New York Dead

“You can do that at the precinct,” Dino said. He walked over and handed her another warrant. “Right now, you are under arrest for the possession of a firearm without a permit.” He began to read her her rights.

Morgan turned to Stone again. “This can’t be happening,” she said, as if she expected him to make everything all right.

“I’m sorry, but it is happening,” Stone replied. He lowered his voice. “And I’d advise you not to say anything further until you’ve seen your lawyer.”

Downstairs, Stone watched as the patrolmen bundled Morgan, now handcuffed, into the squad car.

“You coming back to the precinct?” Dino asked, his hand on the car’s door handle.

“Not right now,” Stone said.

“How’d the physical go?”

“Okay, I think. He said I’m okay.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“Dino, where’d you get the arrest warrant for the weapons charge?”

“Hagler had that, too. He came up with it right after you left.”

Stone nodded.

Dino got into the unmarked car and drove away.

Stone walked briskly down the street to the corner drugstore and found a phone. He got the number from information, and, when he told the secretary who he was, she immediately put him through.

“Hello, Detective Barrington?”

“Mr. Palmer, Hank Morgan has been arrested on a weapons charge. If I were you, I’d get up to the precinct without delay.”

There was a stunned silence from Palmer’s end of the line.

“Good-bye,” Stone said.

“Thank you, Detective,” Palmer managed to sputter before Stone hung up.

Stone walked slowly up Sixth Avenue, not looking for a cab yet. He felt something of the traitor, but he had wanted to do something to redress the balance. He was in no hurry to get to the precinct. He didn’t want to be involved in what was going to happen there.

Chapter 25

In spite of his lengthy walk, Stone got to the precinct before Morgan’s lawyer did. Dino’s desk was empty.

“Dino’s got the dyke in interrogation room three,” a detective at a nearby desk told Stone.

Three had a two-way mirror. Stone walked hurriedly down the hall and let himself quietly into the adjacent viewing room, which was empty. He sat down on a folding chair and took in the scene next door. Morgan was seated at the steel table facing the mirror, with Dino and the ADA on either side of her. She sat rigidly in the uncomfortable chair, gripping the arms. Her knuckles were white. Tears streamed down her face. A tape recorder was on the table.

Stone looked at his watch. She would have been in the interrogation room for nearly an hour. Where was Palmer?

“I want my lawyer,” Morgan sobbed.

“You already had your lawyer,” Dino replied, “and now you’re going to talk to me.”

“I have nothing to say to you,” Morgan said adamantly, her voice quavering.

Stone could tell she was near breaking. Anything could happen now.

“We’ve got you cold on the weapons possession charge,” Dino said. “That’s five to ten, and you won’t get sent to a country club. You’ll be in there with all the other bull dykes – the muscle freaks, the murderers.”

“I have nothing to say,” Morgan nearly screamed.

“Let’s put the weapons thing aside for the moment,” Dino said, his voice kinder. “Let’s talk about Sasha.”

“I don’t want to talk about Sasha,” Morgan said. Her head sagged forward until her chin touched her chest. “I don’t want to talk about anything.”

Dino leaned forward and lowered his voice.

Stone strained to hear him over the speaker.

“Look, nobody’s saying you murdered Sasha; I know you loved her, and you wouldn’t hurt her on purpose. It was an accident, I know that. You just had a little tussle, and Sasha fell, that’s all. You must have felt terrible.”

To Stone’s astonishment, Morgan nodded slowly. Her face was shiny with tears, and she made no effort to wipe them away.

“That’s it,” Dino said soothingly, “let it all come out; you’re going to feel a lot better when you tell me about it.”

Morgan continued to nod but said nothing.

“Look, Hank, tell me about it, and I guarantee you won’t do any time. You had a tussle, and Sasha fell; no judge is going to send you to prison.”

At the word prison, Morgan’s body jerked convulsively. “I don’t want to go to prison,” she said.

Stone stared at her. The woman was starting to come apart; in another minute she would plead to the Kennedy assassination, if Dino wanted her to.

“I won’t let them send you to prison,” Dino said, “if you’ll just tell me the truth, tell me what happened. It was Sasha’s fault, wasn’t it?”

Morgan broke down now. The sobbing shook her body, and she made a terrible keening noise. She grabbed hold of Dino’s forearm. “I’ll say anything you want,” she wailed, “just don’t send me to prison.”

“All right,” Dino said, “I’m going to tell you what it was like, and we’re going to write it down.” He handed her a pen and shoved a legal pad in front of her.

Stone began to feel ill. He wanted to pick up a chair and throw it through the mirror. Then the door to the interrogation room opened, and Lieutenant Leary walked in, accompanied by Carlton Palmer.

“That will be quite enough of this!” Palmer shouted, going to Morgan’s side and putting an arm around her. “You’ve got a lot of nerve pulling this sort of stunt!” he yelled at Dino. “I’ll have your badge before I’m done.”

“Aw, go fuck yourself, Counselor,” Dino said, and walked out of the room, slamming the door.

Stone found him pacing up and down alongside his desk in the squad room.

“Two more minutes!” Dino said, slamming his fist into his palm. “Two more fucking minutes, and I’d have had her!”

“Come on, Dino,” Stone said. “It would never have stood up; you know that. She’d have recanted on the stand, and the jury would have believed her.”

“I’ve still got her for the gun, though,” Dino said. “I’ll nail her for that. I won’t let the DA deal on it either. I’ll send her up for it.”

“Dino, stop it. You’re dreaming. You can’t even convince me she had anything to do with Nijinsky, so how is the DA going to convince a grand jury, let alone get a conviction? The woman had nothing to do with it.” A hard voice behind him caused Stone to spin around.

“Horseshit,” Leary said. “You better get with the program, Barrington, or the world’s gonna fall on you.”

“You mean Deputy Commissioner Waldron?”

“And the chief of detectives, and the district attorney, and me, and the whole world. We’ve got a chance for a good bust on this one, after you’ve fucked around getting nowhere all this time, and you’d better not get in the way of it.”

Stone felt anger rush through him. “That woman had nothing to do with Nijinsky’s fall, and you’re not going to prove she did. If I thought you could make a jury believe it, I’d testify for the defense myself.”

“If you pull something like that,” Leary said, his voice low and cold, “I’ll take you out in the alley and shoot you myself.” The lieutenant turned and walked away.