“Get out of here.”
“Or maybe you were playing that game where you almost strangle somebody to enhance the orgasm, and you were just a tad heavy-handed.”
“Will you stop it?”
“Of course, maybe he hadn’t checked the girl’s neck for prints; maybe he’ll find Billy Bob’s there.”
Stone gulped. “Oh, shit.”
“What?”
“I touched her neck, feeling for a pulse.”
“How many fingers?”
“Two or three.”
“Well, I don’t think we need to bother Billy Bob; I can just arrest you now and save everybody a lot
of time and trouble. You want to cop to, say, man one? I’ll speak to the DA.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Aw, come on, with good behavior—and you always behave well, Stone—you’d be out before it was time to collect Social Security. I mean, there was no malice aforethought. You didn’t mean to kill her, right?”
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.”