Worst Fears Realized

murky, to say the least. It was in a white-shoe, East Side cooperative building that did not ordinarily entertain applications from people whose names ended in vowels, and Stone reckoned it would sell for somewhere between a million and a half and two million dollars on the open market. Stone knew that the apartment’s purchaser and his daughter’s ownership were protected behind a complex corporate veil, and he doubted if any other member of the NYPD had ever entered the place before today. He wondered what would happen if Dino ever became the target of some in-depth departmental investigation.
    “You got any thoughts about all this?” Dino asked.
    At first, Stone thought he meant the apartment, then he realized what the subject was. “Oh. Not really. Certainly, Mitteldorfer’s alibi is tight. I think I’d check out the nephew in Hamburg, to see if he’s really in Germany. Might be good to check out Mitteldorfer’s visitors list, too?” He allowed himself a grin. “Ifyou can get it out of Captain Warkowski.”

    Dino raised his glass in a little toast. “Fuck you,” he said.
    Stone lifted his glass. “Thanks. Have you got any ideas?”
    Dino shook his head. “Not really. It’s spooky how the perp looks like Mitteldorfer used to look, though.”
    “Yes, it is. I think the Hamburg nephew is not a bad bet. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d immigrated, or if he turns up on Mitteldorfer’s visitors list. I’d like to know if Mitteldorfer has any other relatives in this country, particularly any children he didn’t tell us about.”
    “First thing tomorrow,” Dino said. “Well, one good thing about all this; it’s given you something else to think about besides your broken heart.”
    “Give me a break, Dino,” Stone said wearily.
    “Listen, Stone, I think you’re well out of the thing with Arrington.”
    “I thought youliked Arrington.”
    “I did. I do. I just think that if you’d married her, she might have run off with Vance Calder later, and that would have screwed you up even worse.”
    “I amnot screwed up, and, anyway, Arrington’s not like that,” Stone said. “Idropped the ball; I didn’t commit when I should have, and by the time I got around to it…”
    “And when did you get around to it?”
    “I was going to ask her to marry me when we went on the sailing trip; I’d made up my mind on the way down there. Then, when the snowstorm kept her in the city, and when Calder showed up…well, itwas a good offer, and she had no reason to think I was going to make a better one.”
    “So you blame yourself?”
    “Yes.”
    “Blame her; it won’t hurt as much. There’s nothing like being pissed off at a woman to make her absence easier.”
    “I’ll try and remember that,” Stone said drily.
    “You think there’s any chance she’d leave Calder?”
    “None. She’s borne him a son, remember? She’s locked in.”
    “Wouldn’t be the first time people with kids got a divorce.”
    “Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind.”
    “Why don’t you just go out to LA and get her?”
    “I had my shot at that; she made her choice. I’ll just have to learn to live with it.”
    “You really believe the kid is Calder’s, not yours?”
    “The tests were done, Dino; she wouldn’t lie about that.”
    “Nah; women never lie.”
    “I’m at peace with that part of it, at least. If the child had been mine, she’d have come back to me. That was our agreement. Why are you digging through all this?”
    Dino shrugged. “I figured it might do you good to talk about it.”
    “Well, now that you mention it, I do feel a little better having articulated the situation.”
    “You sound like a fucking shrink.” Dino abruptly changed the subject. “I’m going to put a watch on you,” he said.

    “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
    “Sure it is. This guy followed you the night Susan Bean was killed, you know.”
    “You have a point there.”
    “It bothers me that he could recognize Mary Ann on the street.”
    “I don’t blame you.”
    “It means he’s been doing his homework, checking out our lives.”
    “That’s pretty scary.”
    “And for God knows how long. He may have plans for other people we know. You been seeing any girls at all?”
    “No, nobody.”
    “That’s not like you, Stone.”
    “It’s just as well, though, isn’t it? At least I don’t have to call up women and tell them there’s a lunatic on the loose.”
    “Heis a lunatic, isn’t