Kisser

53

CARRIE SAT, SEETHING, between Stone and Willie Leahy in the back of the cab.

“Carrie,” Stone said, “I…”

“I’m not speaking to you,” she said.

“Now wait a minute…”

“And I’m not listening, either.”

Willie wisely kept his mouth shut.

“Willie,” Stone said, “did you get a look at him?”

“At his back,” Willie said. “Tall, slim, black raincoat.”

“It was Max,” Carrie said.

“Did you see him?”

“I didn’t need to see him,” she replied. “It was Max.”

“Carrie, during rehearsals has anyone shown any animosity toward you?” Stone asked.

“Everyone,” she replied.

“Beg pardon?”

“I’m the star; nobody likes the star.”

“And you’ve been behaving like the star?”

“It’s my right.”

Stone looked at Willie. “I think the list of suspects is growing.”

“Yeah,” Willie said. “Anybody in the show could have done it; she’s been a perfect bitch.”

“What?” Carrie screamed. “You’re fired!”

“I don’t work for you, remember?” Willie seemed to have had enough.

“Stone, fire him this minute.”

“He doesn’t work for me,” Stone said, “and I don’t doubt for a minute that Willie is right.”

Carrie started to get out of the moving cab, but Stone and Willie held her down.

“You’re hurting me!” she shouted.

“No, you’re hurting you,” Stone said. “Stop it.”

Amazingly, she went both limp and silent. The cab arrived, and the three got out.

“I want to go to bed,” Carrie said. “I’ve got a rehearsal at ten.”

“You’re going to be late,” Stone said. “You’ve got to talk to the police before you can go anywhere.”

“The police? Why?”

“Because they take gunshot wounds seriously, and Lenox Hill Hospital has already reported this one to the police. We just happened to get out of the ER before they arrived.”

As they reached the top of the steps an unmarked police car pulled up, and two detectives got out. Stone didn’t know them.

“Carrie Cox?” one of them asked.

“Come on in, fellas,” Stone said, flashing the Brian Doyle badge. “Let’s get this done.”

Stone left the four of them in the living room and used the kitchen phone.

“Bacchetti.”

“It’s Stone. Can you get over to Carrie’s house?” He gave Dino the address.

“What for?”

“Somebody took a shot at her, only a graze. Probably her ex-husband. She’s supposed to open in the big show next week, and we don’t want it in the papers.”

“Any of our people there?”

“Two. I didn’t get their names.”

“Gimme fifteen minutes.”

Stone went back to the living room and sat down, knowing that Willie would have steered the conversation in his absence.

“You got anything to add?” one of the detectives asked Stone.

“Nope. I wasn’t here. I went to the hospital as soon as I heard.”

“Why didn’t you report this to the police?”

“I am the police,” Stone said. “You want to see my badge again?”

“What precinct?”

“The First.”

“Who’s your boss?”

Stone gritted his teeth. “Lieutenant Doyle. I’m on special assignment.”

“What kind of special assignment?”

“If I was allowed to tell you that it wouldn’t be special,” Stone explained. It went on like this until Dino arrived.

Dino showed his ID. “You two,” he said, pointing two fingers at the detectives, “listen up.”

The detectives tried to look attentive.

“I’m taking care of this,” Dino said. “There’s no report to make.”

“We gotta make a report, Lieutenant,” one of them said softly. Dino was well-known in the department, and they were being appropriately deferential.

“You don’t gotta do nothing,” Dino said, “except forget this. Mention it to nobody, and if anybody mentions it to you, refer them to me at the Nineteenth. Believe me, you don’t want to be involved in this one.”

The two detectives looked at each other, then back at Dino. They nodded simultaneously, got up, and left the house.

“Thank you, Dino,” Carrie said. “That was sweet of you.”

Dino patted her on the head. “Don’t you worry about it, sweetheart.” He looked at Stone. “You want a lift?”

“Please,” Stone said, getting up.

“You’re leaving?” Carrie asked, looking surprised.

“There’s nothing more for me to do here,” Stone said.

“But plenty for you to do in your bedroom,” she said, pouting.

“My bedroom is none of your business,” Stone said. “Now shut up and let Dino do his work.”

Stone and Dino left the house and walked down the front steps. “You’re sure it’s the ex-husband?” Dino asked Stone.

“No. Apparently, Carrie has treated the entire cast of her show like shit. It could be anybody.”

“I’ll have the airports watched.”

“Just Teterboro,” Stone said. “The guy flies himself.”

“That makes it easier.”

“He’s off the ground by now, but the tower will have a record of his departure.”

“Where does he land in Atlanta?”

“Probably Peachtree DeKalb,” Stone replied.

“I’ll pull a favor and get him talked to. How long would his flight take?”

“He flies a King Air. Say, three hours. All this happened between five thirty and six. If he went straight to Teterboro, he’d be in the air by seven. You’ve got a shot at having him met.”

“But no evidence.”

“Well, there is that.”

“What about a bullet?”

“Passed through,” Stone said, but he turned and looked at the front of the house. “There,” he said, pointing at a brick with a missing chunk. “Ricocheted from there.”

They both looked around for the bullet but couldn’t find it.

“It’ll be distorted anyway,” Dino said. “Wouldn’t provide any ballistics to check.”

They got into Dino’s car and left.