Stone gave him his address, then began at the beginning, at Martin Brougham’s party, and brought everybody up-to-date. While he was talking, two uniformed cops arrived, along with two EMTs and somebody from the medical examiner’s office.

Anderson reached over to the bag of Chinese food, ripped off the check stapled to the bag, and handed it to a uniform. “Go over to this restaurant, find out who ordered this food and when, who picked it up and when, and get a description,” he said.

The cop left with the check.

Stone resumed his story.

Anderson waited for Stone to finish. “Is that it?” he asked.

“One other thing: I think the perp was still in the building when I got back with the food.”

“Why do you think that?”

“When I rang for the elevator, it was on the top floor, and this is the only apartment on twelve. The elevator moved down to six, stopped, then continued to the ground floor. Where was it when you got here?”

“On the ground floor,” Anderson said.

“Then, unless another tenant or a visitor used the elevator between the time I got to this floor and the time you arrived, the perp waited on six until the car stopped up here and I got out, then he rang for it again and rode it down to the ground floor.”

“Pretty cool,” Dino said.

“Yes, pretty cool,” Stone agreed.

The uniformed cop returned. “A Miss Bean ordered the food by phone; the time is written on the check, right here,” he said, placing the check on the table. “A man arrived to pick up the food half an hour later, waited five minutes, paid for it, and left. He was over six feet, blond hair, medium to heavy build, dressed in a raincoat.”

Anderson looked at the check and did some mental calculating. “That checks with your story, Mr. Barrington,” he said.

“Measure the water in the kettle,” Stone said.

“What?”

“When I left, Susan said she was going to make some tea. Let’s find out how long it takes for the same amount of water to boil. That might help with the time frame.”

“Do it, Mick,” Anderson said. Kelly got up and went into the kitchen.

They continued talking until the kettle started to whistle. Anderson looked at his watch. “I make it three and a half minutes.”

“How much water was in the kettle?” Stone asked Kelly.

“A little under three cups,” Kelly replied sullenly.

“Here’s one scenario, then,” Stone said. “The killer arrives shortly after I leave. Within three and a half minutes. He kills her, then the kettle starts whistling. He turns off the kettle.”

“Why?” Kelly asked.