Fresh Disasters

56

Stone was awoken from a sound sleep by the ringing of the phone. He tried to move but seemed to be pinned in place. He opened his eyes to a close-up of Eliza Larkin that was very close up, since they were wrapped around each other.

He freed an arm and reached for the phone. “Yeah?” he croaked.

“Rise and shine, pal,” Dino said. “It’s five-thirty in the morning. Greet the new day!”

“You sound alarmingly happy for this time of day,” Stone said. “Why are you up?”

“I never went to bed,” Dino said. “Never needed to. I never had so much fun in my life!”

“How did you spend your night, Dino?”

“Questioning Jerome Daltry,” Dino said. “Charley Sample brought a D.A. over here from Jersey, and he did a deal with little Jerry, who, I might add, is a straight-out, honest-to-God psychopath.”

“What’s the deal?”

“Jerome gets twenty to life in a New Jersey joint for the criminally insane, and, in return, he confessed to running you down with the car and killing Celia. We got it all on videotape, and we got it in writing, too-signed, sealed and delivered! He even told us he delivered Celia’s head to Devlin, put it right in his hands! Can you imagine how that’s going to play in court?”

“What did Devlin have to say for himself?”

“Oh, he was having a little trouble talking, what with his broken jaw and all, but he did manage to speak the word lawyer a number of times. Doesn’t matter, though, we’ve got him sewed up for Celia’s murder and for the two rapes, too!”

“There was somebody besides Genevieve?”

“Yeah, he got over on my detective before the cavalry could get there. Couldn’t be helped. She’s taking it like a champ, though, and she’ll be great in court. So will Genevieve, come to that. She’s pissed off enough to kill him, if we’d let her.”

“You did have a good night, didn’t you?”

“Sometimes I just love this job!” Dino crowed. “I’m going home and get some sleep. We’ll talk later.” He hung up.

Stone put the phone down and turned back to Eliza, who was wide awake. “That was Dino; he…”

“I could hear him shouting,” she said. “I got it all. He’s right about Genevieve; when she gets her day in court she’ll nail the guy.”

Stone kissed her. “You’re very nice to wake up to,” he said.

She shortened the distance between them. “You, too,” she said. She ran her hand down his belly. “I sense that something is going on down there.”

“You’re a perceptive woman,” Stone said, rolling her over on top of him.

“I’ll think of something to do with it,” she said, kissing him again and slipping him inside her. “It’s my day off, too, so we’re going to be here for a while.”

The phone rang again. “Fuck it,” Stone said.

“It’s probably more good news,” Eliza said. “I can wait another few seconds.”

Stone grabbed the phone. “What?”

“Well, don’t bite my head off,” Herbie said.

“Jesus, Herbie, do you know what time it is?”

“I’ve got five-forty. You really ought to invest in a watch, Stone.”

“What do you want, Herbie?”

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m taking your advice,” Herbie said. “I took a cab to Jersey, and I’m on a bus, headed south.”

“Great news, Herbie. Good-bye and good luck.”

“Oh, will you tell Uncle Bob good-bye for me?”

“Sure, I will. Good-bye.”

“And say good-bye to that nice D.A., too. You know, if I’d been able to hang around, I would have taken a shot at that. She’s cute!”

“I’ll tell her you said so, Herbie; I’m sure she’ll be devastated to lose the chance. Good-bye.”

“Hey, you think she’ll really be devastated? Maybe I’ll hang around and…”

“Good-bye, Herbie,” Stone said and hung up. He turned back to Eliza. “That was Herbie.”

“I heard. Do you think you’ve seen the last of him?”

“Dear God, I hope so,” Stone said, turning his full attention to her again.

“You know, you went down a bit when you were talking to Herbie, but now…”

Stone made a little thrust.

“You’re back,” she said, helping him.