A security guard produced a weapon, pointed it at them, and yelled, “Let him go and step back!” Dino, from his perch behind the drums, stood up, assumed a combat stance, and shot the guard in the chest. At the sound of the shot the crowd began to scream and to try to get out.

Stone and Guido dragged Casselli backward toward the elevator, while Dino and Jim pointed their weapons at the guests and tried to keep them back. Stone and Guido got Casselli onto the elevator and pressed the down button; nothing happened, then the lights went out in the whole house. Pandemonium ensued. Dim emergency lighting came on, and in the dimness the crowd tried to push back against Jim and Dino. Jim fired two rounds into the ceiling, and they stepped back for a moment. Then there was the sound of an engine cranking somewhere outside the house, and the generator started to work. The lights came on, the elevator doors closed, and they started down.

“Good evening, Mr. Casselli,” Stone said, facing the man.

“Who are you?” Casselli demanded. “And what are you doing?”

“We last met in Paris,” Stone said. “Remember the choucroute?”

“Barrington?”

“Yes. And to answer your question, I am assisting the police in your arrest and detention. Now where is Hedy?”

“I don’t know,” Casselli said.

Stone pressed his pistol against Casselli’s right eye. “Just one more time: Where is Hedy?”

“She left my house two nights ago, after she spoke to you on the phone. We have not been able to find her. That is the truth.”

The elevator stopped on the ground floor, and they hustled Casselli out the door, around the hedge, and into a waiting car, next to a policeman. Stone slammed the door. “Enjoy the ride,” he yelled at Casselli, then he turned to the others. “I think we’re needed upstairs,” he said.

Dante joined them, pistol drawn, and they got back into the elevator and rose. They burst into the living room, weapons out in front of them. The guests were all sitting on the floor, their hands on top of their heads. There was gunfire from the rear, toward the kitchens, and Dante led the way toward the gunfire. Another security guard was lying at the entrance to the kitchen with a head wound, and an officer in a red jacket was bleeding from a leg and being attended to by a colleague. Uniformed policemen were now pouring into the house.

—

Hedy peeked over a rock and watched, astonished, as the uniforms crowded into the house. A higher ranking officer was behind them, exhorting them to get inside. She climbed over the rocks and ran toward the house, crossing the deck and catching up with the officer as he entered the house. She tapped him rudely on the shoulder, and he spun around.

“I am Hedy Kiesler. Are you looking for me?”

—