Shoot First (A Stone Barrington Novel) Read online

  “No, but from the sound of the door slamming and the engine, I think it could have been a pickup truck.”

  Harry got on his radio and reported. “Look for a pickup with a rifle rack. Yeah, yeah, I know, lots of those around. He could be headed north on U.S. 1. Let the sheriff know.”

  The EMTs were loading Al Harris into their vehicle, and one of them came over to Harry. “He’s in shock,” the man said.

  “Get him taken care of,” Harry said. “We’ll talk to him later.” Then he spoke to Stone again. “And you figure either you or the lady or the gentleman there could have been the target?”

  “He only needed a gust of breeze or a jiggle of something to miss one of us and hit Mr. Harris.”

  “Well, Mr. Barrington . . .”

  “Stone, please.”

  “Well, Stone, we’re going to follow your lead on this, because we don’t have one ourselves. Moe, you go talk to the other two, and I’ll grill Stone, here.”

  “What would you like to know?” Stone asked.

  “You all look as though you’re out-of-towners,” Harry said. “Where you from?”

  “Mr. Steele and I are New Yorkers. The lady is from the West Coast, south of San Francisco somewhere.”

  “And what brought you all down here?”

  “All the people playing are directors of the Steele Group, an insurance company. Mr. Steele is the chairman and CEO. The fellow next to the cart is Arthur Steele Junior.”

  “You have any reason to think that somebody down here might hold a grudge against any of you?”

  “I’ve visited Key West a few times, but I don’t know a lot of people. I’ve done some business with an attorney named Jack Spottswood.”

  “Him, we know, and his family. You haven’t screwed any of them on some business deal, have you, Stone?”

  “No, and if I had, I don’t think the Spottswoods would react this way. They’re nice people to do business with. And, for what it’s worth, I don’t think this is local.”

  “Oh? You think a professional is involved?”

  “Are you aware of any contract killers living on your turf?”

  “Nope. Our killers are usually drunk or mad at an ex-wife or girlfriend.”

  “Then that leaves a pro, doesn’t it?”

  “You may have a point.”

  “And a pro is going to be a lot harder to catch,” Stone said. “He’ll have an escape route all planned. You’ve already covered U.S. 1—that leaves the airport, doesn’t it?”

  “First call I made, when we got here,” Harry said.

  “Look for a couple,” Stone suggested.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because the shooter would want to blend in, and he knows you’ll be looking for a man traveling alone.”

  “’Scuse me.” Harry got on the radio. “Thanks, Stone, that’s a nice insight. Not that I wouldn’t have thought of it myself, a couple of hours after they flew out of here. Any other thoughts?”

  “I’d check the car rental agencies at the airport, too. I doubt if he took a cab out here.”

  “I doubt if he rented a pickup truck, too,” Harry said, “since nobody rents pickups. A van, maybe.”

  “He’s not getting on a plane with a rifle,” Stone said. “Maybe he left it in whatever he rented.”

  “I think he would think it would take us longer to find it in that swamp,” Harry said.

  “You have a good point, Harry.”

  Moe rejoined them. “I got exactly nothing from those folks,” he said to Harry.

  “Stone, how well do you know those two?”

  “I’ve known Arthur for at least ten years. I met the lady about half an hour ago. I can tell you that she recently sold her software company for one and a half billion dollars.”

  “Well, that opens up a whole new field of suspects for us, doesn’t it?” Harry said. “Ex-partners who feel cheated, ex-lovers or husbands, or anybody who might profit from her death. What town is she from?”

  “You’ll have to ask her,” Stone said. “I don’t know that territory.”

  They both shook Stone’s hand and wandered off in the direction of Meg Harmon.

  Arthur walked over. “I’ve canceled play for today,” he said. “We’ll play tomorrow, if Al isn’t too badly hurt. I’ll call you.”

  “Arthur,” Stone said, “do you know anybody who might want you dead?”

  “Everybody who wasn’t happy with his insurance settlement, I guess. That’s why we try to err on the side of generosity.” He walked off toward the parking lot.

  Meg Harmon was walking that way, too.

  “Can I give you a lift to the hotel?” Stone asked. “Or even better, join us for lunch at my house.”

  3

  Dino and Viv were up and dressed when Stone and Meg walked in, and he made the introductions. They had a glass of iced tea while Viv made lunch, with the reluctant assistance of Dino.

  “How come you’re back so early?” Dino asked.

  Stone told him what had happened, then Viv put him back to work.

  Stone and Meg sat down on a sofa. “The detectives asked me what city you live in, and I didn’t know,” he said to her.

  “I lived in San Mateo until I sold the company, then I bought a place in San Francisco. I’m thinking of buying an apartment or a house in New York, as well, since I get there on business a lot. Arthur tells me you’re an attorney.”

  “That’s right.”

  “And you serve on some boards?”

  “Beats working,” Stone said.

  “I’m doing some of that, too, though I’m not sure why they think a software geek would be qualified.”

  “Congratulations on the sale of your company,” Stone said. “I voted for the Steele participation in the buyout. We were impressed with both your achievement and your bargaining skills.”

  “I think that’s why Arthur brought me onto the board.”

