Stone Barrington 06-11

ear.
    “Crasher at the front door,” the voice said.
    “Arrington, please excuse me,” Stone said. “I have to attend to something. I’ll call you later, I promise.” He made his way toward the front door, closely followed by Dino.
    “Don’t you want me to handle the thing at the front door?” Dino asked. “Wouldn’t you rather stay here and talk to Arrington?”
    “I just want to see what’s going on,” Stone said. They arrived at the front door in time to see two Palm Beach PD officers hustling a man into a van.
    Another cop approached. “Unauthorized photographer,” he said. “We know him. He’s a stringer for one of the tabloids.”
    “Good work,” Stone said. “You had any other problems at the front door?”
    “Not really. We’ve had to frisk a few people, but no problems. Nobody as tall as the guy you’re looking for. An old man in a wheelchair set off all the alarms, but he was on the guest list.”
    “Wheelchair?” Stone asked. “What kind of wheelchair?”
    “One of those electric jobs, almost like a scooter. He arrived in a van and had to be helped with it.”
    “What’s his name?”
    The cop consulted his list. “Walter Feldman.”
    “Describe him.”
    “White hair, kind of hunched over and frail-looking.”
    Stone turned to look at Dino.
    “A wheelchair is a good way not to look tall,” Dino said.
    Stone lifted his left hand to his mouth. “Everybody, listen up. This is Barrington. Without leaving your stations, find a man in an electric wheelchair and report his position.” He released the talk switch. “Come on, Dino.”
    They quickly checked inside the house, but did not see the man. “He must be in the gardens,” Stone said. He spoke into the microphone again. “This is Barrington. Anybody got a position on the man in the wheelchair yet?”
    Nothing.
    “Jesus, how hard can he be to find?” Stone asked.
    Then a voice came over the radio. “Mr. Barrington, I’ve got the wheelchair.”
    “Where?” Stone asked.
    “At the pool, behind the hedge.”
    “Describe the occupant.”
    “There’s no occupant. The wheelchair is sitting empty by the pool.”
    “Everybody, listen up,” Stone said. “Our subject has arrived. Locate him quickly.”
    They were near the seawall, now. Dino spoke up. “Where’s the guard you put on the seawall, the bald guy?”
    “Nowhere in sight,” Stone said. He arrived at the wall, walked to the stern of the yacht and looked at the water. The big security guard, Jason, was floating facedown in Lake Worth, a trickle of red coloring the water around him.
    “Oh, shit,” Dino said.
    Then gunfire broke out.

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    S TONE TURNED AROUND TO FIND A MOB OF PEOPLE RUSH ing toward him, many of them screaming.
    “Shots fired!” he said into the microphone. “Secure the bride and groom in the master suite now!” Then he and Dino did what cops always do, and other people don’t: They ran toward the gunfire.
    They had trouble making headway against the onrushing crowd, but after a couple of minutes they were nearing the house. A man and woman were huddled behind a huge shrub. “On the roof!” the man yelled at Stone, pointing.
    “Detail at the front of the house,” Stone said into the mike. “Subject on the roof of the house. Watch the front drainpipes and apprehend.”
    “He’s not coming this way,” Dino said. “There must be a way from the roof into the house.”
    “Oh, God,” Stone said. He spoke into the mike. “Bride and groom detail. Where are you?”
    “On the main stairs,” a voice replied. “We’ll have them secured in a minute.”
    “Oh, no,” he said to Dino, “we’ve been suckered. Let’s get up there.” They started to run. “Don’t take the bride and groom upstairs!” he said into the microphone. He raced into the house and headed for the stairs. From the bottom, he could just see the wedding party disappearing down the upstairs hallway. “Wedding group,” he said into the mike. “Stop, and come downstairs.” No one came down. He ran up the stairs.
    At the top he came to a sudden halt because the stairs were blocked by the bride, the groom, several guests and four Palm Beach police officers. They were standing there, rigidly, and Stone couldn’t see past them. He stopped a few steps from the top and listened.
    “Step away from the bride and groom,” a man’s deep voice said.
    Manning. Stone tiptoed up the remaining stairs. Then, blocked from Manning’s view by the group above him, he