“Awright in an hour at Clarke’s.”
He was in Yonkers when the car phone rang. “Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Bill Eggers.”
“Hi, Bill.”
“We have to talk, and we can’t do it on a car phone.”
“What’s up?”
“Let’s meet somewhere; when are you due back in the city?”
“I’m meeting Dino at Clarke’s in half an hour; you want to join me?”
“That’s fine; this concerns him, too. I’ll see you in half an hour.” He hung up.
Stone punched the phone off. Now what?
Back in the city, he found a parking spot near Clarke’s, then went inside. Dino was already halfway through a scotch.
“Hey,” Dino said.
“How was your weekend?”
“Lousy; how was yours?”
“Don’t ask,” Stone replied.
“What’s this about a lead?”
Stone took the paper from his pocket. “I’ve got two names that Mitteldorfer was friendly with in Sing Sing.” He handed it to Dino. “They’re both on parole, and they’ve got the same Manhattan parole officer. Tomorrow morning, will you give him a call and find out where they are? I’d like to talk to them with you.”
“You bet your ass,” Dino said. “It’s about time we got somewhere with this.”
“Here comes Bill Eggers,” Stone said, nodding at the door. “He wants to talk to us about something; I don’t know what.”
Bill greeted the two men. “It’s running onto dinnertime,” he said. “Why don’t we get a table?”
“Sure,” Stone said.
They sat down and ordered steaks, home fries, and beer.
“So, what’s up, Bill? You sounded depressed on the phone.”
“I am,” Bill said. “I got a call this afternoon from a friend in the DA’s office; Marty Brougham is taking the Susan Bean murder to a grand jury this week.”
“Then he must have a suspect,” Stone said.
“He does. You. You’re going to be subpoenaed.”
“First I’ve heard about this,” Dino said, “and the case is in my office. I smell something funny.”
“Look,” Stone said, “I don’t mind being subpoenaed; I’ll testify to what I know without a subpoena. In fact, I’ve already told Brougham I’d do so.”
“Stone, you’re a target; I can’t let you testify before a grand jury.”
“So, I should take the Fifth? How would that look?”
“It’s how this is going to look that bothers me,” Bill said.
“Sorry,” Dino said, “I’m confused. I’m pretty well versed on this case, having arrived half an hour after the murder and having heard Stone give a statement to two of my detectives. What does Marty know that I don’t know? Stone, is there something you haven’t told me?”
“Absolutely not,” Stone said. “I’m not holding anything back.”
“Then he must have a witness,” Bill said. “Otherwise, why would you be a target of the investigation?”
“A witness to what?” Stone said.
“Look,” Dino said, “I’m happy to go down to the grand jury and tell them that my squad conducted a thorough investigation and that we cleared Stone.”
“Then Marty will ask you about your relationship with Stone, and he’ll discredit your testimony, because you’re former partners and close friends. Anyway, he’s not going to call you, because you wouldn’t help his case.”
“This just doesn’t add up,” Stone said. “Marty must know that he can’t get an indictment of me.”
“A good prosecutor can get anything he wants from a grand jury,” Bill said.
“But he couldn’t get a conviction, so why get an indictment?”
“There are two things here,” Bill said. “One, he could have a witness to cast doubt on your story, or even to claim you murdered the girl.”
“Then that would either be a perjurer or a frame-up,” Dino said. “Or both.”
“Right,” Bill said. “The other thing is, suppose he thinks this case isn’t going to be solved, so he wants to feed somebody to the press as the murderer. The day after your testimony, I can see a headline in the
“Oh, shit,” Dino said.
“Well, Dino,” Bill said, “at least
“But that won’t wash,” Stone said.
“It’ll wash with enough people to ruin you in this town,” Dino said.
“And,” Eggers chipped in, “it would end your usefulness to Woodman and Weld. The firm couldn’t be seen to employ – even on an occasional basis – the chief suspect in a gaudy murder.”
Dino put down his glass. “You’d be the new O.J.”
Stone sat and thought about this, ignoring his steak. “Martin Brougham doesn’t strike me as that malicious,” he said. “So who is?”
Dino’s eyebrow’s went up. “I smell Tom Deacon.”
“Who’s Tom Deacon?” Bill asked.
“He runs the DA’s investigative division, under Marty, and he doesn’t like Stone and me.”
“Oh.”
“Something else,” Dino said. “Marty wants to be the next DA. He might like a flashy case to help imprint himself on the voters’ frontal lobes.”
“That all makes sense,” Bill said. “You think this Deacon guy is just trying to make himself look good?”
“I think that fits right in with his character,” Dino replied. “He knows a few reporters; he could make himself look good and Stone look bad. It would be easy.”
Stone spoke up. “I’ve already told him that if he did something like that, I’d sue him for libel.”
“It could come to that,” Bill said. “How much faith do you think Brougham has in Tom Deacon?”
“A lot,” Dino said. “If he’s willing to put Stone through this on Deacon’s say-so.”
“We need other witnesses besides you, Dino, witnesses from the NYPD. Are you the actual investigating officer on the Susan Bean Murder?”
“No,” Stone answered for him. “That would be Andy Anderson and Michael Kelly.”
Dino shook his head slowly “No, not Kelly; not anymore.”
“What, did you kick him out of the precinct?” Stone asked.
“No, he left voluntarily.”
“Congratulations,” Stone said. “I don’t expect you’ll miss the little prick.”
“He went to work for the investigative division of the DA’s office,” Dino said. “Starting tomorrow morning.”
“So,” Bill said, “we could have one of the investigative officers on the case testifying against Stone?”
“What could he possibly say?” Stone asked. “Anyway, Dino and Andy Anderson could refute any lies.”
“I don’t like any of this,” Eggers said, “so what I’m going to try to do is to nip it in the bud.”
“How?” Stone asked.
“I’m going to go see Marty Brougham tonight, at home, if he’s in, and try to straighten this out. Can either of you think of anything else that might help me do that?”
Stone sipped his beer thoughtfully. “There was something that Susan Bean said to me. I didn’t give it much thought at the time.”
“What did she say?” Eggers asked.
“We were walking up Madison Avenue, just chatting, and I congratulated her on her team’s getting a conviction in the Dante case.”
