“I don’t know,” Vinnie said. He tried to pull his beloved paper from Jack’s grasp. He was embroiled in the Knicks stats from the previous night’s basketball game.

Jack’s forehead furrowed. Vinnie might not have been an academic genius, but about current news items, he was something of a resident authority. He read the newspapers cover to cover every day and had impressive recall.

“There’s nothing about it in the paper?” Jack questioned. He was shocked. He’d imagined the media would have had a field day with the embarrassment of the body disappearing from the morgue. Bureaucratic mismanagement was a favorite journalistic theme.

“I didn’t notice it,” Vinnie said. He yanked harder, freed the paper, and reburied his face.

Jack shook his head. He was truly surprised and wondered how Harold Bingham, the chief medical examiner, had managed such a media coverup. Just as Jack was about to turn away, he caught the headlines. It said: MOB THUMBS NOSE AT AUTHORITY. The subhead read: “Vaccarro crime family kills one of its own then steals the body out from under the noses of city officials.”

Jack snatched the entire paper from the surprised Vinnie’s grasp. Vinnie’s legs fell to the floor with a thump. “Hey, come on!” he complained.

Jack folded the paper then held it so that Vinnie was forced to stare at the front page.

“I thought you said the story wasn’t in the paper,” Jack said.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t in there,” Vinnie said. “I said I didn’t see it.”

“It’s the headlines, for crissake!” Jack said. He pointed at them with his coffee cup for emphasis.

Vinnie lunged out to grab his paper. Jack pulled it away from his grasp.

“Come on!” Vinnie whined. “Get your own freakin’ paper.”

“You’ve got me curious,” Jack said. “As methodical as you are, you’d have read this front-page story on your subway ride into town. What’s up, Vinnie?”

“Nothing!” Vinnie said. “I just went directly to the sports page.”

Jack studied Vinnie’s face for a moment. Vinnie looked away to avoid eye contact.

“Are you sick?” Jack asked facetiously.

“No!” Vinnie snapped. “Just give me the paper.”

Jack slipped out the sports pages and handed them over. Then he went over to the scheduling desk and started the article. It began on the front page and concluded on the third. As Jack anticipated, it was written from a sarcastic, mocking point of view. It cast equal aspersion on the police department and the medical examiner’s office. It said the whole sordid affair was just another glowing example of the gross incompetence of both organizations.

Laurie breezed into the room and interrupted Jack. As she removed her coat, she told him that she hoped he felt better than she.

“Probably not,” Jack admitted. “It was that cheap wine I brought over. I’m sorry.”

“It was also the five hours of sleep,” Laurie said. “I had a terrible time hauling myself out of bed.” She put her coat down on a chair. “Good morning, Vinnie,” she called out.