Practice.” She listened for a moment, then held out the phone to Stone. “It’s Annetta’s butler. He wants to speak to you, and he sounds odd.”
“Odd how?”
“Ask him.”
“This is Stone Barrington. Yes, Geoffrey, what is it?” He listened for a moment. “Now calm down, Geoffrey. There are some things you have to do. Please listen to me. First of all, you must note the time, then call 911 and tell them you want to report a death. Then you must tell the staff to stay out of the upstairs sitting room, and neither you nor they must touch anything in the room. Do you understand?” He listened. “Please tell that to the police when they arrive. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up and got into his jacket.
“That sounded alarming,” Joan said.
“It was alarming. Geoffrey says that a staff member found Annetta dead, apparently of a gunshot.”
“Damn it. Did the butler do it?”
“That remains to be seen.”
“You should call Dino,” Joan said.
“I’ll call him on the way. Get Fred saddled up.” He glanced at his wristwatch. “Please note that the call came in about 3:40pm.”
Stone hurried for the garage. As soon as they were on their way, Stone called Dino.
“Bacchetti.”
“It’s Stone. Do you remember Annetta Charles?”
“Yeah, she’s the widow of Edwin Charles, and she’s your new client.”
“Not anymore. I just had a call from her butler, saying that she’s dead, apparent gunshot wound.”
“Did you call 911?”
“I instructed him to. Will you see that a reliable detective gets assigned to this? One who won’t screw everything up?”
“I’m afraid you’ll catch whoever is hanging around the precinct. My own order.”
“Swell. Now I’ll have to deal with one of those sorry timeservers that are rife on your police force.”
“You? Why do you have to deal with anybody?”
“I may have been the last person to see her alive.”
“Really.”
“Except for her killer, of course.”
“Of course,” Dino said. “Good luck, pal.” He hung up.
ELEVEN
Fred found an actual, legal parking spot a couple of doors from the Charles mansion. Also parked out front were two police cars: a cruiser with its lights flashing and an unmarked sedan with a police shield on the sun visor. Stone walked up the front steps, reached into his pocket, and withdrew the wallet that contained his police shield, getting it ready to display.
A cop stood at the door, ready to stop anyone who tried to enter. Stone showed him the badge. “I want to talk to the detective in charge.”
The cop peered at the badge. “That’s a retirement badge.”
“You’re very observant,” Stone said. “I’ll mention it to the commissioner when he gets here.”
“The commissioner is coming to a murder scene?”
