Fresh Disasters

Willa Bernstein slowly came to in a dimly lit room. Somebody was holding her hand.

“Willa? It’s Shelly, baby, can you hear me?”

Willa nodded. “My head hurts,” she said. “And that’s not all. What happened?”

“Don’t you worry, baby, we got Daltry; everything’s going to be all right.”

“What happened to me?” Willa asked. “We were fighting; that’s all I remember.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Shelly said. “You just get some rest.”

Willa’s voice got stronger. “Goddammit, Shelly, tell me what happened!”

Shelly took a deep breath. “He raped you, honey. He knocked you unconscious, and then he raped you.”

Willa involuntarily moved her hand to her crotch.

“Not there, Willa.”

“Oh, shit.”

“You’re all right. The doctor already checked you out, and you’re all right. You just be quiet now.”

“I want some aspirin,” Willa said. “I have a hell of a headache, and my eyes are burning, too.”

Shelly reached over and pressed the bedside buzzer. A moment later, a nurse appeared. “She has a headache,” Shelly said to the woman. “Get her something, will you?”

“He sprayed me with something, mace or pepper spray; I need my eyes flushed out.”

“I’ll see to it,” the nurse said, then disappeared. She was back in a moment with two Tylenol, some eye solution and a syringe. In another moment she was dabbing the excess away with a tissue.

“That’s better,” Willa said. “Crank the bed up a little, will you?”

Shelly grabbed the bed control and sat her up. “The guys are all outside. So’s Bacchetti. They’re beside themselves. Can I bring them in?”

“Sure, go ahead, but let’s not discuss my…condition with them, all right?”

Shelly nodded. “I’ll get them.”

Bernstein led the way into the room. He took Willa’s hand. “I’m sorry it took us so long to get in,” he said to her. “The place was a fortress.”

“Where’s Daltry?”

“He’s downstairs being treated for his injuries. We’ll run him uptown when they’re done with him.”

“What injuries?”

Bernstein glanced at his lieutenant. “Well, before you passed out, you must have gotten in a few good punches.”

Willa managed a chuckle. “Yeah, I’ll bet I beat the shit out of him.”

Dino spoke up. “Whatever he got, he deserved. Listen, kiddo, that phone number you got us paid off. It was for Daltry’s country house in Sneden’s Landing, up the Hudson, and we found his younger brother there, freshly paroled from Attica, after doing seven years for a collection of violent crimes. They’re bringing him down to the precinct, so now that I know you’re okay, I’m going to go up there and interrogate him myself.”

“You think he did the girl in New Jersey?” she asked.

“I’d bet on it,” Dino replied. “We’ll collect some DNA from him, then get the Jersey cops on it. With a little luck we’ll put them both away forever. At the very least we’ve got Daltry on the two rapes.”

Dino looked immediately a

“There was another rape?”

“A nurse at a hospital uptown named Genevieve James. Nice girl; she’ll testify.”

“I want him for the murder,” Willa said.

“Don’t worry about it. Leave it to me.”

“Done. Now can I get some sleep, guys? And thanks for rescuing me.”

The men filed out of the room.

“You want me to stay, baby?” Shelly asked. “I’ll stay all night, if you want.”

“Just until I fall asleep,” Willa said.

She didn’t take long.

56

Stone was awoken from a sound sleep by the ringing of the phone. He tried to move but seemed to be pi

He freed an arm and reached for the phone. “Yeah?” he croaked.

“Rise and shine, pal,” Dino said. “It’s five-thirty in the morning. Greet the new day!”

“You sound alarmingly happy for this time of day,” Stone said. “Why are you up?”

“I never went to bed,” Dino said. “Never needed to. I never had so much fun in my life!”

“How did you spend your night, Dino?”

“Questioning Jerome Daltry,” Dino said. “Charley Sample brought a D.A. over here from Jersey, and he did a deal with little Jerry, who, I might add, is a straight-out, honest-to-God psychopath.”

“What’s the deal?”

“Jerome gets twenty to life in a New Jersey joint for the criminally insane, and, in return, he confessed to ru

“What did Devlin have to say for himself?”

“Oh, he was having a little trouble talking, what with his broken jaw and all, but he did manage to speak the word lawyer a number of times. Doesn’t matter, though, we’ve got him sewed up for Celia’s murder and for the two rapes, too!”

“There was somebody besides Genevieve?”

“Yeah, he got over on my detective before the cavalry could get there. Couldn’t be helped. She’s taking it like a champ, though, and she’ll be great in court. So will Genevieve, come to that. She’s pissed off enough to kill him, if we’d let her.”

“You did have a good night, didn’t you?”

“Sometimes I just love this job!” Dino crowed. “I’m going home and get some sleep. We’ll talk later.” He hung up.

Stone put the phone down and turned back to Eliza, who was wide awake. “That was Dino; he…”

“I could hear him shouting,” she said. “I got it all. He’s right about Genevieve; when she gets her day in court she’ll nail the guy.”

Stone kissed her. “You’re very nice to wake up to,” he said.

She shortened the distance between them. “You, too,” she said. She ran her hand down his belly. “I sense that something is going on down there.”

“You’re a perceptive woman,” Stone said, rolling her over on top of him.

“I’ll think of something to do with it,” she said, kissing him again and slipping him inside her. “It’s my day off, too, so we’re going to be here for a while.”

The phone rang again. “Fuck it,” Stone said.

“It’s probably more good news,” Eliza said. “I can wait another few seconds.”

Stone grabbed the phone. “What?”

“Well, don’t bite my head off,” Herbie said.

“Jesus, Herbie, do you know what time it is?”

“I’ve got five-forty. You really ought to invest in a watch, Stone.”

“What do you want, Herbie?”

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m taking your advice,” Herbie said. “I took a cab to Jersey, and I’m on a bus, headed south.”

“Great news, Herbie. Good-bye and good luck.”

“Oh, will you tell Uncle Bob good-bye for me?”

“Sure, I will. Good-bye.”

“And say good-bye to that nice D.A., too. You know, if I’d been able to hang around, I would have taken a shot at that. She’s cute!”

“I’ll tell her you said so, Herbie; I’m sure she’ll be devastated to lose the chance. Good-bye.”

“Hey, you think she’ll really be devastated? Maybe I’ll hang around and…”

“Good-bye, Herbie,” Stone said and hung up. He turned back to Eliza. “That was Herbie.”

“I heard. Do you think you’ve seen the last of him?”

“Dear God, I hope so,” Stone said, turning his full attention to her again.

“You know, you went down a bit when you were talking to Herbie, but now…”

Stone made a little thrust.

“You’re back,” she said, helping him.