Hit List

the NYPD, many years before. Now Dino was the police commissioner for New York City, and Stone was an attorney at the firm of Woodman & Weld. In the beginning, he had handled the cases the firm did not wish to be seen handling; now he was a senior partner.



"Yes, sir." She left the room and came back in, pulling on a pair of latex gloves.



"You keep latex gloves in your office?" he asked.



"Yep. You never know when you might not want to touch something or leave any fingerprints." She picked up the two pieces of paper and left his office, closing the door behind her.





Stone had finished half his coffee when his cell phone rang. ÒYes?Ó



"Is this some kind of joke?" Dino asked.



"I don't have any jokes, just witticisms," he replied, stealing a line.



"Tell me how you got them, and why, and no witticisms."



"A plain manila envelope was found by Joan when she came to work this morning. It contained both pieces of paper. There's a watermark on the letter paper: Strathmore. It's common enough, but high quality. We use it here."



"Do you know any of the names on the list?"



"Only one: guess which."



"I'm familiar with two of them: yours and that of Randall Carver."



"Who is he?"



"He's an adman, director of account services at Young & Rubicam."



"How do you know, or know of, him?"



"The name is at the top of a form that landed on my desk about ten minutes before yours did."



"What form?"



"Homicide report. Carver's name is at the top. He was shot once in the head at the corner of Madison Avenue and Forty-second Street by a man on a bicycle, we think. A silencer was used; we found the bicycle around the corner, leaning against a dumpster. It was clean."



"You'll find my prints and Joan's on the paper, when you receive the originals; any others are fair game."



"You sure you don't know anybody on the list?"



"Only myself."



"My guess is whoever s