Holiday Inn, New York Jack was still asleep, his suit creased to hell, when his cell phone rang at seven a.m. He peered at the display through sleep-fogged eyes and just about recognized Howie's number.
'Hello,' he grunted.
'Hi man, get showered and dressed; I'll be outside your hotel in ten minutes,' said Howie excitedly. 'We've got a real lead. A guy from IAD has been putting the screws on some bent cop over in Brooklyn who's in neck-deep with this Russian pimp who runs a hooker who's friends with the girl in our video.'
The words whizzed past Jack so fast he was able to make out only the key phrases – a real lead – someone in Brooklyn – a hooker who's friends with the girl in our video. 'Okay. I'm up and about. See you in ten.'
Jack stripped and stumbled into the shower, still struggling to make sense of exactly what Howie had told him. It didn't matter. Someone somewhere knew the girl and that meant they had a chance of finding out where she was.
Jack had brought only one suit with him, the one he'd foolishly slept in. The jacket now looked as though a tramp had borrowed it for an evening out at the Annual Meths Drinkers' Ball. He left it on the bed and put on a shirt without a tie and a pair of plain black pants.
When he got outside, Howie was flicking the finger at some driver who'd tooted him. Jack climbed into the passenger seat. 'Great to start the day with some good news. Where we going?'
'Breakfast in Brooklyn. We're hooking up with a guy called Pete McCaffrey.' Howie spun the power steering, floored the accelerator and squealed his way into a gap in the traffic. 'McCaffrey's one of the few Internal Affairs people who understands the Job. He isn't after cops who make mistakes and screw up from time to time, like we all do, he's got his arrows levelled on the real bad apples.'
'So help me here,' said Jack. 'What's the exact connection with our girl?'
'Pete and his partner, Gerry Thomas, got on the tail of a bent cop called George Deaver. Deaver had been getting laid for free by hookers over in the Beach area. He pulled the old scam of having his fun then flashing his badge and saying he wasn't going to pay.'
'Hardly major news,' said Jack.
'Sure, but it turns out that our friend Deaver has pissed off a Russian gangster called Oleg Smirtin. Now he is major news. Smirtin is one of the big boys in Little Odessa and it seems Deaver has been using Smirtin's girls for freebies.'
'Not a bright move,' Jack said. 'I suppose your pal McCaffrey got interested all of a sudden because of Smirtin's involvement?'
'Exactly. They think the Russki has a few cops on his payroll and they've pressured Deaver to be their wire man. Anyway, Deaver comes back to them and says the chick he was balling claims to be a friend of the girl in the video.'
'Give up a name?' asked Jack.
'Didn't get that far. Fernandez is already over in Brooklyn rounding everyone up. We should be able to see McCaffrey and Deaver together, and then the hooker. If needs be, we can then go visit Smirtin too.'
'Where's the meet? We still got the office in Cumberland Street?'
'Sure have,' said Howie. 'That's where we're heading and the deli round the corner still does the best breakfasts this side of my mom's kitchen.'