Hearn looked at the man in the car. His expression was one of compromise.

"Look. My buddy's in a real bad mood. Step out and we can all calm down."

Corescaneu looked at Hearn carefully, then complied.

"I'm running him in'" said Sha.s.sad.

"f.u.c.k his diplomatic immunity. I'm arresting himl" "You can'tar-"

began Corescaneu.

"Don't tell me what I can't do!" snapped Sha.s.sad, his eyes raging.

"Don't you know what a red light means?"

The Romanian shook his head.

"Liar," snarled Sha.s.sad. He looked down at the license and registration.

"How do I know this is you?" he asked.

"Of course it's me," said Corescaneu defensively.

"Prove it Indignantly, Corescaneu did what Sha.s.sad wished. He produced a pa.s.sport. Hearn noted the number.

Corescaneu was obviously concerned now. Not by any legal trouble that he'd be in, his diplomatic status would protect him. What he feared was hara.s.sment from an enraged local police officer. Sha.s.sad paced up and down beside the car, looking for something wrong.

"I say this is a hot car," he finally decided.

"Hot?"

"He means stolen" Hearn offered.

Corescaneu kept l'looking around, feeling trapped and in danger.

"Is not a stolen car," he said.

"Prove it."

He pointed to the registration.

"That don't mean nothing," sneered Sha.s.sad.

"Hey, Aram, take it easy," said Hearn.

"I want this f.u.c.ker fingerprinted. I want the car searched' He looked back to the diplomat.

"What's in the trunk?" he asked.

"Nothing" "Bulls.h.i.t," Sha.s.sad said.

"I'm having you towed in' Sha.s.sad went back to his car, as if to use a radio, which he didn't have. Corescaneu protested heatedly.

"Why don't you let him look in the trunk" suggested Hearn.

That'll cool him down. If he's convinced you haven't got anything, he'll let you go."

The diplomat looked back and forth between the two cops.

"All right," he finally said.

"There is nothing" With amazing eagerness, convinced that the detectives would never understand the implication of what they were looking at, Corescaneu opened the burlap sack and pulled out one dozen empty film cans, cans used to store movie film, the size of reels used for a standard professional projector.

"What's all this for?" Sha.s.sad asked.

Corescaneu explained. He pointed to a name tag on the sack. He had a friend who worked for a Romanian film company, Rota Films, located on Vaiick Street. The friend didn't own a car. So Corescaneu, good Samaritan that he was, was helping his friend move the dozen empty film cans.

"I just picked up the bag down on Varick Street," the diplomat offered.

"Is that a fact?" mumbled Sha.s.sad, apparently appeased.

"See?" said Hearn to his partner, appearing to grow bored with their captive.

"He's just a wild foreign driver. But there's nothing in his car."

Corescaneu nodded eagerly.

"Is nothing' he said.

"Come on, Aram," said Hearn.

"Let's have some coffee and forget about it" Sha.s.sad shot Corescaneu a withering look.

"Get those cans together and get out of here" he said.

"And if I ever see you run a light again, I'll run you in for reckless endangerment" "You can't" said Corescaneu without thinking. Sha.s.sad's eyes blazed. The diplomat quickly turned, fumbled the loose cans together, closed the trunk and hopped back into his car before Sha.s.sad could change his mind.

Sha.s.sad and Hearn sat in the warmth of their car.

"I got a hunch," said Sha.s.sad, perfectly calm, lighting a cigarette.

"I say we scored. I say now we snoop around Rota Films."

Chapter 20 He looked at her from across the city newsroom. Andrea was seated at her desk, leaning back in her chair. A man two decades older than she, a professorial-looking man who'd gracefully entered his later years, sat on the edge of her desk and engaged her in a subdued but intense conversation. Even before they saw him, Thomas Daniels knew who the man was. He had a sense of intruding.

"Thomas" she said with animation when she spotted him. She leaned forw'and quickly, then stood.

"You're just who we were talking about ' She embraced him fondly.

"I'm sure you were," he said flatly.