Devlin saw another problem: while Levine was in charge of the case, he still had to report to Norberto Torres and, through him, without doubt, to the mayor, who would weigh the evidence on the basis of personal political considerations. If personal political considerations dictated, the mayor would play sleuth and decide that Frank Devlin had to have cooperated with the conspirators in some way, at some time, and order Devlin taken into custody. Certainly Devlin in custody was less effective in his own behalf than Devlin at large, and maybe that was all the conspirators desired. Just the same, Devlin could see that the evidence required Levine to take some action; doing nothing could be construed even as an attempt to suppress evidence. Levine was thinking along the same lines, it seemed.

“How do I put a tail on you that isn’t going to be seen as going through the motions, or a way of telling you to lay off, or to keep your distance from people?”

“I’m cooperating fully with the investigation,” Devlin said.

“Not much of an argument if you’re guilty of something and cooperation is the way to avoid exposure. Do you see what I’m saying? Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”

“Me, too,” Devlin said. “Suppose you decide now to let me go. If you’re overruled later, there won’t be that much heat.”

“That’s what you think,” Levine said quietly. “And sometimes listening to other people’s tantrums is all the heat I can take. But you want me to let you go, eh? Do you mind telling me what you’re going to do?”

“Well, if the perps do want to take a poke at me, I want to be available, if not exactly completely accessible. I have my own ideas about the New Jersey angle. I want to take another look at my life, not the long view you meant last night, but maybe back over the time you think people have been working this scam.”

Levine nodded, as if buying Devlin’s reasons … but you never could tell with Levine. You couldn’t tell with Devlin, either, in this matter. Devlin wanted to check something else, something he had forgotten during his first conversation with Levine on Times Square, and which he was holding back now.

He had talked to Eileen just minutes before Levine’s arrival. She told him that a young man, a Latino, had come to her door to get the spare set of keys for Devlin’s car. Devlin and Sal had done this before, exactly this way. Eileen knew Devlin trusted Sal completely. Eileen had given the young man the key to Devlin’s apartment, where he could find the spare car keys. That’s what Devlin had forgotten to tell Levine earlier.