“WHAT IN THE name of God?” Hughie yelled, giving voice to my thoughts.

“Have her picked up,” I said into the radio.

“What does it mean? It was Perrine who just went in there? Did she forget the signal?” Hughie said.

“We still don’t know. We have to wait and talk to her,” I said. “She could have just gotten spooked.”

My cell phone rang a second later.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do, okay? I’m so sorry,” Valentina said, sobbing.

“It’s okay, Valentina. I’m having you picked up. You’re safe. Just listen closely. Was it him? Did Manuel Perrine just come into the restaurant?”

“No. Those men were members of Candelerio’s crew. They were just laughing with the manager about how much par-tying they would be doing today since Candelerio is away. Candelerio isn’t coming to lunch. I knew I had to call you, but I was afraid they’d see. You know what they would do to me if they saw me calling a cop? That’s why I left. And I’m not going back. I don’t care what you do to my cousin. These guys are killers. I can’t take working there anymore.”

I stared down at the restaurant in disbelief. Candelerio wasn’t coming? Which meant Perrine wasn’t coming. What did that mean? They were onto us? Were the drug dealers meeting somewhere else?

“Why isn’t he coming? Did you hear anything?” I said as calmly as my racing pulse would allow.

“They said it was a family thing. A graduation? Something like that.”

A graduation? I thought. This early in the year it would have to be Candelerio’s oldest daughter, Daisy, the one at NYU law school. That actually made sense. It explained why Candelerio had brought his family, and why they were all dressed up. Except on the phone for the past month, the drug dealer had said he wanted to meet Perrine at noon today at the restaurant. How did that make sense?