Desperate Measures

9

They all had dinner at the table by the pool. While the others chatted, Stone and Dino managed a more private conversation.

“It’s a coincidence,” Stone said.

“You think everything is a coincidence,” Dino replied. “You say so all the time.”

“No, I don’t. What I say all the time is that our lives are made up of strings of coincidences, that if you take any important, life-changing event in your history and trace it back far enough, you’ll find that some slim coincidence changed everything. And if you string enough of those coincidences together, what you get is fate.”

“That’s just so much horseshit,” Dino said evenly. “I don’t believe in coincidences, especially where homicides are concerned.”

“Oh, come on, Dino.”

“You think it’s any kind of coincidence at all that a body turns up in L.A., where you and I are, and the crime closely matches three, four others in New York?”

“Well...”

“These homicides are not only connected,” Dino said, “they’re perpetrated by the same person or persons.”

“Well,” Stone said, “if the ME’s estimate of time of death is correct, then that couldn’t be the case because this murder and the last one in New York were committed at roughly the same time, two days ago — while we were dining on roast chicken at Rotisserie Georgette — so it can’t be the same guy.”

“There’s a connection, believe me,” Dino said. “And on top of it all, they’re fucking with you and me, just for fun.”

“They’re not fucking with me,” Stone said. “You’re the cop. If they’re fucking with anybody, it’s you. Don’t you feel fucked with?”

“Of course, I do,” Dino said, “but the connection in all this is Faith.”

“Let me get this straight,” Stone said. “You think they’re picking victims who look like Faith, just to drive me crazy?”

“Aren’t they driving you crazy?’ Dino asked.

“Well, a little, I guess.”

“Then whatever they’re doing is working.”

“They’re driving you crazy, too,” Stone pointed out.

“Thank God the victims don’t look like Viv, or I would already be crazy.”

“Do you think Faith is safe out here?” Stone asked. Faith was tucked up in bed in the guesthouse with a cup of broth to settle her stomach.

“How the hell should I know?” Dino asked. “She was within fifty yards of our floater half a dozen times this afternoon. The perps could have snatched her, if they’d felt like it.”

The butler approached. “The medical examiner is on the phone for Commissioner Bacchetti,” he said. He led Dino to a lounge chair a few feet away and handed him a phone.

Dino put his feet up and chatted for a couple of minutes, then he put down the phone and returned to the table. “Okay,” he said, “the ME confirms his first estimate of time of death. The girl had a tiny purse tucked into her vagina, just big enough to hold her driver’s license, a credit card, and a few bucks. Her name is Elizabeth Sweeney.”

“Where does she live?”

“Santa Monica.”

Viv came over and sat with them.

“We’re going to stop talking about this now. We’re going to all behave as if we’ve had a pleasant day in the California sunshine, riding down the L.A. branch of the Mississippi River,” Dino said.

“All that is true,” Viv said.

“And we’re enjoying a good dinner under the stars, and the ME didn’t call.”

“The ME called?” Viv asked. “What did he say?”

“You see why I’m going crazy here?” he asked Stone.

“She died in L.A. while Dino and I were having dinner in New York,” Stone said. “Her name is Elizabeth Sweeney, and she lives in Santa Monica.”

“And Dino thinks the killings are related.”

“It was his idea,” Dino replied, pointing at Stone.

“Don’t point that thing at me,” Stone said. “You had the same idea at the same time.”

“This is why I’m going crazy,” Dino said. “I’ve already ruled out the killings as a subject of dinner table conversation, so that we can enjoy our dinner and the evening, but you people just won’t leave it alone.”

Viv kissed him on the forehead. “I’m sorry, darling, of course we’ll stop talking about it, won’t we, Stone?”

“Absolutely,” Stone replied.

“How did they identify her?” Viv asked.

Dino picked up his dinner plate and carried it to the other end of the pool, where he collapsed on a chaise longue and tried to eat.

“Oops,” Viv said.