Prek called Buda. He wanted to tell his boss that they’d arrived and all was well. He also hoped to get the okay to finish up with Pia. It was a perfect night, quiet and dark, to dump a body in the large swamp that extended for almost a mile from the southern end of the lake into a protected virgin forest surrounding a government arsenal called Picatinny. It was the kind of wilderness whose remoteness would come as a surprise to most residents of New York City. It had certainly proved useful to the Buda crew on more than one occasion.

To Prek’s irritation, Buda didn’t pick up. Prek didn’t leave a message; Buda would see the missed call and know Prek was trying to reach him.

Prek’s annoyance was exacerbated when it dawned on him that despite all their planning, they’d forgotten to bring any food. There was a store up the road about five miles north, but Prek didn’t think it was a good idea for any of them to show their faces in a public spot, not when they were going to be disposing of a body. Prek went into the kitchen, such as it was, and looked in the fridge. There was one carton of milk with a past-due date. The cupboards were even more depressing. There was an open box of cold cereal, but one corner was chewed off and mouse droppings could be seen.

Discouraged, Prek reentered the living room. There was a sudden silence. Prek could tell Genti and Neri had been talking about something and had stopped abruptly.

“What is it?” Prek asked.

The two men were looking at Pia. There had been a disagreement.

“How long before she wakes up?” Neri said.

“She’s got ten milligrams of Valium in her, so she’s going to be sleeping it off awhile,” Prek said. “She’ll start to wake up, but she’ll be very groggy. We can always give her another shot if need be. Buda didn’t answer his phone.”

“She’s beautiful,” said Neri.

“Our young friend here was just telling me what he’d like to do to her,” said Genti. “I suppose we could all take turns, maybe even be interesting to watch. What do you think, Prek? We should have done it when we were in her room last night.”

“I like my girlfriends to participate,” Prek said. “And anyway, we’re not doing anything till I hear from Buda that she’s safe to get rid of. Remember, she’s got an Albanian name. We got to be sure we wouldn’t be stepping on someone’s honor, if you know what I’m saying.”