Sidney Sheldon's Chasing Tomorrow (Tracy Whitney #2)(68)

She followed the woman into one of the powder rooms and locked the door.

JEAN RIZZO RAN OUT onto the fire stairs.

No sign.

His heart rate began to quicken. It was happening, now, somewhere in this building, and he was going to miss it. Somehow, Kennedy and Stevens had outsmarted him. But they weren’t even here! It made no sense.

Back in the conservatory, he grabbed a waiter. “I’m looking for Bianca Berkeley. Do you know who that is?”

“No, sir. I’m afraid I don’t.”

“She’s wearing a long black dress with her hair up.”

“I’m sorry, sir. There are a lot of black dresses.”

“She has a huge emerald necklace on.”

“Oh! Yes.” The man’s face lit up. “I do know the lady. She came through here a few moments ago with her friend.”

Jean’s heart tightened.

“I think they were headed to the powder room. It’s right over . . .”

Jean was already running.

“YOU UNDERSTAND, MISS BERKELEY?”

Bianca nodded, her eyes wide with fright. The excitement had all gone now. This was no made-for-TV drama. This was real.

“The ambulance is on its way? You’re sure.”

“My colleagues already called. You’ll be fine, ma’am. You have time.”

“Oh God!” Bianca started sobbing. “I can feel it already. My skin! It’s burning!”

The FBI agent took her hand and squeezed it. “Help is on the way. Try to stay calm. You understand I need to leave now?”

“Of course. Go. GO!”

JEAN RIZZO HAMMERED ON the locked door.

“Mrs. Berkeley! Mrs. Berkeley, are you in there?”

A strangled voice came from inside. “Are they here yet?”

“Are who here yet?”

“The ambulance.”

“Ma’am, this is the police. Please open the door.”

“I can’t! I have radiation sickness. You might be contaminated!”

Jean took a deep breath. He knew Bianca Berkeley was a kook but this took the cake. “Open the door, ma’am.”

Slowly, the door opened. Bianca Berkeley flung herself into Jean’s arms, crying hysterically. “Where are they?” she screamed. “She said they’d be here! I don’t have much time left.”

She was clutching her neck.

The emerald choker was gone.

ELIZABETH KENNEDY WALKED SLOWLY but purposefully out of the building. The dark wig still itched, but she no longer cared. Swinging her evening bag, she felt the weight of the Tiffany choker inside and grinned.

Jeff said it couldn’t be done. But I did it.

Now he’ll have to admit I’m the best.

She could see the Metro-North station, just a few yards away.

BIANCA BERKELEY WAS SO hysterical, it took Jean Rizzo some minutes to get the description he needed. Silver dress, dark hair. A large green evening purse.

“That’s where she kept the device. The radiation scanner. It’s Russian intelligence, you see. They’ve used this technique before, because it’s untraceable.”

Jean ran into the street.

THE METRO-NORTH STATION WAS CLOSED.

Elizabeth asked the cop outside, “What’s going on?”

“Bomb threat. They think it’s a hoax but no more trains’ll be running tonight. You’d best get a cab.”

IT WAS PURE CHANCE that he saw her. A flash of silver caught his eye from fifty yards away. She was crossing the street in front of the train station, apparently looking for a cab.

No getaway driver. No partner coming to meet her. She just wanders out into the city without a care in the world.

Tracy was right. The lady had balls.

Putting his head down, Jean quickened his pace. Elizabeth was forty yards away now.

Thirty.

Ten.

A yellow cab pulled up. She leaned in to talk to the driver. Jean ran forward. At the exact same moment another male figure darted toward the cab from the opposite side of the street. The man wore an overcoat and turtleneck sweater and Jean recognized him from the way he ran as one of the guys from Barneys. A split second later, the second man emerged from the shadows—also from Barneys. Also running.


This time, Jean Rizzo knew where he’d seen them before.

Elizabeth opened the door to the cab and had one leg inside when Jean grabbed her wrist.

“What are you doing? Let go of me!”

At the same time the other door to the cab opened.

For a split second Interpol Inspector Jean Rizzo and FBI Agent Milton Buck glared at each other.

Then both said simultaneously: “You’re under arrest.”





CHAPTER 18



INTERVIEW RESUMED, DECEMBER TWENTY-FIRST, four fifteen A.M. Miss Kennedy, Mrs. Berkeley has made a statement that you posed to her as an FBI agent. Is that the case?”

Elizabeth Kennedy gave Milton Buck a look of withering disdain but said nothing. Just as she had said nothing to all of Buck’s questions for the last five hours.

“You told Mrs. Berkeley that the emeralds in the choker she was wearing had been irradiated. You further convinced her that her life was in danger from exposure to the irradiated gemstones, a deception you maintained with the use of a number of simple props, including these.”