naked to the library where his murderer was waiting for him. He apparently had a drink before the messy stuff started. The glass was on the table beside him. And he submitted to the handcuffing.
“And we have the mask.”
“Maybe he was gonna get a cup of coffee and stick up a convenience store on the way home,” Ansa said with a snicker.
“It was a full moon last night,” Wow said. “You know how crazy people get when the moon is full.” More snickers.
“Hey, next Wednesday’s Halloween. Maybe him and the Staten Island Fairy were practicing,” Butch Ryan added.
Cody smiled, accustomed to the insouciant gallows humor of the group. But he cut it off by turning to Hue. “Give us a satellite shot of that block in West Village.”
The crew watched as the satellite map moved over Greenwich Village then panned down until the block bordered by Hudson and Bleecker Streets and Charles and West 10th filled the screen.
“I’m glad you guys have a good sense of humor about this,” he said. “Let me tell you what I have. I have a self-made, thirty-five-year-old man who discharged his limo here,” he pointed at the spot on Hudson Street, “and hailed a cab here,” he pointed to spot on Bleecker where the Metro cab picked up Handley. ”That’s a block and a half. A five minute walk. I got a guy who’s wearing a three thousand dollar overcoat, a seventeen thousand dollar Tag Heuer watch, and more than a grand in his wallet. So he wasn’t taking a midnight walk in the moonlight. He went straight to somewhere to meet somebody probably to give that somebody a key to his apartment to arrange a little fun and games. And that’s what he got.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the ghoulish photo of Handley’s corpse.
“I’m open to any other cogent suggestions.”
Silence.
“Wolf’s next door by now doing the autopsy. I want to take Kate and talk to Victor Stembler. Can he make the official ID, Kate?”
She thought for a moment. “Any immediate family members nearby?”
“Stembler will know, but we’re getting that he had no family left. If we have to, we’ll call the fiancée. I think we can count on Stembler to soft peddle any details we give him.”
“Wow, you, Butch, and Jonée work the phones. You’ve all been in vice. Call any old contacts, find out everything you can about sex clubs in Manhattan until Wolf is ready to brief us on the autopsy. After that I want Jonée on RR. Wow, you and Butch take on the area in Greenwich Village. I want to know where he went. What he did. Who he saw? Any clubs in that neighborhood? If so, shake ‘em but don’t break ‘em. We’re interested in Handley’s activities, who he might have connected with during that half-hour or so. Our story is we need to talk to him about a case in progress.
“Si, start working on back stories. You know how far you can go with that.”
“Yes sir,” the little man answered.
Cody looked up at the timer.
“We’re two hours and twenty-four minutes into the show.”
“Same song, new verse,” Rizzo said.
“Maybe. But I have a feeling this is one song we’ve never heard before.”
11
Cody and Kate Winters took the elevator to the garage on the first floor. Rizzo was waiting, holding the rear door of a black Lincoln open for them. They crawled in and Rizzo got behind the wheel. The large steel garage door rolled up.
“Where to, Cap?”
“Financial district,” Cody said. “Exchange Place, across the street from the Stock Exchange.”
“Easy one,” Rizzo said. “We’ll cut over to Broadway and head down. Ten minutes.”
“No rush.”
Rizzo snaked his way through Little Italy, turned onto Broadway and headed south toward the few cramped blocks that formed an empire whose heart was the stock market; its blood, dollars, Euros, yen, and market shares; and brokers the jaded knights that jousted for power and control over its fortunes. Its main artery was Wall Street, which someone had once
“And we have the mask.”
“Maybe he was gonna get a cup of coffee and stick up a convenience store on the way home,” Ansa said with a snicker.
“It was a full moon last night,” Wow said. “You know how crazy people get when the moon is full.” More snickers.
“Hey, next Wednesday’s Halloween. Maybe him and the Staten Island Fairy were practicing,” Butch Ryan added.
Cody smiled, accustomed to the insouciant gallows humor of the group. But he cut it off by turning to Hue. “Give us a satellite shot of that block in West Village.”
The crew watched as the satellite map moved over Greenwich Village then panned down until the block bordered by Hudson and Bleecker Streets and Charles and West 10th filled the screen.
“I’m glad you guys have a good sense of humor about this,” he said. “Let me tell you what I have. I have a self-made, thirty-five-year-old man who discharged his limo here,” he pointed at the spot on Hudson Street, “and hailed a cab here,” he pointed to spot on Bleecker where the Metro cab picked up Handley. ”That’s a block and a half. A five minute walk. I got a guy who’s wearing a three thousand dollar overcoat, a seventeen thousand dollar Tag Heuer watch, and more than a grand in his wallet. So he wasn’t taking a midnight walk in the moonlight. He went straight to somewhere to meet somebody probably to give that somebody a key to his apartment to arrange a little fun and games. And that’s what he got.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the ghoulish photo of Handley’s corpse.
“I’m open to any other cogent suggestions.”
Silence.
“Wolf’s next door by now doing the autopsy. I want to take Kate and talk to Victor Stembler. Can he make the official ID, Kate?”
She thought for a moment. “Any immediate family members nearby?”
“Stembler will know, but we’re getting that he had no family left. If we have to, we’ll call the fiancée. I think we can count on Stembler to soft peddle any details we give him.”
“Wow, you, Butch, and Jonée work the phones. You’ve all been in vice. Call any old contacts, find out everything you can about sex clubs in Manhattan until Wolf is ready to brief us on the autopsy. After that I want Jonée on RR. Wow, you and Butch take on the area in Greenwich Village. I want to know where he went. What he did. Who he saw? Any clubs in that neighborhood? If so, shake ‘em but don’t break ‘em. We’re interested in Handley’s activities, who he might have connected with during that half-hour or so. Our story is we need to talk to him about a case in progress.
“Si, start working on back stories. You know how far you can go with that.”
“Yes sir,” the little man answered.
Cody looked up at the timer.
“We’re two hours and twenty-four minutes into the show.”
“Same song, new verse,” Rizzo said.
“Maybe. But I have a feeling this is one song we’ve never heard before.”
11
Cody and Kate Winters took the elevator to the garage on the first floor. Rizzo was waiting, holding the rear door of a black Lincoln open for them. They crawled in and Rizzo got behind the wheel. The large steel garage door rolled up.
“Where to, Cap?”
“Financial district,” Cody said. “Exchange Place, across the street from the Stock Exchange.”
“Easy one,” Rizzo said. “We’ll cut over to Broadway and head down. Ten minutes.”
“No rush.”
Rizzo snaked his way through Little Italy, turned onto Broadway and headed south toward the few cramped blocks that formed an empire whose heart was the stock market; its blood, dollars, Euros, yen, and market shares; and brokers the jaded knights that jousted for power and control over its fortunes. Its main artery was Wall Street, which someone had once
Similar Books
