“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Stone said. “Thanks for the call.” He hung up.

“Something wrong?” Marla asked.

“I’ll give you the background later,” Stone said, pulling on his pants, “but Dino’s been shot and is in surgery. I’m going over to Lenox Hill.”

“Is it bad?”

“Bad enough.”

“Want company?”

“I’ll want company when I get back,” Stone said. “You get some sleep.” He finished dressing and ran for a cab.

VIV SAT in the recovery room and watched Dino as if she were afraid he’d flee. His color was good, she thought, and he was breathing normally. His eyelids fluttered, and he opened them and stared at her.

“Am I alive?” he asked.

“And kicking,” she replied.

A doctor in scrubs walked over and examined Dino. “You are one lucky son of a bitch,” he said. “Whoever shot you was firing hardball ammo, and it went straight through and out, along a path that avoided the heart, the lung, and the shoulder. Nicked the collarbone, but that’s okay. You’re lucky it wasn’t a hollow-point slug, or we’d still be in the OR, trying to sort out the mess. You’ve also got the constitution of an ox. I’ve never seen anybody skate through gunshot surgery like that. You’ll be back at work in a week, ten days, if we can keep you from getting an infection.”

“Don’t give me an infection,” Dino said. “I don’t need one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” the doctor said. “Detective DeCarlo, there’s a guy out there wants to see your lieutenant, name of Barrington. Only one at a time in here, so you go out and send him in.”

“Right,” Viv said. “I’ll be back, boss.”

STONE STOOD up when he saw Viv coming; so did Rosie.

Viv gave them a thumbs-up. “He’s good and going to get better. You can go in, Stone.”

Stone pushed through the door and saw Dino, his bed sitting him up. He went over and pulled up a stool. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he said.

“It’s been a long time since we met like this,” Dino said, “and last time, it was you here and me there.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know exactly. Shelley was walking toward me, something spooked her, and she came up with a handgun. Mine never cleared the holster. Viv took her out.”

“Did the denizens of Bemelmans Bar enjoy the experience?”

“You never heard such an uproar,” Dino said, smiling weakly.

“You get some sleep, pal. There’s no rush—you’ll be telling me the gory details for years.”

“You don’t have any scotch on you, do you?”

“I’ll buy you your first when you’re out of here. Sleep tight.”

Stone walked back to the waiting room and took a couple of deep breaths.

“You all right?” Viv asked.

“I’m not used to seeing him like that,” Stone said. “I feel almost as if I took the bullet.”

“I know how you feel,” Viv said.

“He’s got the hots for you, you know.”