“It was an eighteen-year-old photo and blurry.” The man in the picture was a lot thinner than the one I’d seen, and his hair was a lot longer, but he was the right age, had the same color hair and eyes. His nose was wrong, too, but he could have broken it sometime after the photo was taken.

Quinn exhaled. He still wasn’t happy.

“Listen to me, Mike, even if Winslow isn’t the man I saw, he might be one of the men who robbed the underground restaurant last night. If that’s the case, then he saw me with Roman, and he knows I’m not a cop.”

“And what if he’s not one of the robbers, either?”

I shrugged. “I’ll just have to work a little harder to be convincing.”

“Can’t fault her spirit,” Sergeant Sullivan said.

“Shut up, Sully.”

“Hey, Mike,” Sully replied, “I’m just saying that if this guy is selling deadly drugs without a prescription, then it’s our job to stop him. Ms. Cosi is just doing her civic duty to help keep the streets of our fair city safe from predators.”

Quinn rolled his eyes. “Enough with the public service announcement. Let’s get this over with.”

I took a deep breath. I guess I should have felt nervous, but what I mainly felt was exhilarated. I couldn’t wait to get in there and nail this jerk.

“We’ll be right outside, and we can hear everything you say,” Quinn told me. “If something happens, we’ll be through that door and into the apartment in seconds, no matter how many locks and dead bolts are on it. If Winslow makes a move, stay out of his reach until we can get to you.”

I nodded.

“Apartment ten-sixteen, through the fire doors and to the left,” Sully said, the headphones squeezed his carrot head. “Nail him, Cosi. You can do it.”

“Thanks, Sully.”

Thirty seconds later I knocked on the door. There was no response after a ten count, so I knocked again. Finally, I spied movement behind the peephole.

“What do you want?” The voice was male.

“Mr. Winslow. My name’s Clare. I’m a friend of Monica’s. Monica Purcell.”

I heard a click, then the rattle of a security chain. I recalled the size of the man I’d seen at Trend this morning and lifted my chin. But when the door opened, I was in for a surprise. The man who answered was tall, but he wasn’t the big man I was expecting. I’d never seen this guy.

Okay, Clare, don’t panic. You’ll just have to talk faster.

“Mr. Winslow-”

“Dr. Winslow. They haven’t taken the Ph.D. away from me. Not yet.”

The man appeared much older than fifty-seven, the age we’d come up with based on the birth date of his old driver’s license. He had a head too large for his scrawny body. His painfully thin frame was clad in gray sweatpants, and his matching sweatshirt was frayed at the neckline. Winslow’s facial features had been hard to make out on the old New York State license, but in person they appeared patrician. A thick head of brown hair crowned his chiseled WASPish features, but it was dirty, tangled, and thoroughly shot with gray. In short, the man was a sight, but his complexion was what truly unnerved me. Pale as a ghost, Winslow’s skin seemed almost powdered with the dust of ages past.

As he regarded me through slightly bulging eyes, I realized something was wrong with his pupils. They were too wide and dark, as if he were intoxicated, but I couldn’t smell alcohol on him, and (given my own difficult years with Matt) I’d bet the farm that he was on drugs right now.

“Well, Doctor,” I said, “I’m a friend of Monica’s, and I’m here to inform you that she’s out of the picture.”

The man gave me no reaction to the news. Winslow just stared, expressionless.

“Monica has been hospitalized with an overdose,” I continued. “She can’t help you anymore. But I can.”

“I don’t understand,” he finally said. “What do you mean?”

“I can help you get Breanne Summour’s wedding rings. That’s what I mean. The one-of-a-kind Nunzio creations? You want them, don’t you?”

One of the man’s bulging eyes began to twitch, but he said nothing. We just stood there, staring at one another.

“Look,” I finally said. “I don’t want to talk out here where someone can eavesdrop. Can’t I come inside so we can speak in private?”

This was the moment of truth. Stuart Allerton Winslow could close the door in my face right now, and he would probably walk away from this mess clean. The police had no proof that he had anything to do with the home invasion in Queens. And there was nothing to tie him to the attempts on Breanne’s life (if that’s what they were). The only people who could implicate him were the robbers, who were still at large, and Monica, who was dead.

I waited for his decision. Finally, Dr. Winslow opened the door and ushered me in. I stepped across the threshold, and the door closed behind me. I heard the dead bolt click and hoped that if something went terribly wrong, Quinn would be able to keep his promise and break down the heavy-looking door.

I felt Winslow’s touch and winced.

“This way.”

Everything in the bone-spare apartment was coated with the same dust that clung to its occupant. What furniture there was looked like it came from a thrift shop. But there were fleeting signs of former prosperity, too. A marble floor in the foyer gave way to parquet overlaid with plush but dirty Persian rugs. The doorknobs and light fixtures were made of dulled but costly looking brass, and a loudly ticking grandfather clock with an intricately carved relief appeared to be at least a century old.

In the living room, the couch and chairs were shabby, the paint peeling and faded. The windows were closed and the heavy curtains drawn. The only light came from the dull glow of a Tiffany lamp. There was a fireplace, but it was filled with soot, its marble mantel scorched. Worst of all, the dingy, airless room stank of creosote, a smell I’d loathed since I was nine years old, and our neighbors’ house had burned to the ground.

Dr. Winslow gestured me to a chair. I sat down and folded my hands on my lap. He dropped onto the threadbare couch.

“You were saying something about my ex-wife’s wedding rings?”

“Yes, I-” Wait a minute! “Did you say your ex-wife? You were married to Breanne Summour?”

The man smirked. “Monica didn’t tell you?”

“No, she never mentioned it.”

My God, I hope Quinn and Sully are hearing this…

“You said your name was Clare.” Winslow was staring hard at me now. “Monica never mentioned you. How is it you found me?”

“I was in Monica’s office last week, and I saw her prescriptions.” I rattled off the exact names of her little cache so he’d know I really had seen the bottles. “I asked her to help me get some pills, too, and she mentioned you. Of course, Monica never told me how you two hooked up. How did it happen, anyway? I mean, I’d like to know who I’m dealing with.”

Winslow was silent, still staring at me. “Tell me why you’re here.”

Focus, man. “Breanne’s rings,” I told him again. “I know you want them. Are you planning to sell the jewelry prototypes to Nunzio’s rivals? I’m sure they’d pay a pretty penny to-”

“What I do with the rings is not your concern.”

Okay, this is a start. He’s engaging. “You do want Breanne’s rings, then, right? I can still get them. It will be easy.”

Winslow crossed to the heavy curtains and pulled them back to look out the window. “That’s what Monica said. ‘It will be easy.’ She’s the one who proposed the deal in the first place. I only took it because Breanne still owes me for those lost years, my lost life.”

“What do you mean, exactly?”

He didn’t reply. “About the rings-you can get them?”

“Yes,” I said, “but if I get you the rings, what do I get in return?”

“The same deal I offered Monica. Free drugs. Anything you like, for as long as you like, without a prescription. No more doctor shopping. No more risk. How does that sound?”