Dino shrugged. “Okay, I’ll phone them.”
Cantor spoke up. “Are we talking about Arnie Millman here?”
“Possibly,” Stone said. “Dino, can we talk to the cop who interviewed Dryer?”
Dino got up, opened his door, and shouted, “Gleason! In here!” A moment later a fit-looking fifty-year-old detective came into the office. “Kevin, you know Stone, Bob.”
Gleason shook hands cordially with both men.
“You got your notes on the Dryer interview at Arnie’s scene?” Dino asked. “Give us your impressions.”
Gleason produced a notebook. “Looked to me like Dryer was in the rack with somebody when I rang the bell. He was still getting dressed when he came to the door, and he made a point of closing the bedroom door after I got in. He seemed willing to be helpful, but said he didn’t hear anything, didn’t know anything. Said he’d been in the house all evening and had a witness to that effect, if I really needed it, but he obviously didn’t want to involve the girl, so I let it go. I bought his story.”
“You think we might pull up a print or two in that apartment?” Dino asked.
Cantor spoke up. “I doubt it very seriously; the place has been cleaned and painted.”
“Stone, you got any questions?” Dino asked.
“This was what time, Kevin?”
Gleason looked at his notebook. “I talked to him around eight-thirty.”
“And what time did Arnie buy it?”
“ME says between seven and eight.”
“That’s a pretty tight fix.”
“It was body temperature. We reckon we got there pretty quick; a neighbor who was taking out his garbage found Arnie’s body.”
“Did you get any kind of look at all at the woman in the bedroom?” Stone asked.
“No, nothing.”
“Was there anything in the living room that looked like it belonged to a woman?”
Gleason closed his eyes and thought for half a minute. “Yeah, there was a woman’s brown tweed overcoat on a chair. I didn’t note that at the time; I just remembered it now.”
“How about a scarf?”
“Yeah, a yellow one.”
“Thanks, Kevin, that’s all I’ve got.”
“Okay, Kevin,” Dino said, “that’ll do it.”
“Did I miss anything, boss?”
“No, you didn’t,” Dino said. “Good job; the coat was good.” When Gleason had left, Dino turned to Stone. “What?” he asked.
“It may be nothing; I want to check something out first.”
“Stone, don’t you hold out on me.”
“I promise I won’t; I just think I can learn more about this by treading softly than you can with a standard interview.”
“Okay, I’ll trust you on that,” Dino said. “But the minute you’ve got something, I want to know.”
“I promise. I assume you ran a check on the Jonathan Dryer name?”
“Yeah; nothing.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“Well,” Dino said, “we’ve made a start, I guess, but I don’t have enough evidence to arrest Dryer for the burglaries.”
“Assuming you could find him,” Stone said.
“Right. I don’t even have enough evidence to start looking for him. This all sounds good, but it’s very tenuous.”
“You’re right, Dino,” Stone said. “I’ll stay on it and see if I can come up with something else. And I’ll get that list from Arrington. You’ll let me know about the gun?”
“Sure. We having lunch?”
“You’re on. Bob, join us?”
“Okay.”
Dino stood up. “I got to go to the can; I’ll meet you guys outside.”
Stone and Cantor left Dino’s office and walked through the squad room and out the front door.
“Stone,” Cantor said.
“Yeah?”
“The other night when I clocked Martha going into her apartment building, she was wearing a brown tweed coat and a yellow scarf.”
“I know,” Stone said. “Don’t bring it up at lunch.”
Chapter 41
When Stone got back to his desk there was a small package waiting for him.
“It was hand-delivered,” Alma said.
Stone opened the package and found a new Rolex Oyster-quartz, with his name engraved on the back. He picked up the phone and dialed.
“Hello, Amanda.”
“Hello, Stone.”
“You shouldn’t have bought me a watch; really, you shouldn’t have.”
“You lost your old one in my service,” Amanda said. “It was the very least I could do. I hope you won’t upset me by trying to return it.”
“No, I won’t do that. Thank you very much for the watch.”
“Is it identical to yours?”
“The face is different, but I like it better.”
“I’m so glad.”
Stone took a deep breath. “Amanda, we’ve come to the point in this investigation where I’ve got to question Martha.”
“Stone, I’ve told you, I don’t want her bothered.”
“This is how it is,” Stone said. “She’s been seeing someone, a man who calls himself Jonathan Dryer.”
“The name doesn’t ring a bell,” Amanda replied.
“It may not even be his name, but that’s what he’s been using. Dryer may very well be connected with the man in California who told Allan Peebles his name was Geoffrey Power, so the two of them may be behind the DIRT business.”
“I see,” Amanda said.
“What’s more, Dryer may have burgled a number of apartments around town, and he could even be mixed up in a murder.”
“If that’s true, why haven’t you had him arrested?” Amanda asked.
“Two reasons: right now, this is all just supposition; we don’t have any hard evidence. Also, we don’t know where Dryer is; he moved out of his apartment. Martha may know him better than anyone else we’re aware of, so it’s crucial that we get as much evidence as possible from her about Dryer. She may even know his whereabouts.” Stone knew this was probably not true, but he needed to push Amanda on this. “I think it would be better for Martha if I talked to her rather than the police doing it.”
“Well, I certainly don’t want the police grilling her,” Amanda said. “She’d go to pieces.”
“I’ll be gentle with her, I promise.”
“No.”
“Amanda…”
“I’ll talk to her myself.”
“Amanda…”
“I’ll get more out of her than you can; I’ve been a journalist all my adult life, and I know how to conduct an interview. Also, Martha is afraid of me.”
“Amanda, I really think it would be better if I talked to her.”
“No, Stone; I will do it, and that’s final. Is there anything in particular you want me to ask her?”
“We want as much information about Dryer as possible – present whereabouts, friends, relatives, family background, personal history. We need to know everything she knows. If she tries to deny knowledge of him, tell her she was seen going into Dryer’s apartment, and that we have taped conversations between the two of them.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get everything out of her.”
Stone sighed. “All right; when will you do it?”
“I’ll spend some time with her, and I’ll call you on Monday.”
“All right, Amanda, but it can’t wait any longer than that.”
“Good-bye, darling; I’m so glad you liked the watch.” She hung up.
Dino walked into P.J. Clark’s at four o’clock. It was too early for the after-work trade, and the place was deserted, except for a man at the opposite end of the bar. He was wearing a cashmere overcoat, and an expensive briefcase was parked on the bar next to him. There was also a large whiskey in front of him. Dino walked over. “Mr. Elliot?”
“Lieutenant Bacchetti?” He stuck out his hand. “Take a pew.”
Dino pulled up a stool.
“Something to drink?”
“I’ll have a beer,” Dino said to the bartender. He waited until the beer had been served and the bartender had retreated before continuing. “Now,” he said to Elliot, “a few general questions.”