“What did he have to say?” Laurie asked.
“Not a lot,” Lou said. “He refused to talk about any of his patients specifically.”
“Good for him.”
“But more important than what he said was how he acted. He was really nervous the whole time I was there. I don’t know what to make of that.”
“You don’t think he was involved with these murders in any way, do you?”
“No,” Lou said. “Robbing his patients blind—no pun intended—yes, shooting them, no. He’d be killing the golden goose. But he was definitely nervous. Something’s on his mind. I think he knows something.”
“I think he has plenty of reason to be nervous,” Laurie said. “Did he tell you that Cerino threatened him?”
“No, he didn’t,” Lou said. “How did he threaten him?”
“Jordan wouldn’t say,” Laurie said. “But if Cerino is the kind of person you say he is, then you can just imagine.”
Lou nodded. “I wonder why Jordan didn’t tell me.”
“Probably he doesn’t think you could protect him. Could you?”
“Probably not,” Lou said. “Certainly not forever. Not someone as high profile as Jordan Scheffield.”
“Did you learn anything helpful talking with him?” Laurie asked.
“I did learn that the murder victims did not have the same diagnosis,” Lou said. “At least according to him. That was one harebrained idea I had. And I learned that they are not related in any other obvious way vis-á-vis Jordan Scheffield other than being his patients. I asked about every way I could imagine. So, unfortunately, I didn’t learn much.”
“What are you going to do now?” Laurie asked.
“Hope!” Lou said. “Plus I’ll have my investigative teams find out the individual diagnoses. Maybe that will tell us something. There has to be some aspect I’m missing in all this.”
“That’s the way I feel about my overdose cases,” Laurie said.
“By the way,” Lou said. “What are you doing here so late?”
“I was hoping to get some work done. But with my pulse still racing thanks to you, I’ll probably take the paperwork home and tackle it there.”
“What about dinner?” Lou asked. “How about coming with me down to Little Italy. You like pasta?”
“I love pasta.”
“How about it then?” Lou asked. “You already told me you aren’t going out with the good doctor, and that’s your favorite excuse.”
“You are persistent.”
“Hey, I’m Italian.”
Fifteen minutes later Laurie found herself in Lou’s Caprice heading downtown. She did not know if it was a good idea to have dinner with the man, but she really hadn’t been able to think of a reason not to go. And although he’d been somewhat rude on previous occasions, now he seemed nothing but charming as he regaled her with stories of growing up in Queens.
Although Laurie had grown up in Manhattan, she’d never been to Little Italy. As they drove up Mulberry Street she was delighted by the ambience. There was a multitude of restaurants and throngs of people strolling the streets. Just like Italy itself, the place seemed to be throbbing with life.
“It’s definitely Italian,” Laurie said.
“It looks it, doesn’t it?” Lou said. “But I’ll tell you a little secret. Most of the real estate here is owned by Chinese.”
“That’s strange,” Laurie said, a bit disappointed although she didn’t know why.
“Used to be an Italian neighborhood,” Lou said, “but the Italians for the most part moved out to the suburbs, like Queens. And the Chinese with a nose for business came in and bought up the properties.”
They pulled into a restricted parking zone. Laurie pointed to the sign.
“Please!” Lou said. He positioned a little card on the dash by the steering wheel. “Once in a while I’m entitled to take advantage of being one of New York’s finest.”
Lou led her down a narrow street to one of the less obvious restaurants.
“It doesn’t have a name,” Laurie said as they entered.
“It doesn’t need one.”
The interior was a kitschy blend of red and white checked tablecloths and trellis interlaced with artificial ivy and plastic grapes. A candle stuck in a jug with wax drippings coating the sides served as each table’s light fixture. A few black velvet paintings of Venice hung on the walls. There were about thirty tables packed tightly in the narrow room; all seemed to be occupied. Harried waiters dashed about attending to the customers. Everyone seemed to know each other by their first names. Over the whole scene hung a babble of voices and a rich, savory, herbed aroma of spicy food.