Стюарт Вудс - Standup Guy

“Okay, I’ll buy that. There’s a suspect. Bats had a close associate named Marty. Ring a bell?”

“I don’t know any of his associates, but tell you what: I’ll call Bats’s old man, Gino, and ask about Marty, see what I can get from him. Call you back?”

“Sure.” They both hung up.

• • •

Fratelli called Gino Buono.

“Yeah?”

“Gino, it’s Johnny Fratelli.”

“Did you kill him, Johnny?”

“So you heard.”

“Some cop from Connecticut called me. Did you, Johnny?”

“No, Gino, I’m in Vegas. I had nothing to do with it.”

“I didn’t think you did, but I had to ask.”

“It’s okay. I’ve heard something, though, might be useful.”

“Tell me.”

“Did Onofrio have an associate called Marty?”

“Yeah, Marty Parese. Marty was his right-hand man. They’ve been tight since they were kids.”

“I heard that Marty and Onofrio might have been in this together and were going to split the money.”

“Onofrio didn’t tell me nothing, but that makes a lot of sense.”

“You think Marty would off Onofrio for a few million in cash?”

Gino was quiet for a moment. “Maybe. Come to think of it, who wouldn’t off him for that much money? I can’t think of anybody I’d trust around that kind of money.”

“Just a thought. My condolences, Gino, for your loss.”

“Thanks, Johnny.”

Fratelli called Stone back. “I spoke to Bats’s old man, Gino.”

“And?”

“Gino says the guy is Marty Parese, and he and Bats were tight since they were kids. Gino also thinks Marty is good for the killing, since there were millions involved.”

“I’ll see that it gets looked into,” Stone said. “Thank you, John.”

“Anytime. Oh, and I’ll give you two to one that when they find Bats’s head, there’ll be a bullet in it.” They hung up.

• • •

Stone called Dino.

“Hey.”

“Are your people working the Buono murder with Dan Sparks?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve got a suspect for you.”

“I accept free gifts.”

“I didn’t say it was free, it’s going to cost you a couple of dinners.”

“Okay, one dinner—don’t get greedy.”

“There’s a guy named Marty Parese, who was Buono’s best friend since childhood.”

“So, your theory is that the best friend did it? Why not the butler?”

“It’s not my theory, it’s Gino Buono’s theory—Bats’s father.”

“Yeah? Are you and Gino best buddies these days?”

“I didn’t say he told me .”

“So this is what you lawyers call hearsay?”

“In case you didn’t know, Dino, hearsay works when you’re investigating a murder, just not in a courtroom.”

“You’re just trying to get Hank out of this, aren’t you?”

“I don’t represent Hank, Herb Fisher does.”

“I wonder how that happened.”

“I recommended him, he’s good.”

“Yeah, he is, I guess.”

“Somebody I know thinks that Bats and Marty were in the kidnapping together, and that when I agreed to give Bats the money, Marty came running, but when he got to the cottage both Hank and the money were gone. After that, there was a disagreement.”

“I can imagine,” Dino said.

“There’s a theory about Bats’s head, too.”

“I can’t wait to hear it.”

“Marty put one into Bats’s head, then remembered he’d used his favorite gun, so he took off the head because he didn’t want anybody to find the bullet.”

“Great. That explains all the knife wounds in Bats’s back.”

“Marty didn’t want it to look like a shooting.”

“Anything else?”

“That’s about it.”

“Okay, it’s good for a dinner, but it’s not that good, so you’d better order something cheap.”

“When have you known me to order something cheap?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

They both hung up.

Dino called the lead detective on the Buono case.

“Yeah, Chief?”

“You ever heard of a Marty Parese?”

“Yeah, he and Buono were partners in the chop shop. Allegedly.”

“There’s a theory—this is about fourth-hand by now—that Parese and Buono were partners in the kidnapping, too, and when Parese got to the lake cottage and found Buono there but without the money or the girl, he put one in his head and cut off the head so we couldn’t make a ballistics match. What do you think?”

“It does make a weird kind of sense,” the detective said. “I mean, the medical examiner says the knife wounds in Buono’s back were postmortem. We’ll pick up Parese and have a chat with him.”

“Hey, that’s a good idea,” Dino said. “And Dan Sparks might like to have somebody there when you question him.”

“Sure, Chief.”

“Have a good time.” Dino hung up.

48

Joan buzzed. “Mike Freeman on one.”

“Did his people pick up the money?”

“Half an hour ago.”

Stone pressed the button. “Hey, Mike.”

“We have a problem with your money, Stone.”

Stone’s stomach lurched. “What is it, Mike?”

“Your bank won’t take it.”

“That doesn’t sound like my bank, turning down a five-million-dollar deposit.”

“The manager said he’d call you. Meanwhile, the truck is on its way back to your house, so be prepared to receive it. I’ll be happy to send the truck back to you when you’ve sorted out the problem.”

“Thanks for the call, Mike.” Stone hung up and buzzed Joan. “The two bags of money are on their way back to us, so be ready to get them inside fast.”

“What’s going on?”

“My bank manager is going to call.”

“He’s on the other line.”

Stone pressed line two. “This is Stone Barrington.”

“Mr. Barrington, this is Charles Crockwell, your bank manager.”

“Good morning, Mr. Crockwell. What’s the problem?”

“Good morning. The problem is, we can’t accept that kind of unsorted cash deposit.”

“I don’t understand, you cashed my check, why won’t you take it back?”

“The problem is, you asked for the sum in tens and twenties, which we were happy to arrange, but then you asked us to unband everything and mix it up.”

“That’s right, I did.”

“Well, we’d have to close down the branch and put everybody to work sorting it in order to be able to accept the deposit. I don’t think you realize how difficult that would be.”

“I thought you folks had machines that did that work.”

“We have such a machine, but it’s gone back to the manufacturer for repairs. The only place I know that might do that is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and their only customers are banks.”

“Mr. Crockwell, I’m a pretty good customer of your bank, am I not?”

“Mr. Barrington, you are an extremely good customer, and we value your trust in us, but I’m telling you that what you’re asking is beyond our ability to accomplish at this time, and our counter and sorter won’t be back for another ten days, I’m told.”

“What do you suggest I do?”

“Well, if you know a couple of dozen people that you would trust with five million dollars in small bills, invite them over and ask them to help you sort it. You could make a sort of party of it.”

“That’s an amusing suggestion, Mr. Crockwell.”

“I don’t mean to make light of the situation. I suppose you could call the chairman of the board. He could convene a board meeting, and they could count it, but I should mention that there are a couple of people on that board that I wouldn’t trust with a large sum of loose cash.”

“Thank you, Mr. Crockwell,” Stone said, and hung up. “Joan!” he screamed.