“From Brooklyn. Perfect gentlemen. They called in advance. They wanted me to tell them about you, how you bet, what I knew about your life. Hell, what I know wouldn’t be hard to find out from a lot of people, Frank, people you don’t even notice. Neighbors. Okay? I’m giving you the whole thing. These guys wanted to know all this stuff. Because they were so straight, and they weren’t asking dangerous questions, I asked them if you had done anything. One of them had his hands flat on the table, and he just raised the tip of his index finger, like this, and said, ‘I have no way of knowing. I was just told to do what I’m doing.’ Okay. I believed him … you know, his tone. It was the kind of thing I didn’t think I had to mention to you—that is, until yesterday morning.”

“I appreciate what you’re doing for me. How do you know they were from Brooklyn?”

“I said they called in advance. I couldn’t talk to them and they left a number. I always save numbers—you never know, right?” Now he smiled goofily, his good eye wandering. “It’s out in the car, under the el. I realized I left it there before I got halfway across the street, but I didn’t want to go back in the rain. Brooklyn. I know all the exchanges. That one’s in Bensonhurst, Flatbush, around there.”

“And how do you make them for being the real thing?”

“Oh, who they said put them onto me. You don’t get to know his name. Knowing his name wouldn’t do you any good. Take my word for it. It’s a complicated business. Anyway, when I looked in the papers yesterday and saw your name—well, those guys didn’t mention Brennan, and I had to ask myself if maybe it was significant by omission. You know, in retrospect.”

Devlin got it. Conspicuous by omission. “What did they look like? What do you remember?”

“Well-dressed. Manicured. This was last winter. I remember expensive overcoats. A black Eldo. Chances are, the guy they reported to reported to somebody else. That’s the way things work. Nobody ever knows the whole story.”

This could be a real break. Time to play cop. “Get that phone number. I’m going to need it.”

Major smiled. “In a minute. I want to get the chill out.” He sipped his coffee.

“Now.”