Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set), Blake Banner [story read aloud .txt] 📗

“It is not me who needs to make peace! I am already at peace. It’s you! You are the one who turned love into a motive for killing. You are the one who started and couldn’t stop! You are the one who opened the doors to hell! You are the one being sucked in, out of control! You are the one who needs to make peace, not me!”

“Stop saying that.”

“Step back before it is too late. Release me. Cut the bonds and take the wire from my throat. It is not too late to make this right. Do it now and I promise you, I promise you I will help you find redemption. The judge, the jury, they will show leniency.”

Again the sad smile. “You are a brave man, a warrior. I admire your spirit. You don’t give up. But you are out of time. Make peace. The time to die is now.”

I saw her hand move. I felt the sharp pain, and then there was nothing.

* * *

Dehan and Deputy Inspector Newman stood outside the observation booth for interrogation room three. Newman was not happy, and neither was Dehan.

“You should not be conducting this investigation, Carmen. He is not only your partner, he’s your husband. Your objectivity is compromised.”

“With all due respect, sir. My objectivity is not the issue here. The issue is finding Stone, and nobody in this precinct can do that better than I can.”

“I want you to partner up with…”

“Sorry, chief. That is not going to happen.”

“Excuse me?”

“Priority one: find Stone. I do not need to be worrying about a new partner or whether I am being objective. I need to be interrogating my witness.”

“Carmen.”

“Sir, do you know why I was partnered with Stone?”

“Carmen.”

“We were partnered because there wasn’t a detective in the 43rd who would work with me because I had such a bad attitude, and Captain Cuevas wanted to punish Stone by partnering him with me.”

“Carmen…”

“Sir, I do not need to be worrying about hurting the feelings of some pussy-assed, chauvinistic dickhead when what I do need to be doing is finding Stone! I’m sorry! I won’t do it!”

“Carmen!”

“What?”

“Shut up! Good Lord, woman! Go and find Stone!”

“Thank you, sir.”

With that, she turned and pushed into the interrogation room.

Penelope was sitting at the table, looking pale and strained. Her eyes followed Dehan as she crossed the room and sat across the table from her.

“OK, Penny, I am going to try and make this fast and easy for you. Where is Stone?”

“I don’t know. I told you already. I-don’t-know.”

“Fact: he went to your apartment. Fact: he was in your apartment. Fact: he has disappeared. Fact: he has not been seen since he arrived at your apartment. Fact: his car is still parked where he left it when he went to your apartment, and fact: nobody saw him leave your apartment or your apartment block. Now, you tell me what a jury is going to make of those facts. You tell me what, as a detective, I am supposed to make of those facts.”

A spasm of irritation tightened Penelope’s face. “There is a fact you are missing, Detective Dehan! The fact that he was not at my apartment when you arrived and must therefore have left!”

“Which leads us to the inescapable conclusion that he is still in that apartment block. So where have you got him? Where did you put him, Penelope?”

“I didn’t put him anywhere. I don’t know where he is!”

“Who are you working with?”

“What?”

“Who took Stone from your apartment?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Come on, Penelope! Cut the crap! We have cops crawling over that building like ants! You think we won’t find him? Do you know what will happen to you when we do find him?”

“You are out of your mind! Why in the name of God would I abduct Detective Stone? What possible reason…”

“What date have you set for your wedding, Penelope?”

“What? Why…?”

“Stephen, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but threatening me won’t do you any good, because I don’t…”

“Rich? Successful? Great prospects, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“So, just going out on a limb here, Penny, but I’m guessing that facing trial for the murder of Jack Connors would have been pretty damaging for your prospects of marrying a big shot Manhattan lawyer.”

“Of course it would! But I am not crazy enough to kill a damned police officer because of it! I am not insane! And who the hell do you think my accomplice is? Mrs. Brown upstairs? She’s eighty-four next June! Or perhaps the Epsteins next door?”

“Or perhaps it’s Grant Shaw.”

“This again? OK, so we stayed friends. I lied about us falling out. But it was exactly because of this bullshit! I knew that you would do this! I have not got a thing with Grant! We broke up years ago. We have barely stayed in touch. The son of a bitch couldn’t even keep his story straight when he spoke to you. You think if he was my ‘accomplice’—” She made speech marks in the air with her fingers. “—he would have told you I was going to marry Jack? No. He would have told you the same goddamn story I told you!”

“Does he own a property in that block?”

“No!” She did a kind of double-take. “No, you know what? I don’t know! Maybe he does? I don’t know what he owns in New York! Maybe he owns the whole goddamn block for all I know! Maybe he owns the whole fucking island!”

“We’ll know very soon.”

“Good! Maybe then you can give me a goddamn break! I have not abducted your partner! I am not that stupid! And I do not have an accomplice in some diabolical plot to abduct New York cops!”

“What time did he