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return. We go to the same place
    every year. I just assumed she'd show up.”
    “Where's that?”
    “Dylan's Brazen Head. It's a pub on First Avenue, near her
    apartment.”
    I glanced at a photo of the two sisters together, both smiling
    for the camera. Behind them was the mirrored wall of a bar, lined
    with bottles of booze. The Brazen Head had been in business for
    more than twenty years, a magnet for prep school kids from the
    Upper East Side because of the affable owner's willingness to turn
    a blind eye to underage drinkers. It was named for the oldest pub
    in Dublin, which dated back-according to legend-eight hundred
    years.
    “Did you go?” I asked.
    “Yes. I went early, at six, and waited there until ten
    o'clock.”
    “Tell Ms. Cooper why Amber picked Dylan's.”
    Janet looked at me sideways before she answered. “Jim Dylan and
    Amber-well, she's been, I guess you'd say, dating him for three
    years.”
    “What she means is that Jim Dylan has a wife and six kids, three
    of 'em still at home in the nest,” Mike said. “So I wouldn't
    exactly call it 'dating.' ”
    “Did you ask Mr. Dylan about your sister?”
    “He told me he hadn't seen her since May. Jim didn't want to
    talk about it there. One of his sons was tending bar.”
    “Is there anything else about your sister that you think puts
    her in harm's way?”
    “Like I told you,” Janet said again. “Amber's quirky. I'm afraid
    this stuff might end up in the newspapers. I just want to protect
    her if I can.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “My sister supplemented her income with another job, Ms.
    Cooper,” Janet said, blowing her nose again. “She tried to talk me
    into the same thing a couple of years ago, but I thought it was
    disgusting. It broke my heart to think of what she was doing.”
    “What kind of job?”
    “A dating service.”
    I wanted to find a tasteful way to get Janet where she was
    going. “An escort?”
    Mike lifted his blazer from the back of the chair, slipped his
    finger under the collar, and draped it over his shoulder as he
    stepped behind me.
    “I told her how dangerous her lifestyle was, and nothing I said
    could get her to stop.” Janet rested her head in her hands and
    started crying again. “Doesn't matter what you called her, she
    laughed it off like it was a compliment. An escort, a prostitute, a
    whore, a hooker.”
    Mike leaned over and whispered in my ear. "I'm thinking she's a
    dead hooker now.

FOUR
    Iwalked Janet Bristol to the rest room to wash her face, then
    returned to wait for her in my office
    You've got to give me a hand tonight,“ Mike said. ”What am I
    missing?" I looked from him to Mercer.
    “We're going to get a hit at the morgue,” Mike said. "I can
    taste it.
    I just look at that beauty mark on the side of this broad's
    neck and picture the one in the identical place on her sister. A
    patch of skin untouched by the bugs. We got hold of Amber's dentist
    an hour ago-she had sent Janet to him for an abscess last year.
    He's faxing over her records to Dr. Kestenbaum. “And if it's a
    match?”
    “Janet tells me that if we're not the first ones to get hold of
    Amber's little black book, this case will rocket from oblivion to
    the headlines. Good morning, Idaho. This is your wake-up call.”
    “Does she know her sister's clientele?” Mercer's six-foot-six
    frame towered over Mike, and his ebony face was sweating
    heavily.
    “Not specific guys, but according to Amber's stories, they're
    what the newspapers refer to as boldface names. Lawyers,
    businessmen, politicians. I want you to come uptown with us, Alex,
    if Janet makes an ID,” Mike said. “You're the one who's going to
    have to run interference with Battaglia if this investigation takes
    a detour.”
    “Don't be luring Coop away from my case,” Mercer said.
    “You told me this trial would be over in two days.”
    “It should be,” I said. The courtroom circus created by Floyd
    Warren's defense attorney had prolonged the