Grigor gave the cashier a pleasant smile as he left the store and turned back downtown. He retraced his steps along the avenue, staying across from the Terminal, passing its main entrance along with the food cart where he had seen Musil pick up his lunch.

He was scouting the area a couple of blocks south of the building when he noticed a row of yellow cabs parked at the curb up ahead. Five, altogether. The traffic lanes on Tenth only ran north, uptown, so the taxis were all nosed in his direction.

Grigor paused on the sidewalk. As he stood there, a sixth cabbie pulled up in a Toyota passenger van, double-parked alongside the last car in the row and got out. He was dark complected with close-cropped hair and a full beard, wearing a knitted white taqiyah, or Muslim skullcap. He went around to the curb and walked north, toward Grigor. After fifteen or twenty feet he entered a storefront or restaurant to his right.

Grigor continued walking downtown toward the taxi stand. As he got closer, he noticed a cluster of small Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi restaurants and spice shops along the street. The door the taxi driver had gone through belonged to a place called Share Punjabi. A sandwich board sign in front said LUNCH BUFFET 12–5 PM.

He strode up to it and paused on the sidewalk again, glancing through the large front windows like a potential diner making up his mind whether to eat there. Inside to the left was an extensive buffet counter. In the center, a long cafeteria-style table. He saw a few smaller tables along the right-hand wall. Then, toward the rear past the tables on the right, a corner niche where three men knelt on a decorative prayer rug. Grigor noticed that one of the men was the double-parked taxi driver.

He looked at his watch, saw it was just past noon. They had answered the Islamic call to prayer. Specifically, the dhuhr salah, or midday worship.

He stood thoughtfully on the sidewalk. New York City cab drivers typically worked twelve-hour shifts. The first shift was five o’clock in the morning till five at night. The next ran the subsequent twelve hours. So the men in the restaurant were roughly in the middle of their shifts. The usual break time. They would finish their devotions and then eat together in the restaurant. Given the location of the cab stand, it was probably a regular gathering. Assuming twenty minutes for the prayers, then lunch, they would be inside an hour. Then return to their taxis at about the same time.

Grigor walked on a few yards, then paused once again when he reached the cab stand. He briefly looked them over and saw two Toyota hybrid sedans, a Tesla Model 3 electric and two Nissan passenger vans. Three vans counting the double-parked vehicle at the end of the row.