Woods, Stuart - Stone Barrington 43 - Quick & Dirty by Woods Stuart

Author:Woods, Stuart [Woods, Stuart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-10-24T00:00:00+00:00

31

MARGARETTA WAS CRYING nonstop now, so Stone put his questions to her through Morgan, as it seemed to work better.

“Margaretta, does Manolo live with you?”

Margaretta nodded, then shook her head. “Sometimes,” she said.

“Would he be there now?”

She shook her head. “He has been gone for two days.”

“Margaretta, what is Manolo’s cell phone number?”

Every junkie had a cell phone.

Morgan handed her a pad of paper and a pen. “Just write down the number, Margaretta.”

“Will you hurt him?” she asked, handing the pad back to Morgan.

“No, of course not,” Stone replied. “If he returns the picture at once, he will get a thousand-dollar reward.”

Margaretta began to recover herself. “Please,” she said, taking her phone from her apron pocket, “let me call him so he won’t be frightened.”

“All right,” Stone said, “but please speak English.”

Margaretta blew her nose, then pressed a button.

“Yeah?”

“Manolo, it’s Mama. I have good news.”

“Mama, I’m busy right now.”

“Could you use a thousand dollars?”

A brief silence. “What are you talking about?”

“If you bring home the picture, you will get a thousand dollars.”

Stone rubbed his thumb against his fingers.

“Cash,” she said.

“A thousand dollars?”

“Yes, truly, but you have to bring the picture home now.”

“Mama, I already sold the picture. I got a hundred dollars for it.”

Stone said a silent “Who?”—exaggerating his lip movement.

“Who did you sell it to, Manolo?”

“I can’t tell you, Mama. He would hurt me. I gotta go now.” He hung up.

“What can I do?” Margaretta asked. “You heard.”

“Margaretta,” Stone said, “please leave it to me. We’ll find Manolo and learn who bought the picture, and your son will not be hurt, I promise. And he may still get the thousand dollars.”

Margaretta looked at Morgan for confirmation.

Morgan nodded vigorously. “Now you can go back to work, Margaretta. Everything will be all right.”

“Oh, Margaretta?” Stone said.

She turned. “Yes, sir?”

“Do you have a photograph of Manolo?”

She fished in her other apron pocket and came up with a wallet. She found it and handed it to Stone.

“Thank you, Margaretta,” he said. “I’ll see that it’s returned to you.” She went to the kitchen, and he looked at the picture: it was a school photo, taken when the kid must have been sixteen or so. He was angelically beautiful.

“Now what?” Morgan asked.

Stone motioned for them to go out onto the terrace, pointing at his ear. When they had closed the doors behind them, he said, “I’ll take care of this.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Find Manolo, for a start.”

“How are you going to find a junkie in Spanish Harlem?” she demanded.

“Please, Morgan, go inside.”

Reluctantly, she went inside and closed the doors behind her.

Stone called Dino and got sent directly to voice mail. Stone left an urgent message, then went inside, where Morgan stood, hands on hips.

“What did you do?”

“I left someone a message.”

“Dino?”

“Yes.”

“What can he do?”

“Morgan, Dino is the commissioner of police. Now I’m going to go home and try to get some work done. I’ll call you when we have some results.” He kissed her, retrieved his jacket, and left.

• • •

ALL THE WAY home in the cab, Stone thought about what had to be done.

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