Rosie reached for her cell phone. “All right, everybody,” she screamed at the crowd. “Police! Everybody sit down and shut up.” To her surprise, they did.

56

VIV INSISTED on riding in the wagon with Dino. The EMTs had stripped off his jacket and shirt and were applying pressure to his wounds.

“You’ve got an entry wound and an exit wound,” an EMT said to Dino.

“Fucking Armani suit!” Dino said. “Eighteen hundred bucks. I’m going to have to have it rewoven.”

“Rinse it in cold water to get the blood out before you have it dry-cleaned,” the EMT said.

“Everybody’s an expert,” Dino muttered. He looked up at Viv. “What are you doing here? You should be helping Rosie lock down Bemelmans.”

“I’m where I need to be,” Viv said. “Rosie’s doing fine. The cavalry arrived as we were leaving.”

“I hope she knows to get as many statements as she can,” Dino said. “There’s going to have to be a hearing before we’re cleared.”

“We did the right thing,” Viv said.

“We didn’t call the FBI,” Dino pointed out.

“That was the right thing.”

“We got Shelley off the street, anyway,” Dino said. Then he threw up all over himself and passed out.

“Shock,” the EMT said, elevating Dino’s feet and starting an IV.

“Is he going to make it?” Viv asked.

“He’ll be in surgery in ten minutes,” the EMT replied. “We’ve already called it in. A team is standing by. We’ll pass up the ER and go straight to the OR. Are you his girlfriend?”

“I’m a detective. I work for him.”

“Oh, sorry, you look so concerned.”

“I want to keep on working for him.”

STONE WAS just getting into bed with Marla, and looking forward to it, when his phone rang. “Hello?”

“It’s Rosie. I work for Dino.”

“Hi, Rosie. Congratulations on the Ed Abney thing.”

“Dino’s been shot.”

“Tell me.”

“Dino, Viv, and I were in the bar at the Carlyle Hotel, a setup to take down Shelley Bach.”

“Go on.”

“It was going fine, until it wasn’t. Bach went into her handbag and came up with a Glock. She shot Dino, then Viv shot her. Twice. She’s dead.”

“Tell me about Dino.”

“He took a round in the upper left chest—might have nicked a lung, I don’t know. He was bleeding pretty good.”

“Where did they take him?”

“Lenox Hill. He’s in surgery. Viv is with him; I’m just finishing up at the Carlyle.”

“Congratulations on taking down Shelley Bach. I know Dino didn’t want to do it, but somebody had to.”

“There’s going to be hell to pay, because Dino didn’t call the FBI.”

“Dino knew what he was doing. They’d have had fifty agents there and the block cordoned off. Shelley would never have walked into the place. Any civilians hurt?”

“No, just Dino and Bach.”

“That’s going to make the hearing easier. The papers are going to like this, you watch. That’ll help with the departmental brass.”

“I’d better go,” Rosie said. “I want to get to the hospital.”