  “That and the fact that he wants to acquire other tech companies, and he knows little about them.” Stone’s cell rang. “Excuse me, it’s the cops. Hello, Harry.”

  “Stone, can I come see you for a few minutes?”

  “Sure. I gave you the address—it’s the first driveway on the right.”

  “Got it. Be there in five.”

  * * *

  —

  HE GAVE HARRY and Moe iced tea and sat them down.

  “Your instincts were good,” Harry said. “A dozen flights have left Key West International since the events of this morning, and we satisfied ourselves that most of their occupants were straight-up tourists. There was one couple, though, who didn’t quite ring true, but we couldn’t hold them without more evidence. He was carrying a credit card receipt from a local B&B, and we had a look around there and came up with a single .223 round. He was careless. His name is Anthony Carew, and he and his wife are on a plane to LaGuardia. I thought you might know somebody on the NYPD that I could call and have meet them.”

  “As a matter of fact, I do,” Stone said. “He’s over there making a sandwich.” He nodded toward the kitchen. “Dino, have you got a minute?”

  Dino wiped his hands, came over, and sat down.

  “These are Detectives Harry Kaufelt and Moe Cramer, KWPD. They need your help. Gentlemen, this is Dino Bacchetti, who is the police commissioner of New York City. I think he’s the guy you want to speak to.”

  “What’s up?” Dino asked.

  “We have suspects on an airplane right now, due at LaGuardia in about an hour. Could you have them picked up and held until we get there?”

  “Sure,” Dino said. “Descriptions?”

  “Male, mid-forties, six feet, two hundred pounds, bald, wearing a flowered shirt over a potbelly, and Bermuda shorts. Female, mid-thirties, five-five, and a hundred and twenty pounds. Names—Anthony
and Sheila Carew, both carrying backpacks for luggage. Suspicion of attempted murder. We can get there on a flight leaving in an hour.”

  Dino made the call and gave the orders. “What time will they arrive in New York?”

  “Three o’clock, Jet Blue flight.”

  “And you?”

  “Six o’clock.”

  “I’ll have you met and driven. You’re going to need an extradition warrant.”

  “That’s in the works. Somebody will meet us at the Key West airport with the warrant.”

  “Anything else I can do for you?”

  “I can’t think of a thing, Commissioner. Thanks very much for your help.”

  “Anytime,” Dino said. Everybody shook hands and they left.

  “Well,” Meg said, “that’s more policemen than I’ve ever seen in one day.”

  “By the way,” Stone said, “I’ve told the cops I think they were aiming at one of us—you, me, or Arthur—and shot Al Harris by accident. Can you think of anybody who harbors hard feelings toward you? Hard enough to hire a killer to go after you?”

  To Stone’s surprise, she didn’t dismiss the idea out of hand, but thought about it. Finally, she said, “I had a partner who owned ten percent of the business. He wasn’t happy with ten percent of the sale price, figured I owed him more, in spite of an airtight contract that covered just such a sale.”

  “What were his grounds for believing that?”

  “He seemed to think that I’d planned the whole thing from the start—suck him dry of his tech knowledge, then stiff him in the deal.”

  “Did you do that?”

  “I can see how he might believe it, but that wasn’t the way it was. He was important to the effort for a while, spent six years working on the product line but faded as a factor the last couple of years. He walked away with a hundred and fifty million for his trouble. He was also paid nearly a million dollars a year for his work. I felt he was very well compensated in the sale and didn’t deserve more, but he filed a patent suit anyway, which got thrown out of court. He has a paranoid side to him, and he wasn’t easy to get along with.”

  “What does he look like?”

  “A lot like the description that the detective gave Dino,” she said. “Wife, too. And he’s a gun nut, had a big collection.”

  “Why didn’t you mention him to the detectives this morning?”

  “It crossed my mind, but I dismissed it, until I heard what Harry had to say to Dino.”

  “What are the couple’s names?”

  “Gino and Veronica Bellini.”

  “You have an address for them?”

  “They left town after I sold the company. I don’t know where they went.”

  Stone picked up his phone, checked Harry Kaufelt’s number on his card, and dialed the number. “Harry,” he said, “Carew and his wife may be traveling under the names of Gino and Veronica Bellini. Bellini was a partner in Ms. Harmon’s business who was disgruntled with his share of the sale. Get this—he only got a hundred and fifty million dollars.” They talked for another minute, and Stone hung up.

  “Sounds like a good suspect,” Dino said.

  “He does, doesn’t he?” Stone replied. “Meg, I’m glad you told us about Bellini.”

  “So am I,” she said.

  Viv brought over a tray of sandwiches, and Dino opened a bottle of wine.

  “You know,” Meg said, “this is a much nicer way to spend the day than playing golf with a lot of businesspeople.”

  “Hear! Hear!” Stone said.

  4

  Gino and Veronica Bellini sat in first class, enjoyed a drink and lunch, then, an hour out of LaGuardia, each disappeared into a restroom with a backpack, and when they emerged, Gino was wearing a business suit, tie, and toupee, and the pillow under his belt was in the toilet tank with his old clothes and his backpack. Veronica wore a stylish dress with her long hair down, and they emerged from the airplane without luggage. Immediately outside the door two obvious police detectives were waiting in the rampway and hardly gave them a glance.

