'Well,' Dino remarked, 'I said you would be the one to get lucky.'
'Looks like we both did,' Stone said.
Dino went back across the street, and they continued their walk downtown, inspecting every woman they encountered. Once, Dino showed his badge and asked a woman for ID, then she continued uptown, apparently livid.
At Seventy-second Street, they met the four detectives coming the other way, and Dino's car caught up with them.
'Why do I think she was going uptown?' Dino asked.
'Because she was walking away from the Four Seasons,' Stone replied.
'What's uptown from Seventy-third?' Dino asked.
'A couple of hotels: the Westbury and the Carlyle.'
'It's worth a try,' Dino said. 'You four guys take the Westbury. Get the manager to give you a list of every single woman staying in the hotel and question every one of them who even remotely matches the description. Stone, you and I will take the Carlyle.' They got into Dino's car and started uptown.
'This isn't the worst idea you've ever had,' Stone said. 'She's got to be sleeping somewhere, and the Carlyle is about the last place you'd look.'
'The worst idea I ever had was showing up with you in Bryant Park yesterday,' Dino said.
The car stopped, and they got out.
'You know anybody here?' Dino asked, as they went in through the Madison Avenue entrance of the hotel.
'The manager,' Stone replied. 'He won't be here this time of night, but I can drop his name.'
'Never mind, I'll just drop my badge,' Dino replied as they approached the front desk.
Stone's cell phone vibrated, and he flipped it open. 'Hello?'
'It's Carpenter,' she said.
52
Stone was surprised how glad he was to hear from her.
'Where are you?'
'With the director of the FBI at a government flat in the Waldorf Towers.'
'Stay there. It's dangerous everywhere else.'
'I intend to, for the moment. Have you spoken to Dino?'
'I'm with Dino.'
'Is Sir Edward dead? Is it confirmed? These people won't tell me anything.'
'It's confirmed.'
'Oh, shit,' she said.
'Well, yes.'
'Ask Dino where I can claim his body.'
'At the city morgue, but after a postmortem.'
'Is there any way to avoid that? I'd like to get him home.'
'Ask the director. He can probably call somebody.'
'He's very annoyed at everyone in the New York City government, from Dino to the mayor.'
'That's because Dino wouldn't let him play in his pond, and the commissioner and, presumably, the mayor backed up Dino.'
'Something like that. Apparently, he has all these men in black with guns, and he can't use them.'
'That always annoys the FBI.'
'Will you come and see me here?'
'The FBI would probably shoot me if I tried.'
'I want to see you. I need to see you.'
'Don't you think it would be a little crowded in a hotel suite with you, me, and the director all there?'
'I'll figure something out.'
'Tell me, was Mason on the scene when Marie-Therese's parents were killed?'
She paused. 'Sort of. He was in a van nearby.'
'Then you'd better tell him to watch his ass. Who else was there, who's still alive?'
'Just the two of us.'
'If I were you, I'd order up an airplane to an airport other than Kennedy and get out of the country. She knows where you've been camping out in New York. You'd be safer in London.'
'I'll think about it. Does she know I've stayed at your house?'
'Not that I'm aware of.'
'I'll call you later, on your cell phone.'
'Promise?'
'Yes, but I don't know when.'
'Whenever, just call.' Stone hung up. 'Carpenter's a little stressed,' he said.
'Who wouldn't be?'
The duty manager came to the front desk.
Dino showed him a badge. 'I'm Lieutenant Bacchetti. I need a list of all the women staying in the hotel who are traveling alone.'
'What for?' the man asked.
'There may be a lady murderer in your hotel, and I'd like to arrest her before she kills some of your guests or staff.'
'Just a minute,' the man said, then went to a computer terminal. 'We've got three.'
'Do you know them by sight?'
'I know Mrs. King, from Dallas. She's stayed here before. And Ms. Shapiro, from San Francisco. I don't know Mrs. Applebaum, from Chicago.'
Dino gave him the description.
'Both Mrs. King and Ms. Shapiro fit the general description,' the manager said.
'I want to speak to both of them, but I don't want them to know we're the police,' Dino said. 'And find me somebody who knows Mrs. Applebaum by sight.'
'Just a minute.' The manager went away for a moment and came back with another man. 'This is the concierge. He knows Mrs. Applebaum, and she's in her sixties.'
'All right, here's what we do,' Dino said. 'You make up a story that gets both women out of their rooms for long enough for us to get a look at them.'
'I could tell them we have a small fire in a suite near them, and ask them to leave their rooms for a few minutes.'
'Where will you move them?'
The manager checked his computer. 'I have empty suites near both of them,' he said.
'Get us some hotel coveralls and a toolbox,' Dino said. 'Let's start with Ms. Shapiro.'
The manager took Dino and Stone into his office and ordered coveralls for them, then he picked up the phone and called the room. 'Ms. Shapiro, this is the duty manager speaking. I'm sorry to disturb you, but we have a small electrical fire in the suite below you, and I'm going to have to move you temporarily to a room down the hall while the electrician checks your room… Yes, I'm really very sorry. May I bring him upstairs?… Thank you.' He turned to Dino. 'Ready?'
Dino and Stone stood on either side of the manager while he rang the doorbell. Each had his hand on a gun.
The door opened and a woman in a dressing gown greeted them.
'Thank you for your cooperation,' the manager said.
'Glad to help,' she replied.
