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Ten minutes later, Stone joined Dino in the back of Dino’s police department sedan, heading across the city.

“Now will you tell me where we’re going?” Stone asked.

“My techs were able to find a clean image of the guy who drove the garbage truck last night,” Dino said, handing Stone a manila envelope.

Stone opened it and extracted a photo of a man he had never seen before.

The guy had to be in his fifties and wore the fatigue of a hard life in the creases of his face.

“Who is he?”

“Manuel Kroger, goes by Manny.”

“Never heard of him.”

“No reason you would have. He does odd jobs for whoever will give him work. Intimidation. That kind of thing.”

“He doesn’t look particularly intimidating.”

“Which is probably why he doesn’t get a lot of work these days.”

“Someone did hire him to drive that truck.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Why not?”

Dino handed Stone a piece of paper that contained a list of six names.

The second name from the bottom was Manny Kroger .

“If this is supposed to be enlightening, it’s not doing a very good job.”

“That is the list of Eduardo Buono’s crew on the JFK heist.”

Stone stared at him for a moment before looking back at the paper.

“You think Manny Kroger is the one extorting Jack?”

“I think, at the very least, he’s involved. The little I’ve heard about him, though, leads me to believe he’s more a follower than a leader.”

“Then one of these others must be calling the shots.”

“We can eliminate Saunders and Miller,” Dino said.

Those were the first two names on the list.

“Saunders met a bad end a dozen years ago, when he encountered a clerk with a shotgun while trying to bump off a convenience store in Texas.”

“Bad location choice.”

“You can say that again.”

“And Miller?”

“Heart attack four years go.”

“That leaves three others.”

“Kroger has been known to work a lot with Dominic Estrada.” That was the name at the bottom of the list.

“Estrada has more brains than Kroger, so he could be the guy in charge.”

Dino pulled out another photo.

This one was of a man around the same age as Kroger, but with a narrower face and a full head of graying hair.

Stone looked it over, then said, “Do we know where either of them is?”

“As a matter of fact, we do. Kroger has a room at the Hotel Weathersby in the Bronx.”

“What about Estrada?”

“He is in the room next door.”

“Isn’t that convenient.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Are they there now?”

“We’re on the way to find out.”

Four police cruisers were parked down the block from the Weathersby when Stone and Dino arrived.

As the two men exited the sedan, a plainclothes detective stepped out of the hotel.

“Commissioner, I’m Detective Quincy,” the man said.

“I remember you,” Dino said as they shook hands.

“You handled that string of robberies along Westchester Avenue last year. Nice work.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“This is Stone Barrington.”

“Detective Barrington?” Quincy said.

“At one time and long ago,” Stone said.

“I was a rookie a year or two before you left. Injury, wasn’t it?”

“Something like that.” Stone had been injured by a gunshot to the knee that the powers that be used as an excuse to retire him from the force.

“What’s the situation here?” Dino said.

“The desk manager isn’t sure if they’re in or not. Says he came on at noon and hasn’t seen them. We tried to get a hold of the morning manager, but he’s not answering.”

“Anyone do a walk-by of the rooms?”

“No, sir. Didn’t want to tip them off if they are inside. I have uniforms in the stairwells at either end of their floor, and my partner and I have been standing by on the ground floor in case they used the elevator.”

The detective led them into the lobby.

It was barely large enough for the worn couch and pair of chairs that were there.

Inset into the wall at the far end was the reception desk, behind which sat a balding guy with droopy eyes.

“The manager?” Dino asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Dino pointed at the man.

“You, with us. And bring your keys.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” the manager said.

“I can’t open anything without a search warrant.”

Dino pulled a folded piece of paper out of his jacket pocket.

“It’s your lucky day.”

“Wait, I wanna read that. Wouldn’t be the first time someone came in here pretending they had one but didn’t.”

Dino slapped the search warrant on the counter.

The manager glanced it over.

“Looks legit.”

