Stone switched lines. “Hi, Dino. I only have a few minutes.”
“Hot date? Oh, wait, you don’t do that anymore.”
“I never said I’m not dating anymore.”
“Maybe not in so many words.”
“Is there something you want? Or are you taking a page from Joan’s book and trying to antagonize me?”
“Joan’s antagonizing you?” Dino asked.
“You say that like it’s a new thing.”
“If it helps, I’m not purposely trying to antagonize you this time.”
“Marginally.”
“Guess what my people found.”
“If by people you mean everyone in the NYPD, I wouldn’t even hazard a guess.”
“Not the whole force, just the subset I tasked with checking CCTV cameras for a particular part of the city, on a particular afternoon.”
“Did you miss the part where I said I don’t have a lot of time?”
“The non-date thing?”
“Dino!”
“I’m talking about CCTV footage taken on your street, a block away from your place, soon after your meeting about Trenton Sidney’s will.”
Stone stilled. “Andre Parker?”
Stone’s cell phone vibrated on his desk, with the arrival of a text, just as Dino said, “I sent you a picture.”
Stone picked up his mobile and opened the message.
The picture was of a sedan stopped in the right lane of Stone’s street. Andre Parker was clearly visible in the driver’s seat. Standing on the road next to the car’s passenger door was another man. Even though he was in profile and the image quality was less than stellar, Stone recognized him.
“That’s Oliver Humphrey,” he said, stunned.
“You’re positive?”
“Absolutely.”
“I was hoping you’d know who he was,” Dino said. “We hadn’t ID’d him yet.”
“This doesn’t necessarily mean they were in cahoots. Maybe Parker was asking for directions.”
A second text arrived. This one was a link.
Stone clicked on it and was taken to a video of Humphrey’s and Parker’s interaction. At first, Humphrey looked surprised, then worried as if someone might see them together. Though there was no audio, it was clear they knew each other.
“Well, shit,” Stone said when the video finished.
“I take it you don’t think Parker was asking for directions now.”
“I do not.”
