“That’s right, Gene and I were in the client services department.”

“Where can we find Mr. Ryan? We’d like to speak with him.”

Al offered them a blank stare. “Gene lives in Queens. I forget the address, but he’s in the phone book.”

“Not anymore. We’d like his current address.”

“Gee, I don’t know, I haven’t seen Gene since our last day at work. We were never close friends.”

“Do you know what kind of motorcycle he drives?”

“Yeah, he has a Honda 250—he talked about it a lot.”

“We found the Honda at the bottom of the East River.”

Al managed a look of concern. “Jesus, I hope he wasn’t riding it at the time.”

“We’re not sure about that just yet.”

“I wish I could help you, I just don’t know how.”

“We’ll keep in touch.” The cops got to their feet.

“Please let me know if I can be of any further help,” Al said, as he showed them out and closed the door behind them. He watched until they drove away, then found the throwaway cell phone and called Ryan.

“Yeah?”

“Gene, it’s Al.”

“Yeah, I thought, since you’re the only one with this number.”

“A pair of detectives from the NYPD were just at my house, looking for you.”

“Well, they didn’t find me, did they? Or did you give them my new address?”

“Of course not. I told them I hadn’t seen you since our last day at work. They asked what kind of motorcycle you were driving.”

“And what did you tell them?”

“A Honda 250. They said they found it in the East River. Are you playing dead?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea—I’m dead. You tell everybody who asks you.”

“This couldn’t be about the poker game, or they would have been New Jersey cops.”

“Right.”

“So what is this about?”

“Beats me, maybe some old beef, or something. You just keep playing it the way you did, and everything will be fine.”

“Okay, pal.”

“And let me know if you come up with another job.”

“I’ll do that. Bye.” Al hung up. What the hell was going on with Gene? he asked himself. He didn’t know, and he really didn’t want to know.

—

An hour later Ryan left the DMV with his car and motorcycle properly registered and a new driver’s license in his hand. Time to do some shopping for a new car and a better apartment.

When Stone got to the hospital and pushed his way past the reporters and cops in the hall, Dino looked a lot more like himself. Viv was already there; she had been since waking up, Stone figured, and the two of them watched as a nurse removed the bandage from his head.

“At least they didn’t shave the whole side of your head,” Stone said. “That would have given an Italian barber more than he could handle.”

The nurse spoke up. “Dr. Gordon only took as much hair as absolutely necessary to get at the wounds, the commissioner being a public figure and all and on TV all the time. When he washes and combs his hair, you won’t even see them.” She finished with the head bandage, then cleaned the cheek wound and pressed a circular, flesh-colored adhesive bandage over it. “There,” she said, “almost as good as new.”

“Viv,” Dino said, “when are they going to let me out of here? I’m starting to get antsy.”

“You’ve been antsy since you woke up after surgery,” Viv replied. “Just relax and enjoy the rest.”

“I don’t need any rest.”

“We’ll see about that,” said a voice from the doorway. Dr. Gordon strode in and took Dino’s chart from the end of the bed and pored over it for a moment. “How do you feel, Commissioner?”

“Just great, Doc,” Dino said. “Rarin’ to go.”

“Then get out of here,” Gordon said. “What’s a well man doing taking up a badly needed hospital bed?” He held out his hand, and Dino shook it. “Nice stitching you up,” he said.

“Thank you, Doctor! Viv, find me my pants, will you?”

Viv took the doctor by a lapel. “You’re really discharging him? This isn’t a joke?”

“Do you think you can keep him caged at home for the rest of the week without working the phones? If you can, and he doesn’t have a temperature Monday morning, then he can go back to work.”

“Whatever you say, Doctor,” Viv said.

“But he has to keep taking the antibiotics until they’re all gone, you hear?” He took a bottle from a pocket and handed it to her. “After each meal.”

“I’ll see that he does, I promise.”

He handed her another bottle. “He won’t admit it, but he’s got a headache and will have for a few days. Have him take these as needed, but no more than one every four hours.”

“I certainly will.”

“Then I’ll try and scatter the people outside, so you can make your escape.” He signed the chart with a flourish, hung it back on the end of the bed, gave a little wave, and walked out of the room.

—

Outside in the hallway, Gordon signaled for quiet, then addressed the crowd. “Here’s an official bulletin,” he said. “The commissioner is doing so well that we’ll likely be able to discharge him this time tomorrow. I’ve nothing further to say right now, and neither does he, so all of you, get the hell out of my hospital.” He walked toward them, his arms outstretched as if he were a farmer herding geese. “The elevators are thataway, ladies and gentlemen, just keep moving, now.”

Stone cracked the door and saw them go, while Dino was putting on a fresh shirt Viv had brought and tying his tie. “The coast is clear,” he said. “My car is downstairs. I’ll tell Fred to move it around to the side entrance.” He got out his phone and did that.

The three of them left the room and headed for the rear elevators. Dino shouted over his shoulder to the surprised cop sitting outside his door, “Anybody asks, tell ’em I’m sleeping and don’t want to be disturbed.”

Five minutes later they were in the Bentley and headed for East Sixty-third Street.

“Okay, what do you hear from Dan Harrigan?” Dino asked.

“I was on the phone with him a couple of hours ago,” Stone said. “He wants to believe Ryan went down with his Honda, but I threw as much cold water as I could on that theory. He had the vehicle registrations checked to see if Ryan had a new motorcycle, but there was nothing in the record, not even in Jersey. I got him to send some people out there to talk to Gino Parisi’s kid, but he played dumb, and they went home.”

“Gimme your phone, I want to call Dan.”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Viv said. “You heard the doctor—you’re not to work the phones, and I’m going to see that you rest.” The car pulled up outside Dino’s building. “Stone, you come upstairs with me and help me wrestle him into bed.”

Dino shook the doormen’s hands and waited until he was in the elevator before starting to complain. “The doctor did not say I had to stay in bed,” he said. The elevator stopped, and Viv let them into the apartment. “I’ll be in my study with Stone. Tell Eva when she has our lunch ready to bring it to us in there, and you can even join us, if you promise not to try to do anything to me.” Dino pushed her toward the kitchen, then led Stone into his study. He closed the door behind them and sat down in his favorite chair. “Now,” he said, “let’s think of ways we can make Dan Harrigan’s life hell, until he finds Gene Ryan.”

—

Ryan was, at that point, handing a man in a used-car lot twenty thousand dollars, cash, in a paper bag and the title and registration for his old car, in exchange for a three-year-old BMW 328 with only twenty-nine thousand miles on it that he had just test-driven. “Count it,” Ryan said.