head.”
“Well, fucking Dierdre Monahan is something you’ve done before, and when in your right mind, something you’d do again in a heartbeat, right?”
“Well, sure, I guess so, but how could I think about that when I was fucking Celia only a couple of days ago? I must be a terrible excuse for a human being.”
“Stone, nothing is more human than sex, expecially with women as beautiful as Celia and Dierdre. Thinking about sex with either of them is a great defense against having to think about Celia with no head.” Dino mopped his brow. “Jesus, I want to kill Daltry myself. Maybe if we go down to his studio he’ll give us an excuse.”
“I’d love to do that, I really would,” Stone said.
“Yeah, but it’s my job
“I know.”
Stone looked up to see Dierdre Monahan coming through the front door. She gave him a little wave, then stopped and said something to Gianni, the headwaiter, who picked up a remote control and changed the TV channel to New York 1, a 24/7 local news channel, then cranked up the volume.
Dierdre came over and sat down. “Well, hi, guys,” she said. “Who does a girl have to fuck to get a drink around here?”
Stone waved at Gianni, who came over and took an order for a cosmo. Dierdra was still wearing the dress she’d worn at lunch, Stone was pleased to see. He stopped thinking about Celia.
“How was your limo ride back to work?” he asked.
“The Old Man was really sweet, wasn’t he? Either that, or he figured out what you and I were about to do and saved me from a fate worse than death.”
“Probably that one,” Stone said.
“Stone and I were having lunch, Dino, and…”
“He already told me,” Dino replied.
“Oh, oh, here we go,” Dierdre said, pointing at the TV. “Listen up.”
Dierdre’s face popped onto the screen, over a copse of microphones. “The district attorney’s office is pleased to announce that we have indicted and arrested Carmine Dattila on multiple charges of murder, attempted murder, extortion, abetting prostitution and abetting gambling.” TV Dierdre went on, but the real Dierdre was yelling at Gianni to change the channel back. She turned back to Stone. “I just wanted you to see that, so you’ll know I’m not lying.”
“Well, that’s great, Dierdre,” Stone said. “All this because of Herbie’s little tape?”
“Herbie’s little tape and the fact that Gus Castiglione rolled over this afternoon.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. Turns out Cheech was his younger brother, and he was feeling just terrible about stabbing him repeatedly with a butcher knife. We had to get the poor thing a priest, and when that was done, he spilled his guts into a VCR and gave us names, dates, places and anything else we wanted. Believe me, this time Dattila is
“If you can keep Gus alive,” Dino pointed out.
“And Herbie, too,” Stone mentioned.
“Gus is already in the safest house you ever saw, but that reminds me, where’s Herbie? We’ve got to put him on ice.”
“My best guess is he’s in East Hampton at an aunt’s house or, more likely, at the first singles’ bar he could find.”
“What’s the aunt’s name?”
“I don’t know. She’s married to a very successful plumber, though, if that helps.”
“Let’s see, this means that the aunt is Bob Cantor’s sister?”
“Very possibly.”
Dierdre dug a cell phone out of her purse and pressed a speed-dial number. “Hank? Get hold of Bob Cantor. Young Herbie is at Cantor’s sister’s house in East Hampton. Get the address from Cantor, find Herbie and ice him down good; I’ve already got the material witness warrant. The office will give you a copy. Right, see ya.” She put away the phone.
“It may not be as easy as that,” Stone said, “given my experience with Herbie, but it’s a start.”
She leaned into his ear and whispered, “After you’ve bought me a huge steak, we’re going back to your place, and I’m going to do to you everything you always dreamed about-every orifice, every position, as many times as you’re good for, kiddo.”
“Is a porterhouse big enough?”
“Why, Stone, I’ve never heard you call your dick a porterhouse, but I like the reference.”
Stone waved for a waiter.
45
They were sipping double espressos over the remains of the porterhouse and the cognacs that Elaine had sent over.
Stone spoke up. “Before you and I leave here I have to offer a disclaimer.”
“Offer away,” Dierdre said, sipping her cognac.
“Being in any way associated with me, at the moment, may be dangerous to your health. That’s why I didn’t call you after lunch.”
“Why, Stone, don’t tell me you’ve contracted a social disease.”
Dino broke in. “You’d better pay attention, Dierdre.”
“All right, be specific,” she said.
“A client of mine who had been hiding from a jealous boyfriend was killed last night.”
“The boyfriend was jealous of you?”
“Not just me, everybody. He’s nuts. His name is Devlin Daltry.”
“The sculptor?”
“Jesus, why is it that everybody knows about this guy, and I’d never heard of him until a couple of weeks ago?”
“He’s a very well-known artist,” Dierdre said.
“I am the son of two well-known artists,” Stone said, “and I have more than a passing interest in the arts, but somehow Devlin Daltry had escaped my notice until he started trying to kill me.”
“I thought it was your client he killed.”
“It was, but he ran me down with a car on Third Avenue last week. My body has many bruises, and this…” He held up his left hand to display the blue plastic cast. “…is a result of that incident.”
“My goodness, that’s a cast? And I thought it was a sex toy!”
“My point is, Dierdre, that this guy has been known to follow me around, and if he spots us together, you may very well be in danger.”
“I can handle myself,” Dierdre said.
“Are you packing?”
“Always. How did he kill your client?”
“After cutting the throat of the woman she was staying with in New Jersey, he decapitated my client. And she was the kind of woman who could take care of herself, too. She was six feet, three inches tall and no shrinking violet.”
“Was she packing?”
“She was. I loaned her one of my own weapons.”
Dierdre regarded him calmly. “I’d rather it were a social disease than a crazed killer,” she said, “but if he messes with me, I’ll shoot him, and as soon as I’m sure he’s dead, I’ll arrest him and prosecute him. Are the police looking for him?”
“They found him shortly after the killing at an art gallery opening in SoHo; witnesses put him there when the
