Ted persevered. “The seller is listed as One-Hundred-Fourteenth-Street LLC, which really tells me nothing. You see what I’m saying?” He was practically stumbling over his words in his haste to get his questions out. “So, can you give me any leads on who you sold to?”

The other Russian closed in on Ted. Even with one arm encumbered by the briefcase, he looked like he would have little trouble creating a lot of damage.

“Persistence without wisdom is pointless. Foolish. I do not think you are a foolish man, Ted. Why act the fool?” His accent was as strong as his partner’s, but his command of English was much greater. The sense of menace was a push.

Ted’s hands and face tingled with adrenaline—or soaring blood pressure. The double threat from these two thugs had ionized the air around them. But he also felt the constraint of being in such a public place. Nothing bad could happen on the courthouse grounds, steps from police officers, surrounded by witnesses. He could not see how this false sense of security would ultimately betray him, so he blundered on blindly. “If you can’t answer me, then tell me who can. I know I’m annoying—it’s that lawyer thing kicking in. I can’t help myself. Just give me a name and a phone number, and I’ll go away.”

The same man answered. “I am trying to help you, Ted. When I tell you to forget about this, I am your friend.”

“A name?” Ted said. “That’s all I’m asking.”

The first man stepped between them, his face inches from Ted’s. “A rodent ask me that last week. I think he not so smart, like you. I tell him same thing. Don’t ask again. Be smart, Ted. Goodbye.”

The two men sauntered away down the steps. The bubble burst, sounds returned, and Ted felt light-headed and shaky, like a man who’d stepped off a curb and had a bus miss him by inches. He turned to Lester, whose main contribution after introductions had been to stay out of the way. “These guys are buddies of yours?”

“I never said that. I said I recognized the name Corona. I went inside and asked some people on the line, and they pointed me to those two goons. I could say I’m sorry, but I’m not. You wanted to talk with them. Now you’ve done that.”

“And what do we have to show for it?” Ted asked.

“We know that some nasty-ass mothers want you to stop looking into this.”

-23-

-23-

Ted felt his body begin to relax, but his mind was still buzzing with conflicting thoughts and possibilities. He gestured for Lester to walk with him, and the two men crossed the plaza and turned down Sutphin, skirting the edge of the ragtag group of protestors.

“Any ideas? What next?” Lester asked.