Loitering with Intent

24

STONE AND DINO left their hotel to play tennis, and Stone kept his cell phone in his pocket, but it never rang.

“I’m worried,” Stone said as they were taking a break between sets.

“I suppose you’ve got visions of Warren visiting Eli and stuffi ng something down his throat?”

“Something like that.” Stone called the Gardens again and still got Evan’s voice mail.

“You’re doing all you can do,” Dino said.

“I keep thinking there’s something else.”

“You could call the nursing home, pretend to be the cops and tell them not to let Warren anywhere near Eli.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Dino. What’s the name of the nursing home?”

“I don’t know.”

“Neither do I.”

“Oh. Let’s play another set.”

They played another set.

“Come on,” Stone said, “let’s go to the Gardens. Maybe he’s just not answering his phone.”

“Okay,” Dino said, “but I was winning.”

“The hell you were.”

They drove to the Gardens and went inside.

“May I help you?” a young woman at the desk asked.

“Yes, I’d like to see Evan Keating,” Stone said.

“I’m afraid Mr. Keating just checked out,” she replied. “Not more than fifteen minutes ago.”

“Did he leave a forwarding address?” Stone asked. She checked her records. “Miami, Florida,” she said.

“What hotel?”

“No hotel, just Miami.”

“Do you have a cell phone number for him?”

She checked again. “Yes, we do.” She gave him the number. Stone was about to dial it when Dino spoke up.

“That’s his old cell number, the one that went overboard.”

“Shit,” Stone said in disgust.

“What do you want to do now?”

“You want me to call my guy on the Connecticut State Police?”

Stone thought about that. Somebody’s life was at stake. “Yes,” he said, “call him.”

“What do you want me to tell him?”

“You know what to tell him, but tell him not to tell anybody the call came from you.”

They got into their car, and Dino went through his address book and found the number. “You’re sure you want me to call?”

“Yes, dammit!”

Dino dialed the number and put the phone on speaker.

“Robbery Homicide, Lieutenant Hotchkiss.”

“Dan, it’s Dino Bacchetti, NYPD, remember me?”

“How could I forget?” Dan replied. “I bet you want me to solve another homicide for you.”

“I don’t need your help in solving homicides, Dan, but . . .”

“I know a perp who would still be a free man if . . .”

“I need help in preventing a homicide.”

“Anybody I know?”

“I doubt it; it’s an old man from Torrington named Eli Keating.”

“Elijah Keating’s Sons? That Keating?”

“That Keating.”

“Harry Keating’s father?”

“The late Harry Keating’s father.”

“Harry Keating is dead?”

“You hadn’t heard? I hear the Torrington police are looking into the cause of death.”

“What do they suspect?”

“I don’t know how smart the Torrington cops are, so I can’t tell you. Suffice it to say that Harry’s brother, Warren, and his son inherit the business, along with old Eli, and Warren is a chemist.”

“You mean . . .”

“I don’t mean anything; you’re going to have to draw your own conclusions, and you can’t tell anybody I gave you any hints.”

“Okay, hang on while I draw some conclusions: You think Warren poisoned his brother?”

“I don’t think anything; you’re drawing your own conclusions.”

“And that he might be going to poison his father as well, to get a bigger chunk of the business?”

“That’s an interesting conclusion, Dan; why don’t you follow up on it?”

“I need more.”

“Old Eli is in a nursing home, ostensibly with Alzheimer’s, though somebody who talked with him at Harry’s funeral says he seemed just fi ne.”

“So you think that Warren locked the old man up to get him out of the way?”

“I don’t think anything, but it’s interesting that you have drawn that conclusion.”

“I still need more.”

“Then why don’t you conclude that you ought to call the Torrington cops and see what they know about all this? Maybe they would like to get the credit for solving one homicide and preventing another.”

“Dino, you think there’s really something to all this?”

“Dan, when you answered the phone, you spoke the words, ‘Robbery and . . .’ What was that other word? Try and remember it.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll make some calls.”

“I think you should conclude that you’d better hurry; it might be visiting day at the nursing home.”

“Okay, Dino.”

“I don’t know who that is, but call me at this number and let me know what you find out.” Dino gave him his cell phone number.

“You’re in New York?”

“I’m in Key West.”

“What are you doing in Key West?”

“Loitering.”

“That’s what I would do if I were in Key West,” Dan said.

“It’s one of the things I do best,” Dino said, then he hung up. He turned back to Stone. “Let’s see if that gets him to move his ass.”

“It ought to,” Stone said.

“Now, where the hell do you think Evan has gone?”

“I don’t know, back to his boat?”

“And what’s the name of that boat?”

“I don’t know.”

“You didn’t ask him? You had lunch with the guy, and you didn’t ask him?” Dino slapped Stone on the back of the head.

“I needed that,” Stone said.