“Easy, Mick,” the bigger man said. “You’ll mark him, and we don’t want that.”

Stone sat still, saying nothing.

“Why’d you kill her?” the short one demanded.

“I didn’t kill her; I found her as she is,” Stone said.

“Then why is her blood all over you?” he said, raising his fist again.

The bigger detective caught his wrist. “Mick,” he said quietly, “don’t make me cuff you.”

The smaller cop shot him a murderous glance. “Just try it,” he said.

“Stand away from him,” the bigger man said.

Reluctantly, the short cop backed away.

“Sorry about that, sir,” the large cop said. “I’m Detective Anderson, and this is Detective Kelly.” He took out a notebook. “What is your name?”

“Stone Barrington.”

Anderson looked up from his notebook and paused for a moment. “You want to tell me what happened here, Mr. Barrington?”

“I went out for Chinese food; I came back and found her as she is. I slipped on the kitchen floor and fell, that’s why I’m bloody. I called nine-one-one.”

“Lying fuck!” Kelly said, and started toward Stone again.

Anderson put a hand on his chest and pushed him against the wall. “I’m not going to tell you again, Mick.”

There was a loud hammering on the door.

“Get that,” Anderson said to his partner, shoving him toward the door.

Kelly yanked open the door and Dino Bacchetti walked in. He looked around. “Where’s the corpse?” he asked.

“In there, Lieutenant,” Kelly said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the kitchen.

“Stone, are you okay?” Dino asked.

“I’m cuffed,” Stone replied.

“Kelly, get the cuffs off that man,” Dino said.

“But Lieutenant…”

“Do it.”

Kelly dug out his keys and took the handcuffs off.

Stone stood up, rubbing his wrists; then he hit Kelly squarely in the nose, sending him sprawling.

“All right,” Dino said, “everybody calm down.” Kelly was scrambling to his feet, blood streaming from his nose, heading for Stone. Dino hit him in the forehead with his open palm, knocking him down again. “I said calm down.” Kelly got up more slowly this time. Dino turned to Anderson. “Did you see any of that, Andy?”

“See what?” Anderson asked.

Dino walked over to Stone and examined his jaw. “You okay?”

“I’m okay now,” Stone said.

“You’re covered in blood; any of it yours?”

“No.”

“All right, everybody take a seat, and let’s find out what happened.”

The four men sat down at the table.

Kelly dabbed a handkerchief at the blood on his face. “I think he broke my fucking nose,” he said to nobody in particular.

“Good,” Stone said.

“Andy,” Dino said.

Anderson placed his notebook on the table. “Let’s start again,” he said. “Can I have your address, Mr. Barrington?”