Worst Fears Realized

5

STONE GOT UP AS DARKNESS WAS FALLING. He got into some khaki trousers, a shirt, and some moccasins, then went to the kitchenette in the master suite and made himself a cup of tea, with a large dollop of honey. He took the mug down one floor to his study and sat in one of a pair of wing chairs before the window overlooking the garden. The doorbell rang; Stone picked up the phone beside his chair. “Yes?”

“It’s Dino.”

“Come on in; I’m in the study.” He pressed the button on the phone that opened the front door.

Dino walked into the study and threw his coat on the sofa.

“Hi. Want a cup of tea?”

“I want a cup of scotch,” Dino replied.

“Help yourself.”

Dino went to the little wet bar concealed behind a panel and fixed himself a scotch on the rocks, then came and sat down in the chair next to Stone’s. “How about some lights?” Dino said.

“I like it this way at dusk,” Stone replied. “Leave it for a few minutes.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Like somebody worked me over with a baseball bat.”

“You went to the hospital?”

“Yeah; it was Alma. Sorry, I forgot to call and tell you.”

“A citizen found her handbag in a wastebasket a couple of blocks away. There was over a hundred bucks in it, plus her credit cards.”

“Nothing at all taken?”

“Not that we can figure.”

“Doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know.”

“She was such a happy person,” Stone said. “Didn’t matter if I was having a grumpy day; she just took it in stride. Always managed to cheer me up.”

“She was a nice lady,” Dino said. “I always liked her.”

They sat quietly for a while, watching the garden grow dark and the lights come on in the other houses in Turtle Bay, all of which backed up onto the same garden.

“Stone,” Dino said finally.

“Yeah?”

“You see any possible connection between these two killings?”

“I thought about that; the only connection is me.”

“I thought about that, too,” Dino said. “Think for a minute: Is there somebody out there who hates you enough to want to kill people you know?”

“I thought about that, too; couldn’t think of anybody.”

“Neither could I.”

“They can’t be connected,” Stone said. “It’s just an awful coincidence.”

“I think you’re right; I just had to explore the other possibility.”

“I know.”

“When you’re a cop, or when you’ve been a cop, it’s always hanging over your head.”

“What is?”

Dino sighed. “The other possibility. The idea that somebody you’ve busted and sent up will come back to haunt you, to get even. I think that, after getting killed in the line of duty, it’s every cop’s worst fear.”

“I never thought about it until this minute.”

“Stone, what did you and Susan Bean talk about last night? We never got into that.”

“Just first-date chitchat,” Stone said. “What do you do? Where are you from? Like that. She didn’t seem to be happy in her job.”

“How so?”

“She said she was thinking of leaving the DA’s Office.”

“From what Martin Brougham told me last night, she was on her way up.”

“She said that, but it didn’t seem to matter. I think she was just disillusioned with the system; she didn’t like the way she had to do her job.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know; it was just something she said. We never had time to go into it. You know how it is, Dino; a lot of idealistic people don’t like an up-close view of how the justice system works. It takes a pretty thick skin to live with it every day.”

“Yeah; I had a hard time with it at first, too.”

“You? I’m surprised.”

“What? You think I’ve always been the tough-but-honest, cynical cop you see before you? I had to grow a thick hide, just like you had to.”

“If you say so.”

Across the garden a light came on in a house directly opposite Stone’s, and a woman in a business suit walked into a room framed by a large picture window.

“Watch this, Dino,” Stone said.

“Watch what?”

“The woman across the way.”

“What about her?”

“Just watch. I think you’ll find this interesting.”

The woman, who was tall with long red hair, began to undress.

“You’re right,” Dino said, “this is interesting.”

“Just keep watching,” Stone said.

The woman carefully hung up her suit, then stepped out of her half-slip, unhooked her bra, and slid out of her panty hose and panties. She dropped the underwear into a hamper. Now she was completely naked, exposing a slender but shapely body with high, firm breasts.

“Wow,” Dino said softly.

“She’s something, isn’t she?”

Now the woman went to a closet, took out a vacuum cleaner, plugged it in, and began to vacuum the room.

“What the fuck is she doing?” Dino asked.

“She’s vacuuming. She does this two or three times a week; she comes home from work, takes off her clothes, and vacuums her bedroom. Then she disappears for a while. I guess she’s vacuuming her whole apartment. The she comes back into the bedroom, puts away the vacuum, and disappears again. Sometimes she gives a little wave.”

“You mean she knows you’re watching her?”

“I expect half the neighborhood is watching her,” Stone said.

Dino abruptly sat up straight in his chair. “Look at that,” he said.

“I am looking at it,” Stone replied.

“No; there’s a guy.”

“Where?”

“Standing in the bedroom door.”

Stone looked. Dino was right; a shadowy figure stood in the half darkness of the doorway. “Her boyfriend, maybe?”

“No; not the way he’s standing. She doesn’t know he’s there.”

“She hasn’t seen him, and she can’t hear anything over the vacuum noise.”

The woman continued to vacuum, turning toward the window. The man began to move toward her. He was short and slender, with bushy, dark hair – almost an Afro, though he was white.

“Oh, shit,” Dino said. “He’s got a knife.”

Stone saw that Dino was right. The man walked up behind the woman, snaked an arm around her neck, and yanked her backward, pulling her chin up.

Dino was on his feet, unlocking the window, shoving it open, grabbing the pistol at his belt. “Don’t you do it, you son of a bitch!” he screamed.

Stone sat, riveted to his chair. The man was looking directly at them.

Dino raised his pistol and fired twice. Two holes appeared in the upper left-hand corner of the window.

“You’ve got his attention,” Stone said.

It didn’t seem to matter that he knew he was being watched. The man drew the knife’s blade across the struggling woman’s neck, and blood began to spill down her naked body. She collapsed, but he held her up with the hand under her chin, widening the wound in her neck.

“Let her go, and I’ll shoot you where you stand, you bastard!” Dino screamed.

Instead, the man began to walk backward toward the door, dragging the dying woman, holding her up as a shield. Then he dropped her and left the room.

“Call nine-one-one!” Dino said, grabbing his coat. “I’m going over there; do you know the address?”

“I don’t know the number; you’ll have to guess,” Stone replied, picking up the phone.

“Wait here and make sure he doesn’t leave the house through the garden,” Dino said, running for the door.

“Dino!” Stone shouted, stopping him in his tracks.

“What?”

“I know the guy,” Stone said. “I know the killer.”

“Later,” Dino said, running down the stairs.

Stone reported the homicide, then unlocked a cabinet, took out a pistol, and stood, watching the back of the house. Maybe he could get a shot at the guy. Two minutes passed, then Dino appeared in the woman’s bedroom, followed by a uniformed officer. He gave the uniform some instructions, and the officer left the room. Dino picked up the phone and dialed a number.

Stone saw the light on his phone flash. He picked it up. “Dino?”

“Get over here,” Dino said, then hung up.

Stone stuck the pistol in his belt, grabbed a coat, and ran out of the house.