problem?’
‘Only that Bingham went mildly ballistic,’ Jack said. ‘And I was hauled
in as the culprit.’
‘Gosh, I’m sorry,’ Lou said. ‘It didn’t dawn on me it could cause a
problem here. I guess I should have run it by you. Well, I owe you.’
‘Forget it,’ Jack said. ‘It’s already patched up.’ He poured himself
some coffee, shoveled in some sugar, and added a dollop of cream.
‘At least it had the desired effect on the street,’ Lou said. ‘And we
learned something important already. The people who killed him were
definitely not the same people who took his body and mauled it.’
‘Doesn’t surprise me,’ Jack said.
‘No?’ Lou questioned. ‘I thought that was the general consensus around
here. At least that’s what Laurie said.’
‘She now thinks the people that took the body did it because they didn’t
want anyone to know he’d had a liver transplant,’ Jack said. ‘I still
favor the idea it was done to conceal the individual’s identity.’
‘Really,’ Lou said pensively, sipping his coffee. ‘That doesn’t make any
sense to me. You see we’re reasonably sure the body was taken on orders
from the Lucia crime family, the direct competitors of the Vaccarros,
who we understand had Franconi killed.’
‘Good grief!’ Jack exclaimed. ‘Are you sure about that?’
‘Reasonably,’ Lou said. ‘The informer who divulged it is usually
reliable. Of course, we don’t have any names. That’s the frustrating
part.’
‘Just the idea that organized crime is involved is appalling,’ Jack
said. ‘It means that the Lucia people are somehow involved in organ
transplants. If that doesn’t make you lose sleep, nothing will.’
‘Calm down!’ Raymond yelled into the phone. The moment he’d been about
to leave the apartment, the phone had rung. When he heard it was Dr.
Daniel Levitz on the line, he’d taken the call.
‘Don’t tell me to calm down!’ Daniel shouted back. ‘You’ve seen the
papers. They have Franconi’s body! And already a medical examiner by the
name of Dr. Jack Stapleton has been in my office asking for Franconi’s
records.’
‘You didn’t give them, did you?’ Raymond asked.
‘Of course not!’ Daniel snapped. ‘But he condescendingly reminded me
that he could subpoena them. I’m telling you, this guy was very direct
and very aggressive, and he vowed to get to the bottom of the case. He
suspects Franconi had a transplant. He asked me directly.’
‘Do your records have any information at all about his transplant or our
program?’ Raymond asked.
‘No, I followed your suggestions in that regard to the letter,’ Daniel
said. ‘But it’s going to look very strange if anybody looks at my
records. After all, I’d been documenting Franconi’s deteriorating status
for years. Then all of a sudden, his liver function studies are normal
without any explanation, nothing! Not even a comment. I’m telling you
there’ll be questions, and I don’t know whether I can handle them. I’m
very upset. I wish I’d never gotten involved in all this.’
‘Now let’s not get carried away,’ Raymond said with a calmness that he
himself did not feel. ‘There’s no way Stapleton could get to the bottom
of the case. Our concern about an autopsy was purely hypothetical and
based on an infinitesimally small chance someone with the IQ of Einstein
could figure out the source of the transplant. It’s not going to happen.
But I appreciate your calling me about Dr. Stapleton’s visit. As it
turns out, I’m on my way this very minute to have a meeting with Vinnie
Dominick. With his resources, I’m sure he’ll be able to take care of
everything. After all, to a large measure, he’s responsible for the
present situation.’
As soon as he could, Raymond got off the phone. Appeasing Dr. Daniel
Levitz wasn’t doing anything for his own anxiety. After advising Darlene
what to say in the unlikely chance Taylor Cabot called back, he left the
apartment. Catching a taxi at the corner of Madison and Sixty-fourth, he
instructed the cabbie how to get to Corona Avenue in Elmhurst.
The scene at the Neopolitan Restaurant was exactly the same as it had
been the day before, with the addition of the stale smell of a couple of