“You think?” Dino grabbed the warrant.

“Keys, now. Let’s go.”

Quincy radioed the cruisers down the street and told them to wait three minutes and then move in.

He then led Stone, Dino, and the manager down a short side corridor to where Quincy’s partner, a guy named Roberts, waited in front of the only elevator.

When Roberts pressed the button, the door opened, and they all squeezed inside.

The ride up was slow and stuffy.

After they finally reached the eleventh floor, Quincy radioed the two cops in the stairwells.

“We’re here,” he said.

“Meet us at the rooms.”

Roberts led Stone, Dino, and Quincy to a pair of doors near the center of the corridor.

The two cops from the stairwell joined them a moment later.

Roberts pointed at one door and whispered, “Kroger,” then at the other.

“Estrada.”

Quincy listened at Kroger’s door and shook his head, indicating it was quiet inside, then did the same at Estrada’s with a similar result.

“If they’re sleeping, let’s wake them up,” Dino whispered.

Quincy took Estrada’s door while Roberts took Kroger’s.

On a silent count of three, they knocked.

Both rooms remained silent.

“If you don’t mind,” Dino said to the manager, and pointed at Kroger’s door, which was nearest.

Begrudgingly, the man unlocked the door.

Roberts yanked it open and barked, “Police! Hands in the air!”

He moved inside with a uniform cop on his heels, their weapons drawn.

A moment later, he was back.

“Empty.”

Dino nodded his chin at Estrada’s door.

The manager dutifully unlocked it, and Quincy mirrored what his partner had done.

“No one here,” he called from inside.

Dino narrowed his gaze at the manager.

“You sure you didn’t see them leave?”

“I said I didn’t see them at all. They must have gone out before I started.”

“Why do I feel like you’re not telling me the truth?”

“Whether you believe me or not, it’s not my problem. The truth is the truth.”

“Take him downstairs,” Dino said to one of the uniforms, then turned back to the manager.

“Don’t think about going anywhere or doing anything funny.”

“Detective, I don’t know why you’re being so hard on me. I’m just trying to make an honest living here.”

“He’s not a detective,” Quincy said.

“He’s the police commissioner.”

“No shit. That’s why you looked familiar.”

“Take him downstairs,” Dino barked.

The uniform put a hand on the manager’s shoulder and started pushing him down the hall.

“All right,” Dino said.

“Let’s see if Mr. Kroger or Mr. Estrada left us anything interesting.”

Eric Bryant, second-shift manager at the Hotel Weathersby, knew he should just let it go.

Cops were going to cop, after all.

Nothing he could do about that.

And it was always better not to get involved.

Still, he’d known Dominic and Manny for years, and neither had ever caused him any problems.

In fact, they’d helped him out with a troublesome guest before, more times than Eric could remember.

He eyed the four cops in the lobby, made sure none were looking his way, and then carefully pulled out his cell phone and set it on the desk, where no one could see it except him.

Moving as little as possible, he typed out a text to Dominic.

Don’t come back.

Cops searching yours and Manny’s rooms.

He was about to add that the commissioner himself was here, but then one of the cops looked his way.

He took that as a sign to stop typing.

He’d said enough.

He hit Send , then deleted the text from his phone.

“What are you doing?”

One of the cops was walking his way, looking at him suspiciously.

“Me?” Eric said.

“Nothing.”

“I saw your hands moving.”

“Just doing some work.” He held up the inventory report he’d been working on when the cops first arrived, while his other hand hid his phone under his thigh.

The cop glanced at the paper, then peeked over the counter.

“All right. Keep it that way, huh?”

As the cop walked away, Eric’s phone started to vibrate.

Eric quickly silenced it, then glanced at the cop, expecting to see him heading back.

But the guy apparently hadn’t noticed.

Not wanting to push his luck, Eric waited until all four cops were deep in conversation before checking his screen.

It was a reply from Dominic.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Eric deleted the message.