“What?” That slowed me down some. “Don’t bullshit me!”

“I’m not! You go look!”

“How’d it get there?”

“How am I supposta know! It’s yer bag!”

“But maybe you put it there!”

“No way!” Peeto rolled his whole head, like he was dealing with an idiot. “I just seen it, gettin’ my old sneaks to turn in fer these.” He put the boots up to my face. They were dank with mildew. “Like you said I should.”

I wasn’t winning this bout either. “How’d you know which one’s mine?”

“I got eyes, don’t I? See it every night ya leave the tier.”

Couldn’t deny that, and now we were attracting attention. I eased off my grip, dusted his rucked-up tee into place. “Okay. You show me. I ain’t lettin’ go till I see it.”

We nosed through the throng and into the mudroom. Sure enough, my old grab bag hung in a cubby alongside yesterday’s dried-out street shirt. Too weird.

Peeto did a spread-hands shrug, like he was sorry to be proved right.

“Empty!” I knew, even before I hefted it.

“End of shift, right? What’d ya expect?”

“I had my night’s claim in there and now it’s gone.” Never mind the blister packs I’d kept back but hadn’t claimed.

He got all droopy-eyed sympathetic. “Oh, yeah, that’s bad, alright. Like what I tole Jake about my sneaks. Ya can’t leave nothing around if ya wanna hang onto it.”

So somehow, it ended up my fault for not being vigilant. But who . . . ?

The perfect crime. Steal the bag, take the contents, return the bag, no proof of theft. Too clever for Peeto? I’d been so sure it was him, but now I wondered. While I swore at the tightened ties, needing to check inside, Peeto slipped away into the rush heading out for the night. Mission not accomplished. I hoped Rivera’s knifer went after him this time.

And now I’d be late for the work call, which we shouldn’t be having anyway. Fuming, I went back to the duty desk, elbowing against the outbound tide. The line was shortening, so my turn came quick.

“Glimmer 56: East Side, Madison and 60th.”

That sucked the rage right out of me. I almost asked if he had it wrong, but the duty officer barked me away. “Next!”

I side-stepped out of line, taking it in. Whooh! Fate or coincidence? You got an intersection, and your duty was to work a five-block square around it. So, not only my first chance at the Midtown East Side, but well within range of the Souk, just when I’d turned my thoughts to it. I got out fast, before he changed his mind.