46

DINO RAN down the upstairs hallway and tried the door: locked. He knocked. “Mr. Abney?”

“God knows what’s going on in there,” Rosie said from behind him.

Dino knocked again. “Mr. Abney, it’s the police. Open the door.” No response. Dino pulled his weapon, took a step back, and kicked the door open, splintering the jamb. Rosie followed him in. There were dishes and glasses on the table, but the room was empty.

Rosie opened one of the two other doors in the room. “Powder room,” she said.

Dino opened the other door and found the back stairs. “Let’s go!” He ran down the stairs, pushed open the fire door, and stepped outside. He found himself in an alley and it was raining. There was a dumpster and half a dozen trash cans scattered about.

“He’s got a car,” Rosie said. “The shortest way is back through the restaurant.” She tried the door, but it had locked behind them. “Shit!” she yelled. “We’ll have to go around!”

They started down the alley at a run, but as they ran, Rosie heard a sound like a car alarm, muffled as if from a garage, but there was no garage in the alley. “Wait!” she yelled at Dino, then she turned back, looking around.

“What is it?”

“I hear an alarm. Viv was wearing a wristwatch with a panic button.” She ran to the dumpster and pushed up the lid. Viv was lying inside in a pile of garbage, her eyes glazed.

“Give me a hand,” she said to Dino. Together, they lifted her out of the dumpster and laid her on the wet tarmac.

Rosie produced her cell phone and called 911.

“I can’t get a pulse,” Dino said, bending over Viv and gently moving her hair from over her face.

“We need an APB for Abney’s town car,” Rosie said.

Dino got on the radio. “License number?”

Rosie sighed. “I didn’t get it, and there are a million black town cars in this fucking city.”

DINO PACED up and down the hallway outside the ER, talking rapidly into his cell phone. “Rosie, do you know Abney’s address?”

“He lives in a hotel on the West Side, the Broadway Savoy.”

Dino got back on the phone. “Abney lives at the Broadway Savoy, on West Forty-sixth, west of Eighth Avenue. If he’s not there, try his office.” He made a beckoning motion to Rosie.

“West Forty-fourth, a couple of doors west of Sardi’s.”

Dino relayed the name and address. “The charge, for now, is assaulting a police officer.” He hung up.

“I could kill myself, not getting the license plate,” Rosie said. “That’s rookie stuff.”

“It might not have helped,” Dino said. “There are too many town cars.” He sat down on a steel chair in the hallway.

“What the fuck are they doing in there?”

A young doctor in green scrubs pushed through the doorway, followed by Viv on a gurney. “OR four,” he said to the orderly. “I’m right behind you.” He turned to Dino. “She’s been drugged. We won’t know what until the tox screen comes back, but it’s probably some sort of date rape drug. They’re everywhere. She’s also got a partly crushed trachea, so she’s headed for surgery. The drug may have saved her life. It slowed her respiration and heartbeat. If she’d been conscious and had panicked, she might not have been able to get enough air. OR four is on the third floor. I’ve got a reconstruction surgeon on the way in. She’ll be okay in a couple of hours. Gotta go.” He turned and ran down the hall after the gurney.