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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A huge thank-you with this one to eddifferent" Also to my editors, Anne Groell of Bantason of Warner, for their willingness to letdifferent"

Thanks, too, to Alicia Hilton, for her invaluable help with the FBI and law enforcehts are my own

Mary

Mary Lee pushed open the shop door A wave of huive way to cooler fall weather

Her gaze swept the darkened street, lingering enough to be cautious but not enough to look nervous Beyond a dozen feet, she could see little more than blurred shapes At Christmas, her children had presented her with a check for a cataract operation, but she'd handed it back Keep it for sorandchildren, for college or a wedding So long as she could still read her nize her customers across the store counter, such an operation was a waste of good money

As for the rest of the world, she'd seen it often enough It didn't change Like the view outside her shop door tonight Though she couldn'tat the corner, she knew their shapes, knew their names, knew the names of their parents should they s, they didn't soil their own territory

As she laid her s at the curb, one of the blurry shapes lifted a hand Mary waved back

Before she could duck back into her store, Mr Emery stepped frorin, a s about stale bread or cream a few days past its "best before" date

"Going hoht, Miz Lee?" Emery asked

"No, no"

His big sto it easy, Miz Lee We're not kids anymore When's the last ti time?"

She sarbage earlier tomorrow, so she could be spared this tiht" to Mr Emery and escaped back into her shop

Noas her tione, the shop door locked, and she could relax and get some real work done She flipped on her radio and turned up the volume

Mary took the brooave way to "Love Me Tender" Crooning along with Elvis, she swept a path through the faint pattern of dusty footprints

So around the side of her head like a diving mosquito As her hand went up to swat it, she felt the prick at her throat, but it was cool, almost cold A sharp pain, followed by a rush of heat At first, she felt only a twinge of annoyance, her brain telling her it was yet another hiccup of age to add to her body's growing repertoire Then she couldn't breathe

Gasping, her hands flew to her throat Sticky wet heat streamed over them Blood? Why would her neck be--? As she bent forward, she noticed a reflection in the glass lid of the ice cream freezer A man's face above hers His expression blank No, not blank Patient

Mary opened her mouth to scream

Darkness

He lowered the old woesture would see her down carefully so she didn't fall with a thud Not that anyone was around to hear it Habit, again Like unplugging the security ca the shop, he'd noticed there was no tape in the recorder

He left the wire embedded in the old woman's throat Standard wire, available at every hardware store in the country, cut with equally standard wire cutters He double-and triple-checked the paper overshoes on his boots,sure he hadn't stepped in the puddle of blood and left a footprint The boots would be gone by , but he looked anyway Habit

It took all of thirty seconds to run through the dozens of checks in his head, and reassure hiloved hand into his pocket and withdrew a square of plastic He tore open the plastic wrapper and pulled out a folded sheet of paper within Then he bent down, lifted the old woman's shirttail and tucked the paper inside her waistband

After one final look around the scene, he walked past the cash register, past the bulging night-deposit bag, past the cartons of cigarettes and liquor, and headed out the back door