restaurant. Straight ahead, all the way to the back, was a door, but two large men were sitting at a table squarely in front of it. She turned right, toward the ladies' room, first looking into the kitchen: no visible way out. She went into the ladies' room; no one there. She tried the window. It was small, but she could fit through it. She got it open, but it was covered with burglar bars.
She opened her handbag and began removing things. She took the top off the toilet tank, wiped the CIA pistol and the ice pick with a towel, dropped them into the tank, and replaced the cover. She ripped up her false passport, dropped it into the toilet, and flushed. Then she got out her cell phone and started dialing.
Dino's cell phone vibrated. 'Bacchetti.'
'Lieutenant, everybody's in place.'
'Tell them to sit tight. We're going to wait until she's ready to leave. I'll follow her out the front door, then everybody converge.'
'Got it.'
Dino put the cell phone away and looked around. Still in the ladies' room.
'Hello?'
'Ali?'
'Yes. Is this my appointment from this afternoon?'
'Yes. I think I'm about to be arrested, and I'm going to need a lawyer.'
'Where are you?'
'At a restaurant called Elaine's, on Second Avenue, between Eighty-eighth and Eighty-ninth streets.'
'You're quite near the Nineteenth Precinct. They'll take you there, unless they're federal.'
'My guess is local police.'
'Your lawyer's name is Sol Kaminsky. I'll call him, and he'll be there in half an hour. Say nothing to the police.'
'I'm going to talk to them, play it innocent,' she said.
'That's your judgment to make. Are you dirty?'
'I've just cleaned up. I have a good passport.'
'Good. I'll tell Kaminsky. Call his number from the police station and leave a message on his answering machine. Memorize the number.' He recited it to her.
'You're sending me a Jewish lawyer?'
'We retain him. He's good. What will your name be?'
'Marie-Therese du Bois.'
'Your real name?'
'Trust me.'
'What will you give for an address?'
'I don't know.'
'We keep room one-oh-oh-three at the Hotel Kirwan, on Park Avenue South at Thirty-seventh Street. Use that address. I'll get some women's clothes and a suitcase over there, too.'
'Thank you.' She closed the phone, returned it to her handbag, checked her makeup, and left the ladies' room. Maybe she was just paranoid. She hoped so. She returned to her bar stool. 'Can I have the check, please?' she asked the bartender.
He brought her the check. 'What's your name, and how can I get in touch?' he asked. She took a pen and a small pad from her purse and wrote down her name and cell phone number. 'Call me tomorrow,' she said. She put some cash on the bar, including a big tip, got into her coat, and started for the door. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the cop get up from his table and reach for his coat.
She walked outside and stood at the curb, her hand held up for a taxi. Then he was behind her.
'Freeze, police!' Dino said, his weapon stretched out before him. He kept a good six feet between them.
Marie-Therese looked over her shoulder, feigning surprise. 'What?' she said.
Then they were all over her, cuffing her wrists, going through her handbag. 'No weapons,' a detective said.
'Search the ladies' room,' Dino replied, as they hustled her into a squad car.
31
Stone snapped out of a deep sleep. The phone was ringing. He was momentarily disoriented, looking around the dark bedroom, trying to figure out where he was.
'Are you going to answer that?' Carpenter asked.
Stone fumbled for the phone. 'Hello?'
'Gee, I hope I didn't interrupt any screwing,' Dino said.
'Dino, what's going on? What time is it?'
'Not all that late. Let me speak to Carpenter.'
'She's asleep.'
'No, I'm not,' Carpenter said, snatching the phone from Stone. 'Hello, Dino?'
'Sorry to wake you up, but I thought you'd want to be brought up to date on developments.'
'What's happened?'
'I arrested a young woman – early thirties, medium height, medium build – at Elaine's tonight.'
'You mean you've got her?'
'Looks that way.'
'How did you identify her?'
'She's carrying a Swiss passport in the name of Marie-Therese du Bois, and she matches the picture.'
'I'm on my way,' Carpenter said. 'Don't you dare let her get away.'
'She's locked in an interrogation room. She's not going anywhere.'
'I'll be there in an hour and a half. You can use the time to good effect by photographing her repeatedly and fingerprinting her. Get DNA samples, too.'
'She's called a lawyer, but I don't know how that's going to help her. I've got the deputy DA on the way, too. Hurry up!' He hung up.
'Dino's got La Biche?' Stone asked incredulously.
Carpenter was already digging clothes out of her bag. 'Yes, and she's admitted who she is. I'm having trouble believing this myself! Get dressed, for Christ's sake!'
Stone started grabbing at clothes.
Dino walked down the hall to Interrogation One and checked out the woman through the one-way mirror. She was sitting, looking worried and baffled. 'Yeah, sugar,' Dino said aloud. 'I'd be worried, too, because I've got your ass!'
His boss, Captain Grady, walked in. 'Okay, so who is this woman?'
'Her name is Marie-Therese du Bois. She's the suspect in the diplomatic killing on Park Avenue.'
'Is that all you know about her?'
'According to our friends across the sea in British intelligence, she's a big-time assassin who's murdered people all over Europe. By the way, she's killed at least three other people since she arrived in New York.' He handed Grady her passport.
Grady flipped through it and stopped. 'This says she arrived in the U.S. from Canada yesterday,' he said, pointing at a stamp.
Dino looked at it. 'Gotta be a fake,' he said.
'Run it past the Feds.'
'Not yet, Cap. I don't want them in on this. I've got a lady from British intelligence on the way here now.'
'When's she coming?'
'She's driving down from Connecticut with a friend of mine; maybe an hour.'
