“She’s in our files, but we’ve never shared them with any law enforcement agency. We’d hoped to pick her up ourselves.”

Mellon spoke up again. “Am I to understand that there is no open charge against this woman anywhere in the world?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Carpenter replied.

“And there were no fingerprints on the weapons, and the ballistics test was negative?”

“That’s about the size of it,” Dino replied.

“Well, then, book her on a weapons charge until we’ve got something concrete.”

Nobody said anything.

Mellon looked at Dino. “Am I to understand that you can’t connect the woman with the weapons?”

“She was in the ladies’ room at Elaine’s. We found the weapons in the toilet tank immediately after she left,” Dino said defensively.

“But you can’t prove that she put them there,” Mellon said. “Fifty women a night use the ladies’ room, and any one of them could have deposited the weapons in the toilet tank at any time for months past, right?”

“Yes,” Dino replied.

Mellon looked at all of them. “Anybody have any charge I can hang on this woman, even to hold her? Did she resist arrest, maybe? Assault a police officer?”

Nobody said anything.

Mellon began putting on his coat. “Then I’m out of here. Cut her loose.” He walked out of the room.

Carpenter was on her cell phone. “Mason? La Biche is about to be released from the Nineteenth Precinct. Get a tail on her now.”

Dino turned to the two detectives. “Grab anybody you can find and get out front. When she leaves, don’t lose her. Keep her in sight until she gets to her hotel, then put two men in the hallway outside her room and tail her if she leaves the hotel.”

“I’m sorry, Dino,” Carpenter said.

Dino went back into the interrogation room. “Mr. Kaminsky, your client is free to go just as soon as I’ve photographed and fingerprinted her.”

“In your dreams,” Kaminsky replied. “My client is not under arrest and there is no probable cause to believe she has committed a crime. Good night, Lieutenant.”

Dino led them out of the interrogation room. “My apologies for the inconvenience, Ms. du Bois,” he said.

“Think nothing of it, Lieutenant,” she replied.

Dino watched them leave, then led Carpenter and Stone into his office. “All we can do is tail her and hope she tries to kill somebody else.”

“Probably me,” Carpenter said.

A detective knocked on the door. “Lieutenant, I need to log that pistol and the ice pick. You got them?”

“They’re on the table in Interrogation One,” Dino said.

“No, sir, they’re not.”

“Oh, shit,” Dino said.

Marie-Thérèse and Sol Kaminsky were riding down Second Avenue in a cab.

“You want me to drop you at your hotel?” Kaminsky asked.

“No, thank you, Mr. Kaminsky. I’ll be getting out before then.”