Hit List (Stone Barrington #53)(56)

“How you doing, Ed?” he asked.

“Just great,” Eagle said, “until the lidocaine wears off.”

“Let’s stop at a drugstore and fill his prescription,” Stone said. “I don’t want to listen to more pissing and moaning.”



* * *



—

Back at Stone’s house they returned to the study, where Susannah awaited. She inspected Eagle: “What’s this?”

“Three shotgun pellets removed. I was lucky.” He was looking for sympathy, and he had found it.

They took up were they had left off with brandy. Eagle washed down one of his painkillers.

“What did you find in the apartment?” Stone asked Dino.

“His two minions were occupying the guest room, each in his bed, each with two bullets to the back of each head. They could have been staying there all along. My other theory is that Larkin had left something there that was incriminating, or just something he needed, like money. If that’s so, he took it with him. I expect he had a car parked on Sixty-fifth Street, so he’s in the wind.”

“I’ll bet he got a ticket in that block,” Stone said.

“Good point. I’ll have it checked.” He got on his phone, asked some questions, then hung up. “Nine tickets were issued in that block during the relevant time frame, none of them registered to Larkin or Frances, but two of them are rentals. We’re checking those out.”

“It might be a starting place.”

“Stone,” Dino said. “I was thinking I might announce your death at the scene. It might give you some breathing room.”

“No,” Stone said emphatically. “He’ll just go on to the next name on the hit list, and I don’t want that on my conscience. Anyway, I’d like him to try again. Next time, I might get a shot at him.”

“Then he will be free from harm,” Dino said to the others. “Stone is a lousy shot.”

“I don’t get your range time,” Stone said defensively.

“He’s got a nice little range downstairs in his basement, and there’s no waiting. He’s just lazy.”

“I’ll cop to lazy,” Stone said.

“I guess that’s better than just being a lousy shot.”

Susannah spoke up. “I think my fella needs some sleep,” she said, “or he’ll fall off his chair.” She got Eagle to his feet and walked him to the elevator.

“I’ll change his bandage tomorrow,” Jenna said.

“I’d better get home,” Dino said, rising. “Viv is due in from Berlin.” He left the house.

“That leaves just us,” Jenna said to Stone. “Whatever will we do with ourselves?”





45


Stone and Jenna were busy at work the following morning when Stone’s cell rang. He kept right on going. Jenna stopped. “I can’t do it when the phone’s ringing,” she said.

“It’s just a phone,” Stone said, trying lamely to rekindle her interest.

“I’m sorry. Sometimes I’m on call at night, and once awoken I never get back to sleep.”

“It’s not the middle of the night, and you don’t have to go back to sleep,” Stone said, making a valiant final effort. It failed, and he picked up his phone. “What?”

“It’s Dino.”

“I should have known.”

“Is that all you two do, even in the daylight hours?”

“Just barely the daylight hours.”

“Well, before you turn on the morning news, there’s news.”

“I hope it’s good.”

“It’s bad and it’s good.”

“Who did he kill this time?”

“Nobody on the list. That’s the good news and the bad news, because he killed two other people—collateral damage.”

“No connection?”

“None.”

“Then why?”

“An apparent case of road rage. Our guy was headed north on the West Side Highway, about Seventy-ninth Street, when he slammed on his brakes, maybe to avoid an animal. The remains of some kind of rodent were found.”

“So he killed the rodent. Who else?”

“Nah, when he slammed on the brakes, he got rear-ended. According to witnesses in the opposite lane, who were stopped because of a traffic accident, he reached into the glove compartment for something, presumably a weapon, walked calmly to the car who hit him, and shot two people, man and woman, through their windshield, both DOA.”

“God, that’s terrible. We’ve got to get this guy off the street, one way or another.”

“I’m leaning heavily toward the other,” Dino said.

“You shouldn’t say that on the phone.”

“I didn’t say it, I must have been thinking it.”

“Then the route between your brain and your tongue has recently been cleared.”

“Entirely possible, but you can’t quote another man’s thoughts, especially on a witness stand.”

“You have a point,” Stone confessed. “Do you have an idea?”

“Yes. It’s much the same as my last idea, and as with my last idea, we have to find him before we can murder him.”