Stone Barrington 06-11

exactly what happened tonight. Start when you entered the building.”

    Herbie took a couple more breaths. “The downstairs door was open—like, ajar, you know? All I had to do was push it open.”
    “Good, that helps with the breaking-and-entering charge.”
    Then I took the elevator to the sixth floor, like you said, and I found a door to the roof. When I went out onto the roof, it locked behind me and that scared me, because I was stuck up there. I was going to have to shinny down a drainpipe or something.”
    “Okay, you got onto the roof. Then what happened?”
    “The apartment under the skylight was dark for a few minutes, then, a little before nine, a light came on, and I could see inside.”
    “What did you see?”
    “A girl was in the room and she was setting up one of those portable massage tables, you know?”
    “I know. Go on.”
    “Well, she set everything up, and she seemed to be real careful about everything in the room. She was turning lights on and off, until she got them the way she wanted them. Then she spread out sheets and stuff on the table.”
    “Okay, go on.”
    “Then, a little after nine, this guy arrived, and he took off his clothes. They both did, as a matter of fact.”
    “Did they kiss or embrace?”
    “Just a peck on the cheek and a pat on the ass.”
    “Did you photograph that?”
    “No, not yet. I was getting my gear ready.”

    Stone resisted the temptation to yell at him. “Go on, what happened next?”
    “Then the guy got on the table, facedown, so I figured it wouldn’t do any good to shoot him, if I couldn’t see his face.”
    “So you still didn’t take any photographs?”
    “No, not yet. So, anyway, the girl was rubbing him all over, and he was kind of squirming. Then he turned over on his back and I could see his face.”
    “So you started photographing him?”
    “No, not yet.”
    “Herbie, did you take any photographs at all?”
    “Sure, yeah, I did.”
    “When?”
    “I’m coming to that. Anyway, she starts to work on his thing, you know, and he’s writhing around, but my angle wasn’t so good, so I crawled out onto the skylight so I could get a better shot. It looked strong enough to hold me.”
    “So, when you got a better angle, did you start shooting?”
    “Yeah. I took a couple of wide shots with the thirty-five-millimeter lens, then I heard—no, I guess I felt —this creaking under me, you know?”
    “Go on, Herbie.”
    “So I stopped shooting and started thinking about getting off that skylight.”
    “You stopped shooting?”
    “Well, yeah, the skylight was sounding like it was going to break, so I had to get off it.”
    “Did you get off it?”
    “Not exactly.”

    “What do you mean, not exactly?”
    “I was kind of backing up, and the skylight creaked again, and the girl looked up, right at me.”
    “Did you photograph her face?”
    “I’m not sure. It all started happening very fast,” Herbie said.
    “Then what happened?”
    “The guy was just lying there, like he was done and had fallen asleep, the way you do, you know? And the girl started backing away from the table.”
    “Yes, then what happened?”
    “Then the skylight caved in and I started falling into the room.”
    “Then what?”
    “I don’t remember.”
    “What do you mean, you don’t remember?”
    “Well, I must have been out for a little while, and when I came to, I was lying on top of this guy, and he was dead.”
    “Wait a minute,” Stone said. “How do you know he was dead?”
    “Because he was just kind of staring up with these dead eyes. He wasn’t blinking or anything.”
    “What did you do then?”
    “Well, I got to my feet and brushed glass and stuff off me and kind of walked around to see if anything was broken. Anything of mine, I mean.”
    “But you were all right?”
    “Yeah, but the guy was dead. I think I might have broken his leg, though.”
    “When you fell on him?”
    “Yeah. I fell on his legs.”

    “That shouldn’t have killed him.”
    “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I didn’t kill the guy; I couldn’t have.”
    “What happened then?”
    “I heard all these guys coming,” Herbie said. “It sounded like a lot of them coming up the stairs.”
    “They didn’t use the elevator?”
    “No.”
    “What happened next?”
    “I figured it was the cops, so I looked around for someplace to hide my camera, and I saw this wood box by the fireplace. So I went over and opened it and took out a log, and