Jack struggled to get his wallet out of his back pocket. As he did so, he asked the man if he was Russian. The man said he was.

“I noticed all the signs up the street were in the Cyrillic alphabet,” Jack said.

“There are a lot of Russians living in Brighton Beach.”

Jack nodded. He opened his wallet and showed the man his shiny medical examiner’s badge. Jack appreciated that the official emblem generally made people more cooperative and willing to answer questions.

“My name is Dr. Jack Stapleton.”

“Mine is Yegor.”

“Glad to meet you, Yegor,” Jack said. “I’m a medical examiner from Manhattan. Would you by any chance know where Yuri Davydov is at the moment? I knocked on his door, but he’s not at home.”

“He’s probably out driving his taxi,” Yegor said.

“I see.” To Jack, that meant that either Yuri was emotionally strong or there’d been the lack of domestic bliss Flash suggested. “When do you think he’ll be getting home?”

“Not until late tonight,” Yegor said.

“Like nine or ten?” Jack asked.

“Something like that,” Yegor said. “Is there a problem?”

Jack nodded. “I need to talk with him. Do you know what taxi company he works for?”

“He just works for himself,” Yegor said.

“That’s too bad,” Jack said.

“I’d heard that his wife just died,” Yegor said. “Is that what you want to talk with him about?”

“It is,” Jack said.

“Would you like to tell me what it is in case I see him?” Yegor said.

“Just tell him we know what killed his wife,” Jack said. “But the important thing is that he call me because what killed his wife is very dangerous, and he could be at risk. Let me give you one of my cards, which you can give to him if you see him.”

Jack took out a business card. “I’ll even include my home number.” Jack wrote on the back and handed the card to Yegor.

Yegor examined the front of the card. “Is this the address where you work?”

“That’s it,” Jack said. He tried to think if there were any other questions he could ask Yegor, but none came to mind. “Thank you for your help.”

“It was my pleasure,” Yegor said. “How late will you be at work?”

“Probably at least until six,” Jack said.

“I’ll tell Yuri if I see him,” Yegor said. Then he nodded to Jack before continuing on his way.

Jack watched the receding Russian for a moment before looking back at Yuri Davydov’s house. That was when he thought about leaving one of his cards under the door. The only potential downside was that when and if Clint Abelard came out and the card was brought to his attention, he’d have evidence of what he called Jack’s interference. Then Jack would undoubtedly hear about it from Bingham.