“Don’t worry, Lieutenant, there’ll be three guys in the second bedroom, and when one of us is in the apartment with him, the other will be outside the door with a key. What could go wrong?”

“Are you armed?”

“One of us will be. If the one in the apartment is packing, it might be a tip-off. And Albie gave us a panic button, and the one who’s doing the tailing will have the radio.”

“I’ll feel a lot better when this is over,” Dino said. “Be careful, Viv, goddammit!” He hung up.

“I think Dino cares,” Rosie said. “About you, I mean.”

“Oh, stop it.”

“He didn’t tell me to be careful.”

“That’s because he wasn’t talking to you.”

“He didn’t call me, either.”

“He couldn’t call both of us at the same time.”

“I’ve seen him watching your ass,” Rosie said. “Believe me, he wants your body.”

“Rosie, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to shoot you, I swear to God!”

“You’re not going to have time to shoot me,” Rosie said.

“What?”

“There’s our boy.”

Ed Abney came out of his office building, wearing a tan raincoat and a black hat, and hurried up West Forty-fourth, hunching his shoulders against the rain. It was a little before seven.

“He’s headed for Sardi’s, I bet,” Rosie said.

“That’s the intel we’ve got on him. He’s old-school Broadway.”

Abney turned into the restaurant, and they could see him taking off his raincoat.

“Let’s go,” Viv said. She started the car and drove slowly to within a few yards of Sardi’s’ door, then she flipped down the sun visor, which had an official-looking card attached to it, reading Physician On Call.

The two women got out of the car and hurried into Sardi’s in time to see Abney walking up the steps to the upstairs bar. They checked their coats and followed.

“You got our story straight?” Viv asked.

“We’re two girls fresh off the farm who want to be on the stage, right?”

“I don’t know why I partner with you.”

They climbed the steps, then stopped, looking around. Abney was talking with the bartender. A headwaiter appeared and told the couple sitting next to him that their table was ready.

“Lucky so far,” Rosie said. They hurried to grab the seats.

Abney was served a martini as they sat down, and he took due notice of them. “Good evening, ladies,” he said, raising his glass. “Can I get you two a drink?” He was a little over six feet, heavyset with pale red hair and a smooth, pink complexion, maybe fifty.

“Thank you, I’ll have a Tom Collins,” said Rosie, who was sitting next to him.

Abney turned to the bartender. “Eddie, is there still such a thing as a Tom Collins in the world?”

“There is,” Eddie replied, then went to work.

“And you?” he said to Viv.

“I’ll have a vodka martini, straight up,” she said.

“Eddie? You heard that?”

“I did.”

“Only one of them is from the sticks.” Abney laughed at his own joke.