“I was,” Lou said innocently. “But I was careful not to give any details other than the fact that the body had been identified. Why, is there a problem?”

“Only that Bingham went mildly ballistic,” Jack said. “And I was hauled in as the culprit.”

“Gosh, I’m sorry,” Lou said. “It didn’t dawn on me it could cause a problem here. I guess I should have run it by you. Well, I owe you.”

“Forget it,” Jack said. “It’s already patched up.” He poured himself some coffee, shoveled in some sugar, and added a dollop of cream.

“At least it had the desired effect on the street,” Lou said. “And we learned something important already. The people who killed him were definitely not the same people who took his body and mauled it.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Jack said.

“No?” Lou questioned. “I thought that was the general consensus around here. At least that’s what Laurie said.”

“She now thinks the people that took the body did it because they didn’t want anyone to know he’d had a liver transplant,” Jack said. “I still favor the idea it was done to conceal the individual’s identity.”

“Really,” Lou said pensively, sipping his coffee. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. You see we’re reasonably sure the body was taken on orders from the Lucia crime family, the direct competitors of the Vaccarros, who we understand had Franconi killed.”

“Good grief!” Jack exclaimed. “Are you sure about that?”

“Reasonably,” Lou said. “The informer who divulged it is usually reliable. Of course, we don’t have any names. That’s the frustrating part.”

“Just the idea that organized crime is involved is appalling,” Jack said. “It means that the Lucia people are somehow involved in organ transplants. If that doesn’t make you lose sleep, nothing will.”

• • •

“Calm down!” Raymond yelled into the phone. The moment he’d been about to leave the apartment, the phone had rung. When he heard it was Dr. Daniel Levitz on the line, he’d taken the call.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Daniel shouted back. “You’ve seen the papers. They have Franconi’s body! And already a medical examiner by the name of Dr. Jack Stapleton has been in my office asking for Franconi’s records.”

“You didn’t give them, did you?” Raymond asked.

“Of course not!” Daniel snapped. “But he condescendingly reminded me that he could subpoena them. I’m telling you, this guy was very direct and very aggressive, and he vowed to get to the bottom of the case. He suspects Franconi had a transplant. He asked me directly.”

“Do your records have any information at all about his transplant or our program?” Raymond asked.

“No, I followed your suggestions in that regard to the letter,” Daniel said. “But it’s going to look very strange if anybody looks at my records. After all, I’d been documenting Franconi’s deteriorating status for years. Then all of a sudden, his liver function studies are normal without any explanation, nothing! Not even a comment. I’m telling you there’ll be questions, and I don’t know whether I can handle them. I’m very upset. I wish I’d never gotten involved in all this.”