“All right. You can hang up now.”
“Thanks.” Stone hung up and called Dino.
“Bacchetti.”
“It’s Stone.”
“Dinner tonight?”
“I think so, but first I have to get you to patch me through to the hostage negotiator who’s handling the thing at Jack Gunn Investments.”
“Why?”
“Because the guy who’s holding the hostages called me and asked me to represent him in the negotiations.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I am kidding you not.”
“Hang on.” Dino put him on hold for about a minute, then came back. “All right, he’s on the line. His name is Hank Willard, Lieutenant.”
“Hello, Hank?”
“Yes, Stone. Dino has told me who you are. What can you tell me?”
“Peter Collins wants to give himself up. He has conditions, but I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with them.”
“What are they?”
Stone read from his notes.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. How are you going to handle it?”
“You have any suggestions?”
“Yes. First I’d send a stretcher and a couple of unarmed EMTs who are not cops up there and take the wounded man away. By the way, Collins says the wounding was an accident, completely non-intentional.”
“I can do that.”
“Then I think you should allow Collins to leave his gun in a desk drawer, lock it, and take an elevator down to the garage without a sniper taking him out.”
“Okay, done.”
“Remember, no cuffs. It’s my guess that Collins wants to leave this way so that he won’t be seen on television doing the perp walk.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“If you treat the guy respectfully, then I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with him. You need to brief the other officers in the car on that. In fact, I suggest that you meet Collins alone when he gets off the elevator, and that you put him in the front seat and get into the back. When you get him to the station, walk him in without cuffs and put him into an interrogation room and give him something to eat and drink while he waits for his lawyer.”
“Okay.”
“I am of the impression that he wants to talk to you, but only with an attorney present.”
“Who’s his attorney?”
“I have to make a couple more calls before I can tell you that.”
“Okay.”
“Wait for me to call you back before you send the EMTs upstairs. Collins says the guy is stable and not bleeding.”
“I’ll give you half an hour, Stone, no more.”
“Done. Where are you taking him?”
“The Seventeenth Precinct, on East Fifty-first Street.”
Stone hung up and called Peter Collins back.
“Hello?”
“It’s Stone. The police are willing to meet all your conditions. The hostage negotiator, Lieutenant Hank Willard, is going to escort you to the police station, and you won’t be seen on TV as a criminal. I suggest you make yourself presentable, suit and tie.”
“All right. When do we start?”
“I have to get your attorney lined up, then I’ll call you back.”
“All right.”
Stone hung up and opened his address book to the page of lawyers’ numbers he kept handy. It took him only a moment to settle on Milton Levine. Levine was short, bespectacled, and balding, and he did not look like a corporate legal eagle. He dialed his direct number.
“Who is this; tell me fast.”
“It’s Stone Barrington, Milt. Shut up and listen.”
“I’m listening; talk.”
“You know about the hostage situation in that Park Avenue office building?”
“Yeah.”
“I’d like you to represent the hostage holder, whose name is Peter Collins.” Stone gave him the rundown on Collins’s demands and Hank Willard’s acceptance of them.
“So you’ve done everything. What’s left for me?”
“Get your ass over to the Seventeenth Precinct on East Fifty-first, listen to the man and represent him. You’ll know better than I how to handle it.”
“When?”
“Right now.”
“Shit. I had a hot date for drinks.”
“This shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours; push it back to dinner.”
“Good thinking. Bye.” Levine hung up.
Stone called Peter Collins.
“Hello?”
“Everything okay there?”
“Yes.”
“Your attorney’s name is Milton Levine. Call him Milt. He doesn’t look the part but he’s as smart as they come, and he’ll do good by you. He’s going to meet you at the police station.”
“All right.”
“Now, we’re going to set this in motion. First, the EMTs will come and take the injured man away. Then you lock your gun in your desk or your safe and take the elevator to the garage. Hank Willard will meet you there and escort you to the station. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Remember, as soon as the EMTs have taken the wounded man away, you lock up the gun and leave. The police will come after you’ve gone and take the hostages out.”
“Thank you, Stone. I’m grateful for your help.”
“Good luck, Peter.”
Stone hung up and called Hank Willard. “We’re on,” he said. “Collins’s attorney is Milton Levine. Go.”
“We’re going,” Willard said. “Thanks for your help.” He hung up.
Stone hung up and breathed a sigh of relief.
SEVEN
Stone met Dino at Elaine’s. They were on their first drink when Bill Eggers walked in, sat down, and ordered a single-malt scotch.
Stone was surprised to see him. “What’re you doing here, Bill?” he asked.
“I’m not here,” Eggers said, taking a tug at his drink.
“Okay, how did the meeting go that you didn’t have this afternoon with Jack Gunn and Leighton Craft?”
“It went well,” Eggers said. “Gunn maintains his innocence and says that Peter Collins is the probable culprit.”
“I spoke to Peter Collins this afternoon, and he maintains his innocence, too.”
Eggers stared at him. “You spoke to Peter Collins?”
Stone explained his conversations with Collins and the hostage negotiator.
“And everything went according to plan?”
“As far as I know. Dino, what have you heard?”
“I was about to tell you,” Dino said. “They got everybody cleared out and took Collins to the One Seven.”
“Nobody got hurt?”
“Nobody. Hank Willard stuck to the agreement. The guy who got shot was treated and released; it wasn’t a bad wound.”
“Who did you get to represent Peter Collins?” Eggers asked.
“Milt Levine.”
“Good call,” Eggers said. “He’s probably one of the few guys around who isn’t representing somebody who’s involved in this thing as a victim.”
“He’ll do a good job,” Stone said.
“Did Collins lay the blame on anybody?”
“Not to me,” Stone replied. “Who are the candidates?”
“Just Gunn and Collins, as far as I know,” Eggers said.
“What were your impressions of Jack Gunn at your meeting?” Stone asked.
Eggers shrugged. “Angry, but in control. He says that Collins is the only guy in the firm who could have pulled this off without his knowledge.”
Stone’s cell phone vibrated; he looked at the screen and saw Milt Levine’s name. “Hello?”
“Stone, it’s Milt Levine.”
“How’d it go?”
“I met with Collins at the One Seven, then he answered every question the police put to him. I bought what he had to say.”
“What was the disposition?”
“He’ll be arraigned for the shooting and hostage-taking tomorrow morning, and I’ll get him bailed out. He hasn’t been charged with taking any money.”