Insatiable Appetites Read Online Free PDF

which Stone wanted more time to look at, but not now.
    At the end of the upstairs hallway, double doors opened to a bedroom that could only be described as baronial in size and decor. Eduardo lay in an electric bed that had been raised enough for them to see his face. He was surrounded by beeping, flashing medical equipment, and a doctor, a nurse, and a priest were at his bedside. Eduardo seemed alert and was smiling.
    The priest, whom Stone recognized as the cardinal of New York, said, to nobody in particular, “It’s a miracle of God.”
    An elderly woman sitting in a chair on the other side of the room burst into tears.
    Stone approached the foot of the bed. “Good morning, Eduardo,” he said. “It’s good to see you looking well.”
    Eduardo struggled a little to speak but finally said, “I am not well. I will die soon.”
    “That is in God’s hands,” the cardinal said.
    “You may think so,” Eduardo replied. He motioned to Stone to approach, and the others stood back a little to allow him near the old man. He raised a hand and beckoned Stone closer. “Everything is in order,” he whispered. “It’s all in my safe.”
    Stone wanted to ask him the combination but thought better of it.
    “Papa!” Mary Ann said. “Speak to me, tell me what you want.”
    “You must ask Stone,” Eduardo said, then he closed his eyes and his head fell to one side. Next to the bed, a machine that had been beeping now emitted a steady electronic tone, and wavy lines indicating heartbeat and respiration flattened.
    “Save him!” Mary Ann said to the doctor.
    “Your father signed a do-not-resuscitate order last year,” the man said. “There is nothing more I can do for him.”
    Mary Ann burst into tears, and the nurse led her to a chair.
    Stone left the bedside to those attending Eduardo’s remains. He took Pietro, who was weeping quietly, aside. “I’m sorry for your loss, Pietro,” he said. “Now you must give me all the keys to Eduardo’s study.”
    Pietro beckoned for Stone to follow and led him into a large dressing room, which could have accommodated the stock of a small men’s clothing store. Suits, jackets, trousers, and shirts filled it, in neat rows. Pietro went to the top drawer of a built-in dresser, opened it, and handed Stone a bunch of keys on a ring, then he removed a similar ring from his own pocket and handed those over, too. “That is all the keys to the house,” he said. “I will need to lock up tonight.”
    “Thank you, Pietro,” Stone said, and pocketed the keys.
    Stone went back into the bedroom, approached Mary Ann, who had stopped weeping and was simply staring into the middle distance. “He was a wonderful man,” Stone said. “I’ll miss him.”
    He went to the doctor and said quietly, “I am the attorney for the estate. Please give Ms. Bianchi the death certificate.”
    He turned toward Mary Ann. “Please excuse us.” He beckoned to Herbie to follow and left the room.
    Stone got out his iPhone and took photographs of the pictures in the hallway, then he went from room to room, peeking in and photographing still more art. Finally, he led Herbie downstairs to the study and closed the doors behind him.
    Herbie sank into a chair. “That was dramatic,” he said. “What did Eduardo say to you?”
    “He said, ‘Everything is in order. It’s all in my safe.’”
    Stone walked to the bookcase Mary Ann had indicated and found a concealed latch that opened it. A double-doored safe, perhaps five feet wide and eight feet tall, occupied the space behind it.
    “You want me to get us a safecracker?” Herbie asked.
    Stone thought about that and remembered something. He went to the safe, spun the dial, then started turning it back and forth.
    “So you’re a safecracker now?” Herbie asked.
    Stone tried the safe’s wheel, but it did not budge. He spun the dial again, and tried it again, this time turning the dial in the opposite direction. He took hold of the wheel and turned it.