Stone stood up too. “If you’d been a little quicker the first time, I wouldn’t be hobbling around on this knee, and I’d probably still be on the force!”

“Yeah, instead of a tax-free pension and a big-time law practice! I really did you a fucking disservice, didn’t I? And, now, you got the cabbie killer, you cleared four murders, and you’re going to bring down Barron Harkness – all in one week! It’s a rough life you’re gonna be living, ain’t it, Stone?”

Stone opened his mouth, then shut it. Then he started to laugh. So did Dino. They sat down again and laughed until they were exhausted.

“Okay,” Dino said, “you get out of here.” He handed Stone his car keys. “I know a guy in the ME’s office who can keep his mouth shut. I’ll get him to check Van Fleet into the morgue as a John Doe, then I’ll seal this place until Monday morning.”

“Okay. You meet me tomorrow night at ten forty-five sharp at the Continental Network headquarters building on Seventh Avenue. We’ll go up to the studio control room together. And have a blue-and-white waiting downstairs.”

They both got up and walked toward the door, passing the dining table where the five mute conversationalists still carried on.

Dino walked over to Sasha’s corpse and ran the back of a finger along her cheek. “Soft as a baby’s ass,” he said. “I wonder how the son of a bitch did it?”

Chapter 51

Stone could not concentrate on the Sunday papers. Oddly, he gave little thought to the events of the night before. What he thought about was the evening ahead and what it might mean to him.

From the point of view of solving the case, he was unconcerned about proving the guilt of Barron Harkness, but, he was convinced, his future happiness depended upon that proof.

Throughout his adult life, it had been Stone’s habit to go out with one woman at a time. Some of these affairs had been important – marriage had been discussed, although it had never happened. Others were less important, even unsatisfactory, but he had usually stuck with them for a time, because it was easier.

But now he was in love, with all that implied; he had not so much as thought of another woman since the moment he had met Cary. She had consumed his body and his mind from the beginning, and, when she had suddenly disappeared from his life, he had clung to the belief that there was a reasonable explanation for her conduct, if he could only know it. Now, on this late-winter Sunday afternoon, with a high wind howling around his house, he sought that explanation and found it.

From the beginning of their relationship, Cary had urged him to improve his position in life, to leave the police force and practice law. He had steadfastly refused even to consider this. Then, when he had been, in rapid succession, kicked off the force and offered an opportunity by Woodman amp; Weld, he was suddenly in a position to offer her what she wanted. It was at that moment, before he had had a chance to tell her what the future held, that she had returned to Barron Harkness.

It had always been Harkness, he now believed. When she had told him of her long affair with a married man and had disguised his identity, it was Harkness she was protecting. Then, in despair of Stone’s ever getting anywhere, she had returned to Harkness, and Stone had, himself, made it possible for her to marry him, by making Harkness’s divorce inevitable. Now she had the position and money she coveted, although she still loved Stone. He was certain of that. Why else would she still be sleeping with him?

All that remained to correct this situation was to put Harkness away for attempted murder. Hounded by publicity, Cary would seek shelter with Stone, who would now have the means to give her the life she wanted. That result was what he wanted of tonight’s events. Dino could have the bust – it was his anyway. All he wanted was Cary, in his life and in his bed, all the time. Tonight, he would go as far as necessary to make that happen.

Dino was late. There was nothing new about this, but Stone waited impatiently in the lobby of the network building, afraid that Harkness would arrive before Dino did. Dino arrived at eleven, and Stone hustled him into an elevator.

“Jesus, Dino,” Stone said as the car rose, “I thought that, just this once, you would be on time.”

“Stone, I made it, didn’t I? Don’t I always make it?”

“Is there a car downstairs?”

“They’re ready and waiting, don’t worry.”

“This is your bust, Dino. I don’t want any of it.”

“Thanks,” Dino said. “Maybe it’ll help take the curse off the Morgan thing.”

“I hope so.”

The elevator doors opened, and an anxious Hi Barker awaited them. “You’re late,” he said, and he was sweating. “Barron just arrived downstairs and is on the way up. Come with me.” He led them to the control room door and ushered them in. “Jimmy,” he said to a man wearing a headset, “these are police officers. I don’t want Harkness to see them.”

“Don’t worry, Hi,” Jimmy replied. “I’ve got a light on the glass partition that will make a reflection; Harkness won’t be able to see into the control room.”

“Good,” Barker said. “I’ve got to go and meet him now. Anything else you want to tell me, Stone?”

Stone shook his head. “If you get into trouble, I’ve got an ace up my sleeve. I’ll send you a note.”

Barker nodded, then fled.

Stone looked around the control room; it was a smaller, simpler version of the one he had seen months ago at the news division. The executive studios, he had learned, were a couple of sets designed for small-scale interviews, like The Hi Barker Show. The backdrop of the set was simply the New York City skyline, looking south, as seen from the sixty-fifth floor, their current level. The exterior windows were of non-reflective glass, and the view was spectacular.

Hi Barker appeared on the set, followed by Barron Harkness and, to Stone’s surprise, Cary. He hadn’t expected her to be here. Harkness looked flushed, and he tripped on the carpeting and nearly fell as he stepped up to the platform where his seat would be.

“They must have been out somewhere before this,” Dino said. “This is going to be even easier, if he’s a little drunk.”

Stone nodded. He watched as Harkness sat down and had a microphone clipped to his lapel. Hi Barker was flitting about, putting his guests at ease; Cary was given a folding chair just out of camera range. The whole group was no more than twelve feet from where Stone stood. “You’re sure they can’t see us?” he asked the director.

“Not a chance,” Jimmy replied. “I checked it out earlier.”

Two other people, a man and a young woman, came into the control room now and took seats on either side of Jimmy, paying no attention to Stone and Dino. “Ten minutes,” the woman said, looking up at a clock above the row of monitors.

Stone watched the monitors as cameras were pointed at Barker and Harkness. For a moment, a camera rested on Cary, sending Stone a pang of desire. She looked beautiful and serene in her mink coat.

“One minute,” the young woman said, jostling Stone from his reverie. He had been fantasizing about life after Barron Harkness.

“Ten seconds,” she said, then counted down from five. Jimmy pushed a button, and lively music filled the control room.

The man next to Jimmy leaned into a microphone. “From the executive studios of the Continental Network, high above Manhattan, we bring you the premiere of The Hi Barker Show.”

A camera moved in on Hi Barker. “Good evening,” he said amiably. “We’re off to a flying start with this new series. Our aim is to bring you guests who don’t often appear on programs like this one, and our guest tonight is one who, although he appears on television five nights a week, rarely talks about himself. I welcome my old friend, Barron Harkness. Good evening, Barron.”