Blumenthal ignores my sarcasm and starts talking again. “At first we thought Hannah Neal had a pretty decent description of the man and woman. So we had her sit with a department sketch guy, but nothing came of it. The more changes she told the artist to make, the more Hannah said it didn’t look like the guy. Finally, we gave up on that.

“But here’s what we do have: not just Orlov’s name and description…This is the best…Hannah Neal talked with Fyodor Orlov by cell phone. So now we have his cell phone number.”

“And that helps how exactly? Are you going to arrest him with a text message?”

Blumenthal once again ignores my witty line. He says, “Maybe you’re not as smart as a person needs to be.”

“Leave the insult humor to the professional comics, Detective.”

Blumenthal smiles slightly, then he picks up his cell, punches a button, and says, “Bobby, get over here. I’ve got Lucy Ryuan with me.”

Thirty seconds later a skinny young guy practically runs into Blumenthal’s office. He’s going to be someone else capable of making my blood boil. I can tell. This kid is just too damned enthusiastic for my taste. Cilia and Blumenthal together may just cause me to explode.

“Lucy, Bobby. Bobby, Lucy,” says Blumenthal. Then Blumenthal adds, “Brief Ms. Ryuan on what we want her to do.”

Okay. I’m ready to hear this.

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

ASSISTANT DETECTIVE BOBBY CILIA sits on the edge of Blumenthal’s desk. He twists his skinny body so that he is able to face both his boss and myself.

Bobby isn’t just skinny, blond, and young. He’s skinny, blond, young, and good-looking. And he seems pretty happy about it all. I don’t know why I should find this annoying. But of course I do.

“So here’s the deal,” Bobby says, tossing that longish blond hair back as if he were in a shampoo commercial. “Have you ever done any acting, Ms. Ryuan?”

Before I can come up with a wiseass answer, Blumenthal says, “Never start a presentation with a question, Cilia. Get right into it.”

“We want to set up a phone call between Orlov and you,” Cilia says. “You’re going to tell him who you are…who you really are…a senior midwife at Gramatan University Hospital.”

“Yeah,” I say in an I-sort-of-understand-it tone. “Go on.”

“NYPD people, of course, will also be on the line. We’ll be trying to track the location.”

Cilia is building up enthusiasm big-time. Somebody should hose this guy down. Cilia stands up, but Blumenthal, clearly having trouble allowing someone else to be in charge, takes over. Ball to Blumenthal.