Fresh Disasters

55

Bernstein screamed, “Mayday, Mayday,” and pulled out his gun, intending to shoot at the locks. He didn’t know if it would do any good. Then he heard Willa scream.

“My back is killing me, goddammit!”

Joe Dowdell came running with the crowbar. “I’ll try again!” he yelled.

“Not this door, the garage door!” Bernstein shouted.

Dowdell ran toward the garage door and ran the tip of the crowbar under it until it stopped where the door latched into the pavement. He worked it to no avail, then he stood on the end of the bar and put his whole weight on it. There was a metallic snap, and the door came unanchored from the concrete. All four cops got their fingers under it and managed to raise it about eighteen inches. Then the flying form of Shelly Pointer scooted under the door.

Shelly ran for the elevator. “It’s five floors!” she yelled back. “It’s faster to wait for the elevator.”

Bernstein, who was in the best shape of the four men, ignored her and ran for the stairs.

The elevator seemed to take forever.

“I don’t like the noises I’m hearing,” Pointer said. There were grunting sounds coming from their equipment. “And I don’t hear Willa at all.”

The elevator finally came, and the other three cops boarded it. As they passed the third floor they could hear Bernstein’s feet pounding on the steel stairs. He reached the fourth floor just as they did and was banging on the steel fire door.

Somebody let him in, and the five cops ran through the apartment to the curving staircase and, with Pointer in the lead, ran up the last flight.

As Pointer reached the top of the stairs she could see across the living room to the bar. Willa was on the floor, naked, and Daltry was behind and on top of her, oblivious to the five cops rushing across the room. Pointer got there first, and swung her gun at his head. There was a flash of blood, and Daltry fell sideways, clutching at his scalp and screaming. The four men fell on him.

Pointer shucked off her raincoat, went to Willa and covered her. “Oh, Willa, baby,” she crooned, stroking her hair. “What did that bastard do to you?” She turned back toward the cops. “Don’t kill him, for Christ’s sake! Get on the horn and get an ambulance down here, and tell them to send a fucking doctor, not just an EMT. Willa is unconscious!”

Back at Elaine’s, Dino answered his cell phone again. “What?”

Bernstein was breathing hard. “He’s hurt Willa,” he shouted into the phone. “We got him, but he’s hurt her.”

“Have you called for an ambulance?”

“Yeah, it’s on the way. We’ll probably end up at Bellevue; I’ll call you.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Dino said. He snapped the phone shut and turned to Stone. “You take care of the ladies,” he said. “I’ll call you when I know more.” His cell phone rang again, and he flipped it open. “Bacchetti.” He listened for a moment. “Great! Get him into the city pronto. I’m going to Bellevue, and when I know what’s going on there, I’ll come back to the precinct.” He snapped the phone shut again. “The state cops have arrested one Jerome Daltry at Devlin Daltry’s house in Sneden’s Landing on a parole violation. They’re bringing him down here. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” Dino ran for his car.

Willa Bernstein slowly came to in a dimly lit room. Somebody was holding her hand.

“Willa? It’s Shelly, baby, can you hear me?”

Willa nodded. “My head hurts,” she said. “And that’s not all. What happened?”

“Don’t you worry, baby, we got Daltry; everything’s going to be all right.”

“What happened to me?” Willa asked. “We were fighting; that’s all I remember.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Shelly said. “You just get some rest.”

Willa’s voice got stronger. “Goddammit, Shelly, tell me what happened!”

Shelly took a deep breath. “He raped you, honey. He knocked you unconscious, and then he raped you.”

Willa involuntarily moved her hand to her crotch.

“Not there, Willa.”

“Oh, shit.”

“You’re all right. The doctor already checked you out, and you’re all right. You just be quiet now.”

“I want some aspirin,” Willa said. “I have a hell of a headache, and my eyes are burning, too.”

Shelly reached over and pressed the bedside buzzer. A moment later, a nurse appeared. “She has a headache,” Shelly said to the woman. “Get her something, will you?”

“He sprayed me with something, mace or pepper spray; I need my eyes flushed out.”

“I’ll see to it,” the nurse said, then disappeared. She was back in a moment with two Tylenol, some eye solution and a syringe. In another moment she was dabbing the excess away with a tissue.

“That’s better,” Willa said. “Crank the bed up a little, will you?”

Shelly grabbed the bed control and sat her up. “The guys are all outside. So’s Bacchetti. They’re beside themselves. Can I bring them in?”

“Sure, go ahead, but let’s not discuss my…condition with them, all right?”

Shelly nodded. “I’ll get them.”

Bernstein led the way into the room. He took Willa’s hand. “I’m sorry it took us so long to get in,” he said to her. “The place was a fortress.”

“Where’s Daltry?”

“He’s downstairs being treated for his injuries. We’ll run him uptown when they’re done with him.”

“What injuries?”

Bernstein glanced at his lieutenant. “Well, before you passed out, you must have gotten in a few good punches.”

Willa managed a chuckle. “Yeah, I’ll bet I beat the shit out of him.”

Dino spoke up. “Whatever he got, he deserved. Listen, kiddo, that phone number you got us paid off. It was for Daltry’s country house in Sneden’s Landing, up the Hudson, and we found his younger brother there, freshly paroled from Attica, after doing seven years for a collection of violent crimes. They’re bringing him down to the precinct, so now that I know you’re okay, I’m going to go up there and interrogate him myself.”

“You think he did the girl in New Jersey?” she asked.

“I’d bet on it,” Dino replied. “We’ll collect some DNA from him, then get the Jersey cops on it. With a little luck we’ll put them both away forever. At the very least we’ve got Daltry on the two rapes.”

Dino looked immediately annoyed with himself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“There was another rape?”

“A nurse at a hospital uptown named Genevieve James. Nice girl; she’ll testify.”

“I want him for the murder,” Willa said.

“Don’t worry about it. Leave it to me.”

“Done. Now can I get some sleep, guys? And thanks for rescuing me.”

The men filed out of the room.

“You want me to stay, baby?” Shelly asked. “I’ll stay all night, if you want.”

“Just until I fall asleep,” Willa said.

She didn’t take long.