Worst Fears Realized Read Free

keep from slipping, he turned and looked back into the kitchen. The paint was everywhere, but it wasn’t paint.
    Susan Bean lay on her back next to the wall, staring at the ceiling. Her throat gaped open. He made himself move toward her, knelt at her side, and felt her wrist for a pulse. Nothing. There was no point it trying CPR, he realized. Close up, he could see that she had been very nearly decapitated.
    Stone got shakily to his feet, holding on to whatever he could for support. He made it to the kitchen phone, picked it up, and started to call Dino’s cell phone, then he stopped.
    “No,” he said aloud. He dialed 911.
    “What is your emergency?” a woman’s voice said.
    “Is the tape rolling?” he asked.
    “You’re being recorded, sir; what is your emergency?”

    “My name is Stone Barrington; I’m a retired police officer. I’ve got a homicide in the top-floor apartment at…” He looked around for something, found a gas bill, and gave her the address. “White female, age thirty-two, name of Susan Bean. I need homicide detectives and the coroner.”
    “I’ve got it, Mr. Barrington.”
    “Oh…tell the squad car that the perpetrator is probably a lone male, on foot, and that he’s probably still in the neighborhood.”
    “Got it. They’re on their way.”
    Stone hung up and dialed Dino’s cell phone.
    “Bacchetti,” Dino’s voice said. There was party noise in the background.
    “It’s Stone; I’m sitting on a homicide about three blocks from the party.” He read the address off the gas bill again.
    “Have you called nine-one-one?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
    “I think the perp was in the building when I got here, and I’ll bet he’s still in the neighborhood.”
    “I’ll keep an eye out. Don’t start working the scene, Stone; let my people do that.”
    “Right.”
    “I’m on my way.”
    Stone hung up, sat on a chair at the dining table, and tried not to think about what was in the next room. He was badly shaken. He’d seen a lot of dead bodies in his years as a homicide detective, but never one that had just kissed him.

3
    T WO DETECTIVES ARRIVED FIRST. STONE let them in and pointed at the kitchen. “She’s in there,” he said, then sat down at the dining table again. They went into the kitchen, then came right out again. One was a big guy, six-three or -four; the other was much shorter, stocky, florid-faced.
    “Stand up,” the shorter one said to Stone.
    “What?”
    “ Stand up! ”
    Stone stood up.
    The shorter cop swung a right and caught Stone under the ear.
    Stone spun to his right and fell onto the tabletop. Before he could move both cops were on him, handcuffing him. “What the hell are you doing?” Stone demanded.
    They sat him back in the chair, and the short cop hit him again. “Murdering bastard!” the cop said, andthen his larger partner restrained him.
    “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