New York Dead

looked around the place; everybody was busy doing something.
    Stone picked up the cardboard box and walked out of the squad room. Nobody looked at him.

Chapter
28

    The phone was ringing as Stone walked into the house. He picked it up. “Hello?”
    “Detective Barrington?”
    “Yes?”
    “This is Jack Marcus at the
Post
. We’re doing a follow-up on the Nijinsky story; does your leaving the force have anything to do with your dissatisfaction with the way the investigation is being conducted?” Stone was taken aback for a moment. The precinct was leaking again. “I’m leaving the force for medical reasons,” he said.
    “Weren’t your superiors happy about the arrest of Henrietta Morgan?”
    “You’ll have to ask them about that.”
    “Do you think Hank Morgan pushed Sasha off that terrace?”
    “I don’t have an opinion about that. I’m a civilian.” He hung up the phone. It rang again immediately.
    “It’s Cary. It just came over the AP wire.”
    “That’s pretty fast reporting. I only heard myself an hour ago.” He had walked home from the precinct.
    “Are you all right?”
    “I’m okay. Let’s have dinner tonight.”
    “I wish I could. Barron’s doing a prime-time special on murder in New York for Friday night. He’s shooting every day, and we’re editing every night.”
    “Come over here when you finish tonight.”
    “I wish I could, Stone; God knows, I’d rather be with you, but you have to understand about my job. I’ll be working fifteen-hour days all this week.”
    “I’m sorry I pressed you; I know the job’s important.”
    “It is, but I’ll see you Saturday night for dinner at Barker’s.”
    “Sure.”
    “Why don’t you relax for the rest of the week? Do some work on the house.”
    “I don’t have anything else to do.”
    “We’ll talk about that Saturday. I’ve got to run now.”
    “See you.”
    “Take care.”
    Stone put down the phone. He could hear the noise of sanding coming from the study. The shelves would be ready to varnish again by late afternoon.
    He went upstairs to his bedroom and stood looking at himself in the mirror over the chest of drawers. Nothing seemed different. He unstrapped the gun from his ankle, took the badge wallet from his pocket, and put them both in the top drawer, at the back, under his socks and underwear. As always, he felt naked when he wasn’t carrying them. He would have to get used to feeling naked.
    He was suddenly overcome with fatigue. He stretched out on the bed, still wearing his trench coat, and closed his eyes for a minute.
    When he woke, it was dark outside, and the noise of sanding had stopped. He still felt exhausted, but he struggled out of his trench coat and suit and into work clothes. Downstairs, he repeated his actions of the evening before — ate lasagna, made a drink, varnished. By the time he went to bed, he was drunk.
    The next morning, he forced himself, in spite of the hangover, to work out on the exercise equipment; then he took a cab to Central Park and ran twice around the reservoir. It was a clear autumn day, the sort of day he loved in New York, and it lifted his spirits somewhat. He got a sandwich at the zoo and watched the seals cavort in their pool. What would he do tomorrow, he asked himself, and the week and the month after that? He knew how easy it would be to let himself descend into depression.
    He finished his sandwich and found a pay phone, which, miraculously, had an intact yellow pages. He found the number and learned that the next bar exam was in three weeks, and the next cram course began the following Monday. He signed up on the spot, giving them a credit card number to hold his place. The thought of sitting in a classroom repelled him, but the thought of doing nothing was worse.
    He bought the
Daily News
and the
Times
and looked for news. Hank Morgan had been arraigned the previous afternoon on the weapons charge and had been released on bail, which her father had covered. The
Times
report went no further than that, but a
News
columnist tied her to the Nijinsky case: There is little doubt that Henrietta “Hank” Morgan is the chief suspect in the fall of Sasha Nijinsky from the terrace of her East Side penthouse. While everyone connected with the case has declined comment, police sources say that it is only a matter of time before enough evidence will be marshaled for the D.A. to seek an indictment. But an indictment for what? At the moment, there seems to be no proof that