Page 60

Stone, Jack, and Watkins had just reached the porch when a gunshot went off.

They dropped to a crouch and huddled against the brick siding.

Raised voices came from inside.

Stone couldn’t make out what was being said, but the tension was evident.

Somewhere deeper in the house, glass shattered and more shots went off.

This was followed by loud voices again, and finally another round of gunfire before the house fell silent.

Stone, Jack, and Watkins waited for more noise, but none came.

Above them at the top of the door was a round decorative window.

Stone, tall enough to peek through, got up on his tippy-toes.

“What do you see?” Jack asked in a hushed voice.

“An entryway and what I think is the living room,” Stone whispered.

“I don’t see any people, though.”

He lowered back onto his heels and tried the door.

It was locked.

He glanced around, then pointed at a full window to the right of the porch.

“Maybe we can see something through that.”

The window looked into the living room and through it into a dining area, complete with table, chairs, and four motionless bodies.

“Huh,” Stone said.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Jack said.

Stone’s phone began to vibrate.

He pulled it out, said “Huh” again, and answered.

“Hello, Dino.”

“I thought you’d like to know, we’ve received a report of shots fired from a house owned by one Ricky Gennaro.”

“I can confirm that report,” Stone said.

“And can add that there are at least four victims inside.”

“Where exactly are you?”

“Looking through Gennaro’s living room window.”

“I see. And are these victims dead?”

“Unclear. They are, however, unmoving. And to be fair, I think some if not all of the victims are also perpetrators. I can see at least two guns from here. Do we have your permission to enter and check if anyone is still alive?”

“Is it safe to do that?”

“Also unclear.”

“Then no.”

“I imagine we’ll be seeing you here soon?”

“I’m heading to my car now.”

They hung up.

“I take it the police are on their way,” Jack said.

“It seems a concerned citizen reported the gunshots. Shall we continue around the house?”

“Lead on.”

On the side of the house, near the back corner, they found a window into the kitchen that showed them a partial view of the dining room.

It also revealed a fifth body slumped on the floor near the door between the rooms, and a broken window at the back of the house that was the likely source of the earlier sound of breaking glass.

They rounded the corner into the backyard and immediately spotted the reason why the window had shattered.

Lying on a cement patio, below the window, was a sixth victim.

They jogged over to see if the man needed assistance, but from the angle at which his head was twisted, there was no need to check his pulse.

In addition to being dead, he also had a gag in his mouth, and his hands, which peeked out from under his body, were zip-tied together.

“Does he look familiar to you?” Stone asked Jack.

Jack took a good look at the man.

“No. Does he to you?”

“Yeah, but I can’t place him.”

From the distance came the sound of several approaching sirens.

“You should make yourself scarce,” Stone said to Watkins.

“Jack and I can deal with the cops.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am.”

With a nod, she sprinted around the house, out of sight.

“They’re going to want to know why we’re here,” Jack said.

“I assume you’d rather keep the extortion story off the front page of the Times ,” Stone said.

“Very much.”

“Then we can say we were in the area scouting potential investment properties?” Stone suggested.

“We heard the house might be for sale soon and were about to knock when the shooting started. We can tell them everything we heard and saw from there, but without mentioning Watkins.”

“I like it.”

It sounded like at least one of the sirens had turned onto Gennaro’s street.

“It would probably be better if we met them out front rather than back here,” Stone said.

“Agreed.”

The first cops to show up were not pleased to find Stone and Jack on the property and locked each in the back of different police cars.

When Dino arrived twenty minutes later, Stone’s and Jack’s confinement was terminated posthaste, and they were asked to wait on the front porch for Dino.

While there, two detectives came out to question them.

Stone and Jack were just finishing up their story when Dino opened the front door.

“If you’re done with them,” Dino said to the detectives, “I’d like a few minutes of their time.”

“I think we have all we need,” the lead detective said.

“Thank you, gentlemen. We’ll call if we have more questions.”

“Come inside,” Dino said to Stone and Jack.

