Стюарт Вудс - Standup Guy

“And I want to fuck you, too, Marty,” she said.

57

Stone sat in the backseat with Viv. He didn’t know why he was so tired; after all, he’d spent the day on the sofa in his office. He wished he’d gotten more sleep.

“You’re awful quiet, Stone,” Dino said when they were on the Sawmill.

“I’m just thinking, what if we’re wrong about the lake cottage?”

“Then we’re wrong—it’ll cost you five million dollars, but the world won’t end. I bet your insurance company will cover you. I mean, it’s a straight-up armed robbery.”

“I don’t know what the limits are on my policy.”

“Dino,” Viv said, “suppose Stone is right about being wrong. What’s our backup plan?”

“Gee, I don’t know, Viv. Stone, you got a backup plan?”

“I’m thinking,” Stone said.

“Think faster, we’re half an hour out.”

“I’m thinking as fast as I can.”

“Oh, well, that’s all right, then.”

“You could think of something, you know, Dino.”

Dino got quiet.

• • •

They got to the convenience store at New Fairfield more or less on time. There were no police vehicles.

“I’ll bet Dan is inside,” Dino said.

They all got out and walked into the store. It was empty of customers. Dino walked over to the lone cashier. “Is Colonel Sparks of the State Police here?”

“Who wants to know?” the man asked.

Dino showed him his badge.

The man nodded toward the rear of the store. “Stockroom.”

They walked the length of the place and pushed open a swinging door. Sparks and seven or eight men were sitting around on crates and folding chairs, looking bored.

“Hey, Dino,” Sparks said. “You remember my team.”

“Hi, guys,” Dino said. “You remember Stone Barrington. This is my wife, Viv. She’s a retired NYPD detective.”

Viv’s credentials established, everybody nodded.

“When do you want to go in, Dino?”

“Well, I don’t want to get there first,” Dino said. “Let’s see, they left Stone’s house around seven, and it’s an hour-and-a-half drive up here, so that would be eight-thirty. It’s eleven now. If they’ve made the swap, they’ll probably spend the night, and they’re still there. If they haven’t made it, then they’re staying up late. Let’s go now.”

Sparks stood up. “Okay, everybody, saddle up. Put your gear on in the cars, not in the parking lot. We don’t want to attract attention. We’ll do this like last time—we’ll leave the cars after a right turn at the lake road, out of sight of any approaching vehicles, then we’ll walk down the road and take to the woods before we get to the cabin.”

Everybody got into the cars. They drove to the entry road and made the turn to the right, without headlights or incident. As quietly as possible, they left the vehicles around the first corner and began to walk up the road. Stone brought up the rear with Viv.

Stone and Viv waited in the road until the SWAT team had filtered into the woods, then Dan Sparks came back to get them. They followed him down the road. There was a light on in the living room.

“No van,” Stone said.

“No vehicle of any kind,” Sparks replied.

They followed him up onto the porch and into the living room. Nothing, nobody, except the counter-sorting machine on the floor next to the dining table, and two shotguns and an Uzi behind the front door. Stone went into the bedroom and turned on a light; there was a leather duffel on the bed. He unzipped it and pulled out a few things. “A man’s clothes,” he said to Sparks.

“I don’t see another bag,” Sparks said.

“And no five bags of tens and twenties,” Stone pointed out.

“There’s nothing in the place that says a woman was here,” Dino said. “There are two bags of groceries on the kitchen counter, untouched.”

“They’ve been here,” Sparks said.

“They’ve been here and gone,” Stone replied.

“At least, one of them did,” Sparks said. He walked back into the living room. “Everybody got a flashlight?” he asked.

Everybody held up flashlights. “I want a search of the woods,” he said. “Work your way out from the house. Remember what we found the last time we searched the woods.”

• • •

Ten minutes later, Sparks came back into the house and beckoned to Stone, Dino, and Viv, who were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee from the grocery bags. He led them outside and a short distance into the woods.

“Is that your Parese guy?” Sparks asked, playing his powerful little flashlight on a figure on the ground. “He’s got an empty holster on his belt, and we found a single nine-millimeter shell casing on the ground in front of the house.”

“That’s Marty Parese,” Stone said. “And that’s a knife sticking out of his chest.”

“You’re very observant,” Sparks said drily. “Now, where’s Henrietta Cromwell?

“In the wind,” Dino said.

58

The group sat around the living room of the lake cottage. It was after one AM, and the medical examiner’s wagon had already left with Parese’s body. They were all having a drink from the cabin’s booze supply.

“So,” Dino said, “where are we?”

“I like Stone’s idea about the chartered airplane,” Dan Sparks said. “My people are checking every airport in the western half of the state, as far as and including Hartford’s airports. Danbury and Oxford are the closest ones. Danbury closes at dusk, and Oxford is quiet. I’ve got men on the runway at each, should anybody try to land, and the New York boys are covering White Plains, Newburgh, and Albany.”

“Hank could be headed for Mexico,” Stone said. “We don’t know anything about the vehicle, except that it’s a van—no make, year, or color.”

“Yeah,” Sparks said, “and I’m not issuing a nationwide APB for a van. I don’t need that kind of trouble. We are checking every nearby motel, hotel, and B&B for a woman in a van, though.”

Dino spoke up. “And I’ve got people watching her apartment building in the city.” He sighed. “I guess we ought to head back soon, late as it is.”

“Listen, you guys shouldn’t be driving back to the city this late,” Sparks said. “Why don’t you sleep here and get an early start? Our crime scene is outside, and we’ve already shut it down. Nobody’s going to disturb you.”

“Suits me,” Viv said, and nobody argued with her.

“I want another drink,” Stone said, getting up and heading for the kitchen. “Can I bring anybody anything?”

“The bottle,” Dino said, “and some ice.”

Stone brought back the makings and set them on the dining table, then poured for everybody.

“Not for me,” Sparks said. “I’m headed home.” He shook everybody’s hand, then left.

“Where would you go with five million dollars in cash?” Viv asked. “I mean, the airplane makes the most sense. But Dan has a lid on that. Where else?”

“That’s the five-million-buck question,” Dino said, “and I’m too tired to think. I put in a twelve-hour day before we got here.”

“Yeah,” Stone said. “And you’d be surprised how exhausting it is to be bound hand and foot all day. I’m really beat.”

“No more great ideas?” Dino asked.

“None. Zip. Nada.”

They finished their drinks, then Dino and Viv took the double-bedded room, and Stone and Dino’s driver took the twin-bedded one. Stone didn’t bother looking for sheets; he found a blanket and slept in his clothes. Everybody was down and out in fifteen minutes.

• • •

Stone woke up to sunlight streaming through a window onto his bed. He struggled out of bed, went into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, then he put on his shoes and walked outside.