“Hey, Dan, it’s Dino.”
“I could have predicted that.”
“What did you find out about the Warren Keating thing?”
“I found out that it’s hard to analyze the ashes of a corpse for traces of poison.”
“You ever heard that tale about there being three common household substances—or maybe it’s two—that, when combined, make an unanalyzable poison?”
“Dino, how am I going to look for an unanalyzable poison?”
“You can get a search warrant for Keating’s house and look for the ingredients.”
“What are the ingredients?”
“I told you, two or three common household substances.”
“You’re a big fucking help, Dino.”
“Well, the people who know about these things don’t like to mention the names of the substances, for fear of setting off a nationwide epidemic of dead husbands, but Warren Keating has a chemistry degree, and you know what college kids are like: Something of that sort would be talked about in lab classes.”
“So what do I do, ask a college chemistry major?”
“Why don’t you ask the FBI lab? If anybody knows about this poison, they would.”
“Okay, say I call the FBI lab, or get somebody at our lab to do it, and they tell me that the three secret ingredients are toilet cleaner, bug spray and a decent Scotch. Half the people in the state have those things in their houses, so they’d be just as good for the crime as Warren Keating, wouldn’t they?”
“Dan . . .”
“You think a judge, a sober one anyway, would give me a warrant to search for those three items? I’ll bet the judge has them at home, too.”
“I take your point, Dan. Now, can you tell me what, if anything, is being done in this investigation?”
“Right now, it’s in the hands of the lab, and they won’t give me an ETA for their results.”
“They’ve probably laid it off on the FBI lab, anyway,” Dino said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Anything else, before I go back to fi ghting crime?”
“There has been a development. Warren Keating may have hired a hit man to kill his son.”
“Have you got anything more than three secret ingredients to back that up?”
“Well, his son is in a Key West hospital with a bullet wound to the shoulder.”
“That’s certainly an interesting development, Dino, but how do I tie that to Warren?”
“A guy with a New England accent, like Warren’s, called a Miami P.I. I know and made inquiries.”
“Did the P.I. recommend anybody?”
“No, he hung up when he saw which way the conversation was leading.”
“I’m really happy that the crime is out of my jurisdiction, Dino. Let me know if something happens that I can actually arrest Warren Keating for.” Hotchkiss hung up.
Dino turned to Stone. “For this kind of abuse, I lose the company of two attractive women?”
35
STONE HAD BECOME accustomed to being awakened in the mornings by his cell phone while in Dr. Annika Swenson’s bed, and this morning was no exception.
“Hello?”
“Stone? It’s your client, Evan Keating.”
Stone looked at the clock. Seven A.M. “Good morning, Evan. You’re up early.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Not exactly.”
“I’m being discharged from this place at ten o’clock this morning. Can you pick me up here and take me to police headquarters?”
“I suppose so, but why do you want to go to police headquarters?”
“I’ll explain that when we’re on the way. Will you make an appointment with Lieutenant Sculley and ask him to have a representative of the district attorney there, too?”
“Why do we need the DA there?”
“Again, I’ll explain on the way. Just tell him I’m going to solve Charley Boggs’s murder for him. And when you come here, there’s a second entrance, two doors beyond the emergency room. Please meet me there at ten sharp.”
“All right, Evan. See you then.” Stone hung up and, with nothing to do until nine, when Tommy Sculley would be at work, he turned his attention to Annika, who was lying on her stomach, pretending to sleep. He ran a finger lightly down the crack of her ass.
“Mmmmm,” she said.
“You’re not asleep, are you?”
“Nooooo.”
He deployed the fi nger again.
“More,” she said.
He could deny her nothing.
SHORTLY AFTER NINE , after finishing breakfast, he phoned Tommy Sculley.
“Lieutenant Sculley.”
“Tommy, it’s Stone Barrington.”
“Good morning, Stone, and what request do you have for me today?”
“Only a request for a meeting with you and somebody from the DA’s office.”
“For what purpose?”
“My client says he can solve the Charley Boggs murder for you.”
“Which client?”
“I have only one in Key West.”
“Well, that’s very decent of him. What evidence does he have?”
“He has not yet informed me. I’m picking him up at the hospital at ten o’clock, so we can be there shortly after that.”
“Hang on a second.” Tommy put him on hold and came back two minutes later. “Okay, the assistant county attorney, Jim Rawlings, will be here. In my office.”
“Thank you, Tommy. See you then.” Stone hung up, thinking this must have something to do with some drug deal that Evan and Charley had collaborated on.
STONE PULLED U P to the specified hospital door at ten o’clock, and Evan stepped out, his left arm in a sling, looked around furtively and got into Stone’s car.
Stone drove away. “Evan, let me give you a tip: When you’re leaving a building while worried about being shot at, don’t pause and look around; just dive into the car.”
“Thanks, that’s a good tip,” Evan said.
“How are you feeling?”
“A little sore, but the drugs are good.”
“Temperature gone?”
“Yes, my head is clear.”
“Good. We have a meeting with Tommy Sculley and Jim Rawl-ings, the assistant county attorney. Now perhaps you can tell me why you want the meeting?”
“I’m going to solve Charley Boggs’s homicide for them.”
