Hit List (Stone Barrington #53)(17)

“Someone once said, ‘Nothing is more exhilarating than having been shot at and missed.’”

“It’s a lot better than the alternative, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Do you want to go up to London right away, or take a few days here first?”

“I like it here,” she said. “Plenty of time for shopping later.”

“As you wish.”

“Will you fuck me here, please?”

Stone looked up and waved at a passing boat, a few yards away. “I don’t think we want to be the entertainment for passing yachtsmen,” he said, “but, you may remember, I have a bed.”

“Then let’s go find it,” she said, scrambling to her feet and running for her horse.





14


When Stone and Vanessa came downstairs an hour later, Mike Freeman filled them in on what he’d been trying to tell Stone when their call was cut off. On closer examination of the hit list, he’d recognized the names of many of the victims. More than that, he had a suspect in mind for the killer: an ex–Strategic Services employee named Sig Larkin.

Dino got out his cell phone and made a call to New York. He came back shortly. “Larkin has three arrests,” he said, “two bar fights and a domestic violence. He agreed to get counseling for anger management and was released, on his own recognizance. Oh, one other thing: everybody on the list worked at Strategic Services at one time or another.”

“I knew I recognized some of the names, though not all,” Mike said. “But I remember Sig Larkin.”

“Tell me all about Larkin,” Stone said.

Mike led the two of them to a sofa. “I’ll tell you what I can.”

Stone and Dino sat.

“Larkin was hired initially as a security guard on the building staff. He was licensed and had had such experience. Not long after that, our whole security system went blooey, and we didn’t have a tech in the building. Larkin looked at it and said he could fix it. He got some tools from his car, and in half an hour had it up and running again. I figured someone who could do that with a very complex system at first sight was wasted as a security guard, so I introduced him to the head of our tech services department, and he hired him as an installer and trained him on our systems. He was a quick study, and in a week or ten days he was making calls to homes and offices where we had installed systems.”

“You said he was obstreperous,” Stone said.

“Right, he couldn’t work with anybody else. Usually, we sent a two-man team, but we started sending him alone. He was all right in dealing with customers, but he didn’t like partnering with another tech. He took a swing at a supervisor, and after that, he worked alone.”

“How long was he there?”

“Five, six years,” Mike said. “Eventually, we decided that we needed somebody in-house full time, so we pulled him off business and house calls and gave him a desk downstairs.”

“Would he have met the people on the hit list while doing his work?”

“Sure, he was all over the building.”

“Why would he send the list to me? I didn’t work in the building.”

“No, but you were there a lot—board meetings, visits with me, luncheons, etcetera.”

“Buy why am I even on the list?”

“He must have some reason for remembering you unfavorably. Remember, this is a man who takes offense easily. You might have insulted him without even knowing it.”

“Anything else about him?”

“Our human resources department had a couple of mild complaints from women about him being handsy, and he was reprimanded twice. The second time, he quit. I never heard from him again.”

“How long ago was that?”

“A year, give or take.”

“Okay,” Dino said. “I’ll have my guys run him down and chat with him. We’ll want to hear from his wife, too, the one he beat up. Excuse me.” Dino went across the room and starting making calls.



* * *



—

The crews from both airplanes joined them for dinner, so they had a full table. Dino missed the first course but got there in time for the roast beef.

“It’s unlike you to be late for eating, Dino,” Stone said.

“Well, I got busy with your Mr. Sig Larkin.”

“Busy how?”

“Busy like Larkin. He moved out of his apartment a few months ago, owing three months’ rent. Funny, he could afford to pay it, but he didn’t.”

“How do you know he could afford it?”

“Because he won the lottery.”

“And he still didn’t pay his rent? How much did he win?”

“Oh, not the big-time stuff, but a neighbor said it was something in the range of two million dollars.”

“I guess he can afford an airplane ticket, then.”

“First class,” Dino replied.

“Some people, when they have a windfall, get drunk with power,” Mike said. “Think they can get away with anything, because they’re rich.”

“Gee, I wonder where they get that idea,” Dino said.



* * *



—

The crews had returned to their cottages, and everybody else was on cognac and coffee when a dog barked somewhere.