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“Right this way,” she replied. Stone walked around the body and satisfied himself that it wasn’t going to walk away. Joan gave him a calm, clear account of the events of the evening and pointed out the pistol on the floor, then they returned to the living room.
“Sergeants, my client will be happy to answer yourquestions,” Stone said. “I should point out that I do not represent Ms. Brower.”
“I’d like you to,” Betty said, “if that’s all right.”
“Yes, it is. Now you may both answer the officers’ questions. Tell the truth, and don’t leave anything out,” Stone said to the women. He took a seat and listened quietly to the questions and answers.
There were noises of other vehicles at the front of the house. “That will be the ambulance, the medical examiner, and the crime scene team,” Powell said. “Mr. Barrington, do you have any questions?”
“Just to repeat,” Stone said. “Joan, Betty, do either of you know the intruder, or have you ever seen him before tonight?”
“No,” they both said simultaneously.
“One more question. Does the pistol next to the body belong to either of you, or have either of you ever seen it before?”
They shook their heads. “No,” Joan said. “He seems to have brought it with him.”
“Sergeant Powell,” Stone said, “will you please give Ms. Robertson a receipt for her weapon?”
“Of course,” Powell said, and wrote one out on a page from his notebook.
“Sergeants, may we agree that what we have here is a routine B and E, and that Ms. Robertson fired her weapon in self-defense?”
“That appears to be the case,” Powell said, “but that could change with further investigation.”
“I don’t think so,” Stone said, standing up. “Joan, do you or Betty need transportation to the city?”
They both declined. “I have my car,” Joan said.
“Sergeant Powell,” Stone said, handing him a card. “Will you please forward a photograph of the weapon and any reports relating to ballistics tests to me? I’d like to have my own people take a look at those.”
“Yes, Mr. Barrington.”
Stone kissed both women good night, told them to go back to bed, then returned to the waiting helicopter.
He was back at the East Side Heliport before the intruder was on a slab.
THIRTY-NINE
It was daylight before Stone got back to his house, and he went back to sleep for another four hours. By the time he was dressed for the day, he had tried to flush his brain of the East Hampton business and failed. Joan and Betty had answered the questions of the police fully and completely, but he had not done so. He wasn’t positive, but he thought the corpse at the party may well have been the man who had rung his doorbell a few nights ago, asking for Eddie. He checked for the image on the front door camera, but it had not been saved by the system, not having been instructed to do that.
Dino rang. “I called early this morning but got no answer. I assumed you were fucking somebody and couldn’t talk.”
“I wish that were true, but it is not.”
“Then where were you?”
“In East Hampton, or on the way back by helicopter.”
“Why didn’t I know you were going to East Hampton?”
“Because I didn’t know myself until around oneam. Also, because, contrary to your belief, I do not tell you my every move.”
“Wrong. I don’t ask, but eventually you tell me everything. All I want to know now is why you were in East Hampton.”
“I was answering a homicide call.”
“Are you acting under the delusion that you are still a policeman and working in the East Hampton jurisdiction?”
