“He’s a retired surgeon from the Upper East Side. You just left, so don’t tell me you need his services already.” Angelo laughed, and it made her like him even more.

“Supposedly Nicola got hit, but no one can find her.”

“He wouldn’t cross the family to work on someone like Nicola. There are consequences to actions like that.”

“Do you mind if I talk to him? Maybe he can point me in the right direction.”

“Let me send one of the boys, and he can come to you. I have a feeling you’re like us, and you’ve drawn a crowd since you’ve gotten here. Dr. Cecil Black is who’ll be calling.”

They waited an hour before someone knocked. A large tough guy pushed an older man inside and kept a hand on him once they were in the room. If the smaller man was Cecil Black, he appeared terrified. His hands shook as he held them between his knees when he was pushed into a chair.

“Tell them, or I swear I’ll put a bullet in your head right now,” the large man said.

“Does Mr. Giordano know I’m here?” Cecil seemed to think he’d found the question that would get him out of there.

“He’s going to give me a bonus for killing you when I tell him what you did.” The guy put a gun to Cecil’s head and pulled back the hammer. “Talk.”

“Three people showed up on my doorstep. I’d never seen them before, and two of them had been shot. The woman they said was their boss was in bad shape, and I removed four bullets. But the other woman only had a shoulder injury.”

“I need a name,” Cain said, and everyone stared between her and Cecil. “And if you want to walk out of here, you’re going to give it to me.”

“The man who carried the severely injured woman called her Nicola. All I had time to do was stop the bleeding. Once I did that, the other woman ordered her moved and they left. Nina was the woman with her, and she paid double my fee. Once she paid, they disappeared.” Cecil combed his wispy white hair back with both hands. “If she doesn’t get her friend to a hospital, I doubt she’ll make it. I can’t say for sure, but I think one of the bullets hit a kidney.”

“Where else?” Abigail asked.

He counted off on his fingers. “Through her right side at kidney level, the shoulder, leg, and left arm. Before you turn me over to Mr. Giordano, the man with these women put a gun to my head and threatened me. From the Russian accent, I believed him. I swear, I had no choice.”

“Where’d she go?” Cain asked.