7
Levy picked Jack up on the corner of 72nd near the entrance to the Dakota.
"Isn't this where John Lennon was shot?" he said as Jack got in.
"Yeah. And where Rosemary had her baby, though they didn't identify it by name."
"Creepy-looking place."
Not creepy. Gothic. Jack would have loved to live in the Dakota. But even if he could afford it, the vetting process for all prospective tenants would keep him out. He'd never pass.
He pointed to his jacket pocket. "Everything you need is in here. Go on. Take it out."
Levy gingerly reached over and removed the baggy. He held it up to the light and smiled.
"Hair. Oh, perfect."
"It'll show that she's got the same father as Bolton and Thompson."
"She told you?"
"She doesn't know her father's name, but she told me enough to make book on it. But she's not telling me everything. She's holding something back. It may have nothing to do with anything else we're interested in, or it may. Maybe her fingerprints will tell."
Levy studied the baggy again.
"She handled the envelope?"
Jack nodded. "It'll carry her prints—and only hers. So don't waste your time looking ior mine."
Levy gave him a sidelong glance as he stuffed the baggy inside his coat.
"'tou don't trust me, do you."
Jack smiled. "When did that occur to you? When 1 wiped down all the door handles and window buttons before I got out?"
"We should have at least a modicum of trust between us, don't you think?"
Sounded like what he'd said to Christy.
"At the moment, doc, we happen to have parallel agendas. That allows us to cooperate. But as soon as we come to cross purposes—and we might—you'll hang me out to dry. And you can count on me doing the same unto you before you can do unto me."
"Mutual mistrust… hardly an ideal working relationship."
"Works for me."
Jack pulled a paper towel from his pocket as he opened the car door. He wiped off the inner handle, then gave Levy a little wave.
"Call me with the results."
Before Levy rolled away, Jack wiped off the outer handle.
Mutual distrust… nothing wrong with that.
As he watched Levy turn uptown on Central Park West, he wondered how on Earth he was going to break the news to Christy that the man she knew as Jerry Bethlehem was her half brother.
The question was—did he know he was dating his niece? Had to. Couldn't be a coincidence. So the next question was Why?
Looked like he was going to have to pay a visit to Casa Bethlehem after all.