“In New York, we got ’em all — rich, poor, and in between.”
“Why’d you retire young?” Martinez asked.
“The official reason was that I flunked the physical after a gunshot wound to the knee,” Stone replied. “But I think you could say my departure was by popular request.”
Martinez emitted a short laugh. “I know what that’s like. I was a street cop in Albuquerque,” he said, “and I never fitted in too well. My captain called me ‘Smartass,’ like it was my name. I had to punch a couple of guys who tried to make it that.”
The ME walked over to where they stood. “I’ll have a report for you tomorrow. The tox screen will take a lot longer, although that wouldn’t seem to bear on the case. What difference does it make if she was drunk, doped, or sober? She was murdered all the same.” He got into his car and drove away.
“You said you came up here to warn her?” Martinez asked.
“I tried to call her yesterday afternoon, as soon as I heard Biggers was in Santa Fe, but we had a bad cell connection, so I came up here.”
“What time did you talk to her?”
“Three-thirty, four o’clock.”
“So we know she was alive then.”
“If Harvey left Santa Fe before I was looking for him, he could have been here then.”
“That falls within the ME’s guess. He said late afternoon, early evening.”
“The stomach contents will tell you something about that, whether she’d had dinner or not.”
“Why wouldn’t she tell you where she was?”
“She presented me with a dog for a gift, and I think she was afraid I’d want to return it. She needn’t have worried, the dog and I get along just fine.”
“Who else knew where she was, except this Nicky guy?”
“Harvey Biggers,” Stone said. “But I don’t know how he found out or who else knew.”
They were driving back. “I was impressed with how calmly you handled that,” she said.
“I had a lot of practice when I was on the force. It gets to be routine, except once in a while when you get riled or really interested. This one was very violent, and that makes me angry. Carrie certainly didn’t deserve it.”
“It could have happened to me, if I’d stuck with the marriage,” Gala said. “I was afraid to file for divorce, but I knew I had to just suck it up and get it done, if I wanted to live a long and healthy life.”
“Do you still feel that you’re in any danger?”
“Not so much. It helps that we’re in different cities. I had everything he could have thought he owned packed up and shipped back to L.A., so he wouldn’t have an excuse to come out here.”
“You sent his belongings to his house?”
“No, I was more considerate than that. I had the shipper store everything, and I wrote and told him. I even paid for the packing and shipping. He was still angry, called me up and started yelling, but I hung up on him.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Oh, five or six weeks, I guess. I’ve occupied myself by shopping for replacement things. It’s a pretty big house, so I had a lot to do. Second time I’ve done it.”
“Did you have any trouble getting a settlement?”
“Not really. The California community property laws help keep it simple. It’s mostly arguing about which half of things you’re going to get. I told my lawyer to settle it with his lawyer, and I guess I was lucky that he had a girlfriend that he wanted to marry, so he didn’t make a lot of trouble.”
“Did he marry her?”
“Nope. I heard she left him right after the divorce was final. She had the advantage of watching how he handled the divorce, and I think she was able to put herself in my boots. She was an actress. I heard she got an offer to do a play in New York and took it in a heartbeat.”
She drove him back to her house. “You got any dinner plans?”
“Nope.”
“Good. I’ll make us an omelet or something, and then we’ll see how it goes.”
“I’ll need to stop by Ed’s house first. I have some bad news to deliver to Nicky and Vanessa Chalmers.”
25
They arrived at the Eagle residence at the cocktail hour, and Juan brought them drinks.
Nicky waited until they were served, then asked his question. “Did you see Carrie?”
Stone took a deep breath. “Yes, but I was too late.”
“To late for what?”
“To keep her safe.”
“You mean...”
“Yes. I found her at her house, on the bed. The medical examiner for the county said she had been beaten and strangled.”
Nicky’s drink slipped from his grasp and spilled on the floor; Juan rushed over with a towel. “If only...” he began, then stopped.
“There are always ‘if onlys,’” Stone said. “You didn’t do anything wrong, just what she asked you to do.”
“I heard her voice on the phone, but I couldn’t understand her.”
“She was probably killed shortly after that. We couldn’t have gotten there in time, and even if we’d been able to warn her — well, she’d been warned before.”
“Where is Harvey?”
“In the wind. The sheriff up there put out a statewide all-points bulletin on him, and the airports in Santa Fe and Albuquerque are being watched. He could be anywhere.”
Ed Eagle spoke for the first time. “Anything I can do to help?”
“If you think of something, let me know, Ed. I’ve been over it, and I think what can be done is being done. One thing, though — I’ve got to call Dino. Excuse me.” He got up and went into the study.
“Bacchetti.”
“It’s Stone.”
“Where are you? I left a couple of messages.”
“I’m in Santa Fe, at Ed Eagle’s house.”
“What took you out there?”
“Just a getaway. Yesterday was Susannah’s birthday, and there was a big party last night. There’s a guy named Nicky Chalmers here, a new client of mine and a friend of Carrie Fiske. He was shopping in Santa Fe yesterday and saw Harvey Biggers in the plaza. Nicky finally admitted that Carrie was out here — about fifty miles north, a place called Abiquiu.”
“Where Georgia O’Keeffe painted.”
“Right. I called her, but the cell service was poor, so I went up there this morning and found her dead.”
“Shit.”
“Yes, exactly. The police are looking everywhere for Biggers, but I think he’s gone. I think it might be a good idea for you to have the airports covered. The guy’s about six-six and thickly built. He shouldn’t be hard to spot, and it makes sense that he’d go back to New York.”
“How long has she been dead?”
“Maybe twenty-four hours.”
“If he’s coming back here he’s had plenty of opportunity to get past the airports, so that would be a waste of time. I’ll send some people around to his place — maybe he just went home.”
“Could be — it’s not as though he’s been behaving rationally.”
“Give Ed Eagle my best.”
“Right. See you.” They both hung up, and Stone went back to the living room. “Okay, New York is covered. Nicky, think about this — is there somewhere else where Harvey might run?”
Nicky thought about it, then shook his head. “I don’t know him well enough to know where that would be.”
“Do you know if he has any family?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Neither does Carrie, for that matter.”
“He probably has a rental car,” Ed said. “He could have just continued north to Denver. He could fly just about anywhere from there.”
“Nicky, did Carrie own any other properties other than New York and East Hampton?”
“She has a house in Palm Beach, on Ocean Drive.”
“Does anybody live there when she’s away?”
Nicky shook his head. “Just a housekeeper, but she’s not a live-in.”