  When the last passengers had left the airplane the bemused detectives went aboard and searched it thoroughly and left just as bemused, while the Bellinis drove away in a chauffeured black Mercedes, rented. They were driven to a five-star Fifth Avenue hotel and checked into a large suite.

  “What now?” Veronica asked.

  “We’ll get another shot at her,” Gino replied.

  “Is it worth it, Gino?” Veronica asked.

  “It’s worth it to me.”

  “Why don’t we go to Europe for a while?”

  “Maybe, we’ll see. Now, we both have some shopping to do, and I have a few chores to take care of.” He held up a computer thumb drive.

  * * *

  —

  BACK IN KEY WEST, Stone and his guests had moved on to cocktails, and Viv and Meg were planning dinner.

  Dino’s cell rang. “Bacchetti. Yeah? What do you mean?” He listened for a minute, then hung up.

  Before Dino could speak, Stone’s cell rang. “Hello?”

  “Stone, it’s Harry Kaufelt.”

  “Yes, Harry?” He put the phone on speaker and set it on the table between him and Dino.

  “I just got to New York, and a couple of New York cops met me. The Carews or Bellinis or whoever the fuck they are weren’t on the airplane. And I know goddamned well they got on it and took off.”

  “Harry, Dino is right here. Tell us what you want to do.”

  “What can I do?”

  “I can put out an APB on them,” Dino said, “and we can check the hotels, but it’s a big city with thousands of hotels.”

  “Thanks, Commissioner, but I don’t think we have enough evidence to ask your people to make that kind of effort. We still haven’t found the weapon. We’ll have to go another way.”

  “Call me if I can help. I’ll be here the rest of the week, then in my New York office after that.”

  “Yes, sir.” Everybody hung up.

  “Well,” Dino said, “that’s cute—they changed their appearance on the airplane and walked right past my guys.”

  “It wouldn’t have taken much,” Stone said. “Ditch their clothes down the toilet and put on something they brought in their backpacks. And I would imagine that anybody that clever and with that much money would have a new identity or two all set up, as well.”

  “Meg will be safe here this week,” Dino said, “but somehow I get the feeling that she’ll be flying to New York with us this weekend.”

  “I’ll admit that crossed my mind,” Stone said. “Let’s see how it goes.”

  “That would put her in the same city as the Bellinis,” Dino pointed out.

  “That crossed my mind, too. She’d best stay with me, I guess.”

  “I guessed,” Dino replied.

  * * *

  —

  VIV AND MEG were making dinner while Stone and Dino talked.

  “You know,” Meg said, “I’m glad I met you all. This is a lot more fun than dining with the crusty board of the Steele Group.”

  “Thanks, we’re enjoying you, too.”

  “Stone seems to be almost too good to be true,” Meg said. “Is there anything I should know about him?”

  “Stone used to be on the NYPD, and he and Dino were partners in the old days, so they’ve been best friends forever. Stone, believe me, is a perfectly straightforward man. He’s what he seems to be.”

  “I’m delighted to hear it,” Meg said. “I had a marriage that didn’t survive the first year of my start-up, and I didn’t have much of a social life while I was building my company. Since the buyout, everything has changed but isn’t necessarily better. Anybody who reads the Wall Street Journal knows how rich I am, and I’ve had to be very careful about the men I meet.”

  “I
can understand that,” Viv replied. “I don’t think Stone is as rich as you are, but he’s very well off, indeed. He doesn’t need your money.”

  * * *

  —

  THEY HAD PASTA at the outdoor dining table.

  “I know you’re in software,” Stone said to Meg. “What are you working on these days?”

  “A lot of things,” she replied, “but the one that’s taking up most of our resources is the self-driving car. We’ve stolen a march on most of our competitors, and our system is in the final stages of testing.”

  “Have you tried it out in New York yet?” Stone asked. “That should be a challenge for it.”

  “As we speak,” she replied. “We have six vehicles—four cars and two delivery trucks—on your streets. And we’re going to put on a demonstration for the Steele board this week in Key West.”

  * * *

  —

  THE BELLINIS were now using the name Beresford on passports and credit cards, which Gino thought sounded classy. They dined at the 21 Club early and then went to see Hamilton. “These seats were twenty-five hundred each from the hotel concierge,” he said to Veronica. “But who gives a fuck? We may not be as rich as we ought to be, but we’re rich enough for right now.”

  “I’m happy,” Veronica said, “but you’re not going to be until Meg is dead and buried.”

  “But then I’ll be very, very happy,” he said. “I’ll keep suing them until they come up with a big settlement. With Meg gone, they’ll fold.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Veronica said.

  * * *

  —

  AFTER DINNER, during which a couple of bottles of wine were consumed, they all ended up in the spa, and Stone was impressed with how comfortable Meg was, being naked with new friends.

  She had a shower in the master bathroom, then dressed.

  “I was hoping you’d stay,” Stone said.

  “Not tonight, but I won’t keep you waiting long.”

  “I’ll drive you to the Casa Marina.”