“Why do a lot of them have radios?” Jack asked.

“They can do radio calls if they want,” Chet said. “But it doesn’t pay. Generally the radios just keep them informed of where there’s the greatest need, like uptown or downtown or out at the airport. And what areas to stay out of because of traffic congestion, that sort of thing.”

Jack nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

“Why do you ask?” Chet questioned.

“A cab driver came by the Corinthian Rug Company to pick up Jason Papparis while I was there,” Jack said with a wry smile.

Chet laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve heard of a dead man calling for a cab. It makes you wonder from where he placed the call.”

“Or where he wanted the cab to take him.”

Chet laughed again in an equally hollow manner.

“The driver gave me the number of the dispatcher,” Jack said. “I called them to see if Jason was a frequent customer. I thought that if he was, then maybe the cab company might be a source of information about the last time the man went to his Queens warehouse.”

“What did they say?”

“They were not helpful,” Jack said. “They wouldn’t even tell me when Jason Papparis had called to set up the pickup. They just said they don’t give out any information on their drivers or their clients.”

“That’s being nice and helpful,” Chet said. “It could be subpoenaed, I suppose.”

“I can’t imagine it would be worth it,” Jack said.

“It’s still curious,” Chet said. “If someone calls for a cab in New York City, it’s generally not a yellow cab that responds.”

“I’ll tell you something even more curious,” Jack said. “The taxi driver was Russian and he’d grown up in Sverdlovsk.”

“Sverdlovsk!” Chet exclaimed. “That’s the Soviet town that had the anthrax bioweapons accident you pointed out to me in Harrison’s textbook of medicine!”

“Can you believe it?” Jack asked. “I mean that’s a coincidence.”

“Only in New York,” Chet said. “I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, because anything and everything happens here.”

“This guy even knew about anthrax,” Jack said.

“No kidding?”

“Well, he didn’t know much,” Jack added. “He just knew it was a disease mainly of cattle. He mentioned cows and sheep.”

“I’d venture to guess that’s more than the average New Yorker knows,” Chet said.