They walked into the house, and Dino led them into the living room.

The bodies that had been in the dining room were gone, but the signs of the gunfight remained.

“And to think we almost stepped into the middle of this,” Jack said.

“I would not have liked your chances,” Dino said.

“Neither would I,” Stone said.

“You didn’t actually see what happened, did you?” Dino asked.

“We were too busy trying to keep from being shot,” Stone said.

“Have you figured out what happened?”

“We won’t know until the forensic report comes in, but it appears as if Gennaro did most of the killing.”

“Why?”

“I have a theory about that,” Dino said, then led them to the dining room table.

The briefcase the woman had taken from Jack sat open on it.

The cash that filled it looked to be mostly ones.

“Just to confirm,” Dino said to Jack.

“Those aren’t the bundles you put in there.”

“Not the ones I can see,” Jack said.

“Then I’d say what we had here was a bunch of disappointed people who’d been expecting a lot more than a few grand in small currency.”

“You think the others were Gennaro’s partners?” Stone asked.

“I don’t think ‘partners’ would be the right term.”

“Who were they then?”

“The guy in the kitchen and the one who was on the floor there”—Dino pointed at a spot near the kitchen door—“were low-level lieutenants connected to the Ramirez Syndicate.”

Stone had heard of the syndicate.

Its reputation for ruthlessness was akin to that of the Russian mob.

“I can’t imagine that the higher-ups will be happy to hear about this.”

“You would think not, except the guy who was there”—Dino pointed at a seat on the other side of the table—“was Pinkie Ramirez’s right-hand man, Miguel Montes. And the guy who was there”—this time he pointed at the chair with its back to the kitchen—“was Pinkie Ramirez himself.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

“So, Ricky Gennaro just took out the leadership of the Ramirez Syndicate?”

“Again, pending the forensic report.”

“He did the city a service.”

“While I’m not sad to see Pinkie removed from the picture, and I know the city will ultimately be better not having someone with the power he had around anymore, I’m not looking forward to the fallout the news will bring.”

“My sympathies,” Stone said.

“You didn’t mention the guy in the backyard. I swear I’ve seen him before.”

“That’s because you have.”

“I have?”

“I have, too. He’s an ex-con from California, who, up until a moment after he flew out the window, was in violation of his parole.”

“If you thought that would clear it up for me, it didn’t.”

“Sara introduced him to you the night of your accident.”

“My niece?” Jack said.

“Your niece.”

“Stevie?” Stone said.

“AKA Stefan Howard.”

“Stefan Howard?” Jack said, surprised.

“Sara’s ex-husband, Stefan Howard?” Stone said.

“I don’t know how many of them there are, but he is that one.”

“How do you know it’s him?”

“He had an ID on him. Multiple, actually. One of the detectives ran a check to see if any were real.”

“His was, I assume,” Stone said.

“I always knew you were smart.”

Ignoring the comment, Stone asked, “Why would he be here?”

“I was curious about that myself, so I had a look at his phone before it was boxed up. There were several calls and incriminating texts between Stefan and Gennaro.”

“Incriminating how?”

“If you were wondering who was behind beating up Sara’s blind date and her second ex-husband, wonder no more.”

“Stefan?” Jack said.

“Stefan.”

Jack was momentarily lost in thought.

“Dino, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be the one to tell her.”

“Given that there are no current familial ties, there’s no reason for us to contact her at all.”

“I suppose that’s correct. Perhaps she doesn’t need to know at all.”

“That’s your call, Jack,” Stone said.

“But if I were her, I’d at least want to know he’d passed away.”

Jack nodded.

“You’re right. I’ll tell her, but after things calm down.”

“That does remind me,” Stone said.

“There is something we need to deal with as soon as possible.” He gave Jack a knowing look.

“Right,” Jack said.

“Dino, if you no longer need us, I think we’ll be off.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re just in the way.”

“Perfect.”

“One request,” Dino said.

“If you plan on being in close proximity to another shoot-out, I would appreciate it if you did so in someone else’s jurisdiction.”