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"I texted him last night that I needed to talk to him, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. He lives in upstate New York now; he's teaching at West Point."

"Really? That's interesting."

"Quite a turn for him, but he seems to like it. I texted with him about six months ago, and he seemed happier than he'd been in some time. I'll follow up with him later, but let's see what we can find out here," he added, as they approached the building under renovation.

She turned her attention to the work site. There was a chain-link fence around a six-story building, with a trailer parked on the property. Two men were examining plans on a makeshift table by that trailer, so they had someone they could talk to. The men looked up as they approached. One appeared to be in his fifties, with graying hair, while the other was young and fit, probably in his thirties or early forties.

"Can I help you?" the younger man asked.

"I'm looking for Don Mullaney," Tyler said.

"I'm Don," he replied. "Who's asking?"

"Tyler Brennan. And this is Rachel Thorne. We wanted to ask you if you had seen or spoken to Jack Barrone in the last couple of days."

"Jack?" Don asked, shaking his head. "No. He was supposed to work last week, but he didn't show. He didn't even come by to get his paycheck. As far as I'm concerned, I'm done with him," Don added. "I gave him a job as a favor to my brother, but I have a schedule to follow, and I need workers who are going to show up. Why are you asking?"

As Tyler hesitated, she jumped in. "I'm Jack's doctor, and I'm worried about him. He's been ill. He was admitted to the hospital on Thursday night and then disappeared. I think the reason he hasn't shown up here is because he's not thinking clearly and he may be physically unable to get himself here."

"Well, that puts things in a different light," Don said slowly. "He was doing good for a while, but then a couple of weeks ago, his attendance became sporadic, and then he just didn't show up. I'm sorry to hear he's been ill and in the hospital. I have his check. If you think you're going to see him soon, you could give it to him. I know he was stressed about money. He needed to make a payment for something in the next few weeks."

"When we find him, we'll let him know it's here," she said, not wanting to be responsible for the paycheck.

"Did Jack talk to you about his personal life?" Tyler asked. "Was he having problems with anyone here?"

"Jack kept to himself," Don answered. "Friendly but cool. Did his work and went home. If he does have a good excuse for going missing, I'll think about bringing him back on."

"We'll let him know," Tyler said. "Thanks for your time."

She didn't really want to leave it at that, but Tyler was already walking away. "How come you don't identify yourself as FBI?" she asked as they moved down the block.

"Because that usually makes people less interested in talking to me," he replied. "I don't like to show my cards if I don't have to."

"I still think we should have asked more questions."

"He didn't know anything, Rachel. He gave the guy a job. He wasn't his friend. And Jack wasn't the type of man to talk to anyone about his problems, so we weren't going to get anything."

She sighed. "That's probably true. What now?"

"I'm thinking," he murmured, not looking too pleased about any of the thoughts going through his head.

As they turned the corner and Jack's building came into view, she said, "Do you think that anything in Jack's apartment survived the fire?"

"No. Detective Androtti took me in earlier. There was nothing to salvage."

"What about his car? Was it in the garage? He was brought to the hospital by ambulance, so either the car was in his garage, or it was parked near where he collapsed."

He shot her a quick look. "That's a good question. I didn't check the garage. I don't know if Androtti did."

"Let's check it now, since we're here," she said, feeling a little proud of herself for having come up with an idea that Tyler hadn't considered before now. "I'm not so bad at this detective thing, am I?"

He shrugged. "I never said you weren't smart, Rachel."

It wasn't much of a compliment, but she'd take it.

When they got to the building, she saw that the garage was underground with a gate across the entrance. They made their way to a side door next to the gate, but it was locked.

"Maybe the manager of the building could give us access," she said. "Especially if you show him your badge."