“Possible homicide,” Stone replied, still pushing.

“There’s no homicide,” Scoop said.

“Yeah? How do you know?”

“Because she ain’t dead,” Scoop said.

Stone stopped pushing. “What are you talking about? She fell twelve stories.”

“Hang on a minute, guys,” Scoop said. He rewound the tape in his camera and flipped down a tiny viewing screen. “Watch this,” he said.

Stone and Dino elbowed the other two cops out of the way and focused on the screen. An image came up; the camera was running toward the Con Ed site downstairs. It pushed past an ambulance man and zoomed in on the form of Sasha Nijinsky. She was wearing a nightgown under a green silk robe.

“Easy, now, lady,” someone was saying on the soundtrack. “Don’t try to move; let us do the moving.”

A white-clad back filled the screen, and the camera moved to one side, then zoomed in tight on her face. She blinked twice, and her lips moved.

“Okay, here we go,” the voice said, and the ambulance men lifted her onto a stretcher. The camera followed as they loaded the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. One man got in with her and pulled the door shut. The ambulance drove away, its lights flashing and its whooper sounding.

“I had to make a choice then,” Scoop said. “I called in the incident, and then I went for the apartment.”

“It’s impossible,” Dino said.

“You saw her move, saw her blink,” Scoop said.

“Holy shit,” Dino said.

“Okay,” Stone said to the two cops. “You work the scene with the technical guys, and then knock on every door in the building. I want to know if anybody saw anybody come into the building after nine o’clock tonight.” He grabbed Dino’s elbow. “Let’s get out of here.”

Chapter 3

Stone hung up the car phone. “The company dispatcher says the wagon is going to Lenox Hill Hospital, but the driver hasn’t radioed in to confirm the delivery yet.”