Worst Fears Realized

62

THE CAR BARELY STOPPED MOVING FOR Stone to get in. He grappled with his seat belt as Dino spun the car to the left out of the driveway, spraying gravel. “Tell me about it, Dino,” he said, when the car was stable again.

“A doorman at an apartment house on Park Avenue called,” Dino said, roaring around another car, lights flashing, siren wailing. “He recognized Peter Hausman from the sketch in the papers, but it took him some time to get up the nerve to call. Mitteldorfer has been living in his building, under the name of Howard Menzies.”

“He’s sticking with his initials, then.”

“Yeah; maybe he has monogrammed hankies. Anyway, Hausman showed up at the building after we busted his brother. Then, this evening, Mitteldorfer sells his brand-new Mercedes back to the dealer at a big loss, packs up, and heads for Kennedy. Said he was taking his wife’s ashes back to her ’homeland.’”

“And the ashes would be Eloise Enzberg?”

“You guessed it. The doorman recognized her photograph when Andy Anderson showed it to him.”

“So he’s headed for Germany?”

“I’m not counting on it; there are flights leaving for London, Paris, Rome, and half a dozen other cities, in addition to four destinations in Germany, and they’re all going within the next hour. All the passenger lists are being checked for Menzies and Hausman. Andy’s meeting us at the airport; well know more then.” Dino swung right onto the shoulder to get around a truck.

“If we live that long,” Stone said, gritting his teeth. Dino was a fast driver at the most relaxed of times, but an emergency brought out the Fanzio in him. “Did you crack Deacon?”

“Nope; couldn’t get a word out of him; he’s too smart for that.”

“Shit!”

Dino grinned. “But I cracked Mick Kelly like an egg; cut him a deal.”

“Can Kelly hang it on him?”

“You bet he can. Deacon had blood on his shirt cuffs when Kelly saw him after the murder. He blackmailed Deacon for a spot in the DA’s Office. He’s lucky Deacon didn’t cut his throat.”

“Good going, Dino! What about Brougham?”

“He had to know about the doctored tape, but we won’t get him unless Deacon testifies against him. He’s already resigned, though.” Dino was cutting cross-country, avoiding the Long Island Expressway, cutting through residential neighborhoods and commercial districts.

Stone noted that their speed had never dropped below sixty, and at times was more than eighty. It was as fast as he’d ever traveled in an urban area.

“How did your conversation with Eduardo go?” Dino asked.

“Don’t talk, drive,” Stone said.

“I drive better when I talk,” Dino said, jumping the curb and cutting across the lawn of a corner house to avoid a delivery truck. “What did he have to say?”

“He said he thought that Brougham would never be a problem again.”

“Yeah, he would be happy about that, wouldn’t he? Now Dante will get a new trial, and Eduardo can take credit for it with the goombahs.”

“We couldn’t have broken this without him,” Stone said. “You might remember that.”

“Yeah, it sort of takes the thrill away, you know?” Dino hit the six-lane approach to Kennedy, driving down the shoulder past heavy traffic. “Did Eduardo propose?”

“Propose what?”

“Marriage.”

“What are you talking about, Dino?” Stone asked, closing his eyes tightly as they veered around a disabled car on the shoulder.

“You know what he’s doing, don’t you? He’s arranging a marriage for Dolce.”

“Dino, Dolce is already married.”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? Somebody capped Johnny Donato this afternoon.”

Stone froze. “You’re kidding; tell me you’re kidding.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“Who did it?”

“We’ll probably never know, but I wouldn’t have a heart attack if somebody told me it was Dolce herself. It was a straight mob hit, two rounds to the back of the head.” Dino chuckled.

“It’s not funny.”

“Sure, it is,” Dino said. He swung onto the drive to the international terminal and screeched to a halt. Andy Anderson came running to meet them.

“I’ve alerted airport security,” he said. “Here comes their chief, now.”

A man in a dark suit approached. “Lieutenant Bacchetti? I’m Sam Warren, head of airport security. Tell me what I can do to help.”

“You’ve seen the pictures?”

Warren nodded. “They’re being distributed to my people now, but from what I’ve heard of the timing, these two guys are already past security and into the departure area. We’re talking about twenty-five gates, and there’s at least one flight leaving from every one of them between now and midnight.”

“Shut them down,” Dino said.

“Beg pardon?”

“No flight leaves until we’ve searched it.”

“Jesus, Lieutenant, I can’t put a hold on twenty-five flights. Do you have any idea what that would do the system? People will be missing connecting flights all over Europe. It can’t be done.”

“Yeah, what happens when it snows?”

“Well, there are flight delays, of course.”

Dino pointed to a window. “Man, look at that snow! It’s a regular blizzard!”

“Lieutenant…”

“Listen, Sam, we’ve got two murderers on the loose in your airport, with six killings between them. Are you going to be responsible for letting them get out of the country?”

Warren said nothing; he was thinking about it.

“Andy,” Dino said, “how many people we got here?”

“About a dozen; there are fifty more on the way, but the traffic…”

“Yeah, yeah, tell me about it. Let’s do the flights to Germany first. Have you checked the reservations?”

“There’s no Menzies or Hausman on any departing flight,” Anderson said.

“So they’ve got backup passports; that makes it harder.”

“Andy,” Stone said, “check for the initials H.M.; start with the flights to Germany.”

“Good idea,” Dino said. “Do it, Andy. Call me when you’ve got an answer.”

“All right,” Warren said. “I’ll do it.” He spoke into a handheld radio. “Base, this is Warren.”

“Yes, chief?”

“I want a code red on all departing international flights. Nothing moves from a gate until I say so.”

“Roger, chief; what about taxiing aircraft?”

“Stop and hold everything international on my authority. I’ll get back to you.”

“Follow me,” he said to Dino.

The four men began jogging toward the security gates.

Anderson peeled off and picked up an emergency phone.

“Where are the rest of my people?” Dino asked Warren.

“They’re combing the departure lounges, trying to get a match on the pictures.”

Warren got them through the security barriers, and they ran toward the departure areas.

“Let’s go directly to the airplanes, Dino,” Stone said.

“I’ve already got people at the security barriers,” Warren said. “If they’re in here, they can’t get out, except on an airplane, and we’ve fixed that. The flights to Germany leave from the next four gates; if they haven’t boarded yet, then we should check the lounges.”

They entered the first lounge, where boarding was being announced. Warren took the microphone from a uniformed woman and announced that boarding would be delayed for five minutes.

“Dino,” Stone said, “give me your backup piece.”

Dino reached down to an ankle holster and handed Stone a snub-nosed.38 revolver; Stone tucked it into his belt. They began walking rapidly up and down the rows of waiting travelers. Stone looked at every male face, looked for short-haired young men, looked for Herbert Mitteldorfer.

Andy Anderson ran up to them, breathless. “Lieutenant,” he said, “there’s a Heinz Müller on the flight two gates down. He’s the only male with those initials on a flight to Germany.”

Dino grabbed Sam Warren and beckoned to Stone. “Let’s go!” he yelled.