The two sleuths described the masked man on the bench, and mentioned his blue, red and white NY Rangers face mask and his fire department hat. They provided additional details including the woman’s gold “GG” necklace, employment at “T and C,” and the funny shirt and tie emblem embroidered on the side of the woman’s navy-blue face mask.

“Shirt and tie?” said Heather, wrinkling her forehead. “A bow tie or a long one?”

“The image was from the neck to mid-chest,” said Zoe using her hands. “No head, just the top half of a button-downed white shirt. The tie was long and red.”

“Maybe her mask came from some sort of haberdashery or men’s clothing store,” said Heather.

“That’s exactly what I thought,” said Zoe getting excited. “We think T and C stands for Thayer and Company. Maybe the store made up masks for their employees, so everyone looks the same. A lot of companies are making their own masks now with their logos on them.”

Detective Williams nodded as he made a note.

“The woman wore a white baseball cap that had three blocks of color on the front, kind of like a flag,” said Zoe.

“What were the colors?” said Daryl.

“I think they were green, white and then red in that order from left to right,” said Zoe, scrunching up her face.

“Did you see the hat,” said Detective Williams to Sean.

“I didn’t get close enough when we were tailing them,” said Sean, “but Zoe got a good look at the hat and mask with her binoculars.”

Detective Williams played with his phone for a moment, searching for something. “Is this what you saw?” he asked, holding up his phone.

“It could be. Yes, I think so,” said Zoe.

“It’s an Italian flag,” said Daryl.

“Do you think that means she’s Italian?” said Zoe.

“Who knows? She could have borrowed the hat or received it as a gift from an Italian friend,” said Heather. “Or she could have gone to the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy last fall and bought it as a souvenir.”

“I guess,” said Zoe, “but it’s still a clue, isn’t it?”

“I’ve been doing this a long time, Ms. Brandt. The key to successful police work is staying focused on the right information and not getting distracted by extraneous data,” said Detective Williams. “Sometimes irrelevant information can send an investigation in the wrong direction. Not everything means something.”

“I almost forgot,” said Zoe, “the masked woman also had a navy leather bag. I think it was a Gucci because she was also carrying a Gucci shopping bag. Maybe she had just bought the bag? You should check out the Gucci store on Fifth Avenue. A salesperson there might remember her. Then we can get her name from a receipt and the whole case will be solved.”