“More wine?” Laurie asked. She held up the jug. They’d only drunk a quarter of it.

“I can’t,” Jack said. “I’ve got to keep my reflexes sharp for the cab ride home.” He stood up and thanked Laurie for the meal.

Laurie put down the wine and got to her feet. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ride with you as far as the morgue.”

“What?” Jack questioned. He scrunched up his face in disbelief. “You’re not going to work at this hour? I mean, you’re not even on call.”

“I just want to question the night mortuary tech and security,” Laurie said, as she went to the hall closet for their coats.

“What on earth for?” Jack asked.

“I want to figure out how Franconi’s body disappeared,” Laurie said. She handed Jack his bomber jacket. “I talked to the evening crew when they came on this afternoon.”

“And what did they tell you?”

“Not a whole bunch,” Laurie said. “The body came in around eight forty-five with an entourage of police and media. Apparently it was a circus. I guess that’s why the X ray was overlooked. Identification was made by the mother—a very emotional scene by all reports. By ten forty-five the body was placed in the fridge in compartment one eleven. So I think it’s pretty clear the abduction occurred during the night shift from eleven to seven.”

“Why are you worrying yourself about this?” Jack said. “This is the front office’s problem.”

Laurie pulled on her coat and got her keys. “Let’s just say that I’ve taken a personal interest in the case.”

Jack rolled his eyes as they exited into the hall. “Laurie!” he intoned. “You’re going to get yourself in trouble over this. Mark my word.”

Laurie pushed the elevator button then glared at Mrs. Engler, who’d cracked her door as usual.

“That woman drives me crazy,” Laurie said as they boarded the elevator.

“You’re not listening to me,” Jack said.

“I’m listening,” Laurie said. “But I’m still going to look into this. Between this stunt and my run-in with Franconi’s predecessor, it irks me that these two-bit mobsters think they can do whatever they please. They think laws are for other people. Pauli Cerino, the man Lou mentioned this morning, had people killed so that he didn’t have to wait too long to have corneal transplants. That gives you an idea of their ethics. I don’t like the idea that they think they can just come into our morgue and walk off with the body of a man they just killed.”

They emerged onto Nineteenth Street and walked toward First Avenue. Laurie put up her collar. There was a breeze off the East River, and it was only in the twenties.

“What makes you think the mobsters are behind this?” Jack asked.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to assume as much,” Laurie said. She put up her hand as a cab approached, but it zoomed past without slowing. “Franconi was going to testify as part of a plea bargain. The higher-ups of the Vaccarro organization got angry or scared or both. It’s an old story.”