Unnatural Acts

38

Stone and Dino met for lunch at P.J. Clarke’s.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Dino asked. “You sounded funny on the phone.”

“Funny ha ha or funny queer?”

“Funny queer. Ha ha.”

“You’re right. Marla Rocker has a problem, maybe a very serious problem. I’ve moved her into my house for a few days while we sort this out.”

“You mean, while I sort it out.”

“I mean, I’ll sort out her problems, but you can make the arrest.”

“Gee, who do I get to arrest?”

“A man named Ed Abney.”

“And who the fuck is Ed Abney?”

“He runs a publicity agency called Bright Lights, Ink, with a ‘k.’”

“Cute. Did he issue an illegal press release?”

“You know the actress found dead in the apartment in your precinct a couple of days ago?”

“You’re just wondering if I know what goes on in my precinct, aren’t you?”

“Well, yes.”

“Annette Redfield.”

“You win this,” Stone said, handing him a French fry.

Dino ate the French fry. “I want to thank everybody who voted for me.”

“Ed Abney scared Annette Redfield enough so that she was about to flee the city to get away from him.”

“And you know this how?”

“Remember the other night at Marla’s opening-night party?”

“Yes.”

“She saw Abney there with Redfield. Abney has been sort of stalking Marla, in spite of her asking him to go away. Redfield followed her into the ladies’ john and told her to watch out for him, that he has a history of violence with women. Apparently, she was talking about herself, since she was about to make a run for it.”

Dino got out his cell phone and pressed a speed dial button. “Viv? Bacchetti. We’ve got a suspect in the Annette Redfield strangling, name of Ed Abney.” He gave her the name of Abney’s agency and told her about Marla’s conversation with Redfield at Sardi’s. “No, don’t pick him up just yet. I want to know if Abney has an arrest record and if he has any TROs out on him. Call me back with results before you make an arrest. Thanks, kiddo.” Dino hung up.

“So you’ve got DeCarlo on speed dial now?”

“It makes it easier to dial her.”

“I’ll bet. How many of your other detectives do you have on speed dial?”

Dino ignored that one. “What are you doing about Marla?”

“I’m keeping her at my house, and I sent Allison to court to get a TRO against Abney.”

Dino looked at his watch. “How long ago?”

“Around ten this morning.”

“See if you can stop her,” Dino said.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to rattle the guy’s cage just yet. We’ll have a moment later when we can use the TRO to piss him off.”

Stone pressed Allison’s speed dial number.

“Allison here.”

“It’s Stone. Have you made the application for the TRO yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Get it but don’t serve it yet. Dino wants to wait a bit.”

“What’s Dino got to do with it?”

“Dino is the police, remember? He feels that he should do some investigation before we slap Abney with the TRO.”

“Whatever you say. Who do I bill for this on my time sheet?”

“Call it pro bono.”

“Sounds more like pro boner to me,” she said, then hung up.

Stone laughed and put his phone away. “She said it sounds more like ‘pro boner.’”

Dino laughed. “Smart girl, Allison.”

“Smart-ass,” Stone said.

When Stone got back to his office he found Marla, Joan, and Allison sitting in his office, giggling.

“Did you ladies get into the cooking sherry?” he asked.

“No, it was your bourbon,” Joan replied, getting up. “Come on, Allison, Simon Legree has returned.” The two women went back to their own offices.

“So,” Stone said, “what’s happened that made the three of you need a drink in the early afternoon?”

“It’s not all that early,” Marla said.

“Two-thirty is early. I’m going to have to start marking the bottle. Now come on, give.”

“Oh, all right. I went over to my house to get a few things.”

“Marla…”

“I know, I know, you told me not to go over there without you. It’s all right, I took Joan.” She took a sip of her bourbon. “And she took her gun.”

“Swell,” Stone said. “What will the neighbors think? The two of you traipsing around Turtle Bay Gardens with a gun.”

“Who cares?”

“You still haven’t told me what rattled you. And don’t tell me you’re not rattled. I know when Joan is rattled, and she doesn’t rattle easily, and if she’s rattled, you’re rattled.”

Marla took another sip of her bourbon. “The house had been ransacked.”

“Ransacked?”

“Well, not the whole house, just the living room and my bedroom.”

“Ransacked?”

“Stop saying that-you know what it means.”

“What, exactly, does it mean in the context of your house?”

“Things had been upset in the living room, thrown around.”

“And in your bedroom?”

“The same. And some of the drawers had been pulled out.”

“Which drawers?”

“The ones with my drawers in them.”

“Did your visitor leave any, ah, message?”

“You mean like the semen on my drawers?”

“Exactly.”

“You could say he made his presence known.”

“How do you know it was semen?”

She rolled her eyes. “Really, Stone.”

“All right, all right. What did you do?”

“I grabbed a few things, and we got the hell out of there.”

“What did you do with the semen stains?”

“Do with them? Yuck!”

“I mean, are they still there?”

“Well, I wanted to put the garments in question in the garbage, but Joan stopped me.”

“Good,” Stone said, picking up the phone. “That’s evidence. I’ll get Dino to send somebody over there.”

“They’d better come here first and get my key.”

“Right.” Stone started dialing.