Elaine came over and sat down. "What's up?"
Dino grinned. "We found a dead hooker in Stone's bed, and I'm going to arrest him as soon as we finish dinner."
"I found her and called you," Stone said, "and she wasn't in my bed, she was in the guest room."
"Well, that's certainly daintier, isn't it?" Elaine said. "I'd never think Stone would have a hooker in his bed, but in the guest room…?"
"All right, you two."
"You think you know somebody," Elaine said, warming to the idea, "but you never know about their secret perversions, do you?"
"Not until the guy does a hooker in the guest room," Dino said.
Dino's cell phone rang, and he flipped it open. "Bacchetti. Yeah, I'm on my way, and don't question him until I get there." He closed the cell phone. "Billy Bob's back."
"But we haven't even had dinner," Stone said.
"You don't have to come; I can go over to the Four Seasons and help my guys question Billy Bob. Come to think of it, you might be better off if you don't protect him too much. I'd just as soon bust him as you; I just want to clear the case."
Stone threw down his napkin. "Let's go."
"Did you get the check?" Elaine asked.
Stone threw some money on the table.
"American dollars! How nice!" She tucked the money into the top of her dress.
"Watch it, Elaine," Dino said. "Stone knows people at the IRS."
"Get outta here, both of you," she growled.
BILLY BOB was sitting on the sofa of his large suite, watching a shopping channel, which was selling awful jewelry. "Hey, Stone, Dino," he said. "What are these cops doing here? They wouldn't say anything until you got here."
Stone crooked a finger. "Come with me," he said. He led Billy Bob into the bedroom.
"What is going on?" the Texan demanded.
"Account for your movements yesterday," Stone said.
"What? What for?"
"Billy Bob, we don't have much time. Tell me what you did and where you went after I saw you at breakfast yesterday."
"You sound serious, Stone."
"There are three cops waiting in the other room. Is that serious enough?"
"Awright, we ate breakfast and me and Tiffany went upstairs. Then I…"
"Did you have sex with her?"
"What?"
"Did you fuck her, Billy Bob? Let's have it."
"As a matter of fact, I did. Then I got myself together, packed my stuff and left."
"Why didn't you take her with you?"
"Well, she was kind of tuckered out when we finished, and she wanted to take a shower."
"Was she in the shower when you left?"
"No, she was still in bed, but she was thinkin' about it."
"Where did you go, then?"
"I went down to your office, but your secretary said you wasn't there, so I got in a car and went to Teterboro and flew to Omaha, to see Warren."
"I thought you had an engine down."
"Gulfstream service is real good; they flew one up and got it on there yesterday."
"All right, we're going back in there, now. Tell them what you told me. Have you left anything out?"
"What the fuck is going on, Stone?"
"It's better if they tell you. Have you left anything out?"
"No, that's it."
"All right, come on." He led the way back into the living room.
"Have you rehearsed your client enough, Stone?" Dino asked.
"Ask him your questions."
They asked their questions, and he gave the same answers he had given Stone.
"Can you prove you were in Omaha?" Detective Morton asked.
Billy Bob dug into a pocket and came out with a card. "Warren Buffett's office number is on here," he said. "You can get him tomorrow morning. I happen to know he's out tonight."
"Berkshire Hathaway," Morton read from the card. "What's that?"
"It's just about the biggest investment company in the world," Billy Bob said. "Now, I ain't sayin' another word until somebody tells me what the fuck is goin' on."
"You didn't tell him?" Dino asked Stone.
"I wanted to give you that privilege," Stone said.
"Billy Bob," Dino said, "Tiffany was murdered in Stone's guest room some time yesterday. She was strangled. Did you have rough sex with the girl?"
"Hell, no, I was tender as a lamb!" Billy Bob said. "Who the hell killed her?"
"We were thinking you might tell us," Dino said.
"Well, I sure as hell didn't kill her, and I don't have no idea who did! Why would I want to kill her?"
"Did you give her any money before you left her?"
"Yep, I gave her six thousand bucks, in hundreds."
"There was no money in the room or in her purse," Morton said.
"Well, there you go," Stone chipped in. "You've got robbery for a motive. Somebody got into the house, robbed and murdered her."
Morton took a packet from his pocket. "We're going to need a DNA sample," he said.
"We'll stipulate that Mr. Barnstormer and the girl had sex yesterday morning, before he left."
"We still need the sample. If a robber had sex with her, we'll need to differentiate the sperm."
"Give them the sample, Billy Bob," Stone said.
Billy Bob opened his mouth and let the detective run a swab inside his cheek.
"Is that it, gentlemen?" Stone asked.
"For the moment," Morton said. "Don't leave town, Mr. Barnstormer."
"Is he under arrest?"
"Not at the moment."
"Billy Bob, you can go wherever the hell you want to, but keep in touch with me."
"I'm gon' be in New York for at least four or five more days," Billy Bob said, "maybe a week."
Stone stood up. "Good. Get some sleep, and we'll talk tomorrow."
Morton gave Billy Bob and Stone his card. "Call me if you think of anything else." Stone took Billy Bob aside. "Give me the key to my house."
Billy Bob dug into a pocket and forked it over.
"Now get a sheet of hotel stationery from the desk and write down your office and home addresses and phone numbers, your cell-phone number, the number of the phone on the airplane and your Social Security number."
"Why?"
"Because I like to be able to contact my clients when the police come looking for them."
Billy Bob went to the desk, wrote for a couple of minutes, put the paper in an envelope and handed it to Stone.
"Mind if we have a copy of that?" Dino asked.
"You can contact him through me," Stone said.
They left Billy Bob to get some sleep, and Dino dropped him off at home.
"What did you think?" Stone asked.
"He was plausible," Dino said. "But I wish I liked him more for the murder."
"Why?"
"Then I wouldn't have to think about arresting you."
10
STONE WAS HAVING BREAKFAST the following morning when Helene came into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Mr. Stone," she said.
"Good morning, Helene."
"That was a terrible business yesterday with that girl."
"Yes, it was; I'm sorry you had to be involved."
"She must have been very cold natured," Helene said.
"How's that?"
"I mean, the house is heated pretty warm, and there was a down comforter on the bed."
"I'm sorry, Helene, I don't understand."
"So why would she want to use an electric blanket?"
"Helene, I don't own an electric blanket."
"Oh, yes," she said. "You told me to buy one last year, when you had a guest who was cold in that room, remember?"
That stopped Stone in his tracks. "Yes, I think I do, now that you mention it."
"Well, she had it on, and it was turned all the way up. How do you think she could stand that?"
"I don't know," Stone said, and his mind was racing. He reached for the phone to call Dino, then stopped. What was his obligation, here? If the girl had been under an electric blanket after she was murdered, her body would have cooled more slowly, and the ME's estimate of time of death, which would have been based on liver temperature, could have been off by hours. Reporting this fact to the police could tend to incriminate both his client and himself. The phone rang, and Stone picked it up.