Stuart Woods - Unnatural acts

“I’m going to see Dino, at the hospital, but first, I want to know what happened, and I’m sure you know.”

“You didn’t read the Times this morning?”

“Wasn’t much in the Times.”

“Well, it was right at their deadline, I guess. The Post will have a fuller account this afternoon.”

“It won’t have what I want to know.”

“You mean, you want to know why Dino didn’t call the Bureau before he met Shelley.”

“A good place to start,” Kerry said.

Joan brought in a small tray with a china coffeepot and a mug and set it on the coffee table, then left.

“He didn’t call your people because they’d have had big black vans with flashing lights in the street and a SWAT team in the Carlyle lobby.”

“Oh, come on!”

“You know that’s true. The Bureau is incapable of doing anything small, even when the situation demands it. Also, Shelley probably knew three-quarters of the New York field office by sight.”

“You have a point there,” Kerry admitted.

“Dino was smart enough to take only two detectives with him-both of them women.”

“I heard, and it was smart, I’ll give Dino that.”

“That’s mighty white of you.”

“I saw photos of Shelley’s body. She was unrecognizable-nose job, hair color, lots of new dental work. I swear, I wouldn’t have known her if I had been there, and I spent a couple of years in bed with her.”

“Nobody ever said Shelley was stupid,” Stone said.

“She was smart as a whip, and if she hadn’t been a woman, she’d have been in my job, and I in hers.”

“I expect that’s what made her so hard to nail,” Stone said. “I think her weakness was Dino.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope. The whole time we were in D.C. last year, she spent every night with Dino.”

“Well, of course, she was crazy, or she couldn’t have done what she did.”

“You mean Dino?”

“I mean half a dozen murders.”

“I’m sure the Bureau shrinks have had a wonderful time trying to figure that out.”

“You should see the reports-you can’t see the forest for the psychobabble.”

“Yeah, I’ve read a few of those.”

“Tell me about the DeCarlo girl.”

“For a start, you’d better not call her a girl around Dino-or around her, for that matter.”

“I guess not.”

“She’s probably a lot like a young Shelley,” Stone said.

“Is Dino putting her in for the Medal of Honor?”

“That would be a little over the top, but my guess is, he’ll get her the Police Combat Cross, because it fits her conduct, and he’ll probably get her kicked up to detective second class. Dino won’t sign the orders himself, but he knows whose shell-like ear to whisper into.”

“I expect he does.”

“My advice to you, Kerry, is, when you see Dino, don’t bring up your field office’s noninvolvement, and I wouldn’t mention it to anybody else in the department, either.”

“I suppose that would be resented.”

“All the way up to the commissioner. If you can’t see Dino without avoiding that, then don’t see him at all-just write him a nice note on your best stationery and copy the commissioner.”

“I’ll do both,” Kerry said. “Now, tell me what happened in that bar.”

“The girls went in first and established themselves at the bar. Dino came in a few minutes later and looked at every face in the room. He didn’t spot her.”

“I can understand why.”

“Shelley must have felt comfortable with the situation, because she got up and started toward Dino. Something startled her-nobody knows what-and she started shooting, hit Dino with her first round. By that time, Viv DeCarlo was on her feet and firing. Put one into her chest and knocked her backward. Shelley played possum for a few seconds, and then tried to shoot again, so Viv fired a second time. Both her shots were expert quality. Then it was over, except to transport Dino and take witness statements. There’ll be a hearing on the shooting, and if the Bureau is asked to send somebody, you might have a word with him about not making an ass of himself. Everybody on the panel will be NYPD, except somebody from the civilian review board.”

“I guess we can live with that,” Kerry said. “I’ll have a word with the director about it. Maybe I’ll testify myself, since I was Shelley’s immediate superior.”

“That would be the graceful thing to do,” Stone said.

“Can I buy you dinner tonight?”

“I’m seeing a lady who is taking up all of my evenings, but next time you’re in town, Dino and I will feed you.”

“Deal,” Kerry said, standing up. “Let me thank your girl for the coffee.”

“Watch it, Kerry.”

“Sorry.” He excused himself and left.

Joan came in. “He was very nice,” she said. “Thanked me for the coffee.”

“He wasn’t all that nice-he called you a girl.”

Joan batted her eyes. “The man’s a regular knight in shining armor.”

Stone pulled his car up to the entrance of Lenox Hill Hospital and waited five minutes before Dino appeared in a wheelchair, his left arm in a sling.

Stone got out and opened the door for him. It was raining lightly, and the hospital orderly held an umbrella over Dino’s head. Stone closed the car door and got in. “That’s a very nice bullet hole through your suit,” he said, “front and back.”

“Yeah, I’ve got to have it rewoven. A nurse got the blood out, though.”

“That’s above and beyond the call,” Stone said, driving away. “Does your shoulder hurt?”

“Not while there’s enough Oxycontin in the world.”

“If you run out, I’m sure there’s plenty in the precinct evidence locker,” Stone said.

“Thanks, I hadn’t thought of that. Kerry Smith came to see me.”

“Yeah, he came to see me, too.”

“Is that why he didn’t mention my not calling his agent-in-charge about Shelley?”

“I’m sure he was just trying to be a nice guy.”

“A nice guy? In the Bureau?”

“Don’t be too hard on him-he offered to testify at your hearing.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that. The good thing is, the civilian review board will love him.”

“You done anything about Viv?”

“What, exactly, do you mean by that?”

“Did you get her decorated?”

“Sure, I got her the Combat Cross. The sons of bitches downtown wanted to give it to me, but I told them I wasn’t taking a medal for getting myself shot.”

“Good for you. What else?”

“What do you mean, what else?”

“Come on, Dino.”

“All right, I got her transferred to the Seventeenth Precinct. It’s right next door, and it’s closer to her apartment. And she’ll be promoted.”

Stone found a parking spot in front of Dino’s building and flipped down his sun visor with the police emblem on it. “What, are you coming in?” Dino asked, as his doorman opened the car door.

“I’m walking you upstairs.”

“The hell you say. I’m fine.”

Stone walked around the car and caught Dino’s right arm, just as he staggered a bit. He steered his friend through the front door and onto the elevator. “You’re going to have to take it easy on the Oxycontin, unless you want to fall down in the street,” Stone said.

The elevator arrived at Dino’s floor, and Stone steered him to the front door, took his key from him, and opened the door.

“This is fine,” Dino said.

“I’ll walk you to the bedroom. You need a nap.” They walked down the hall.

“I don’t need a nap,” Dino said, sitting on the bed.

Stone helped him off with his coat and shoes and took the sling from around his neck, then lifted his feet onto the bed and tucked a pillow under his knees.