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STEPHANIE WAS SHAKEN AFTER TWENTY-SIX YEARS WORKING for the Justice Departellan Billet, she’d learned that if it stood on four legs, had a trunk, and sn across its torso Which meant the man in the red jacket was no purse snatcher

He was soether

And that meant somebody knew her business

She’d watched as the thief leaped from the tower--the first time she’d ever actually witnessed death For years she’d heard her agents talk about it, but a vast chas someone die The body had sla thud Did he jule? Had he spoken before leaping?

She’d coular purpose and had decided, while there, to visit with Malone Years ago he’d been one of her original twelve choices for the Magellan Billet She’d known Malone’s father and watched the steady rise of the son, glad to have him when he accepted her offer and rew to be her best agent, and she was saddened when he’d decided last year that he wanted out

She’d not seen hih they’d talked on the phone a few tiiven chase to the thief, she’d noticed that his tall fra the saht sienna tint she res surrounding her For the dozen years he’d worked for her, he’d always been forthright and independent, which had ood operative--one she could trust--yet there was compassion, too He’d actually been more than an employee

He was her friend

But that didn’tthe man in the red jacket was like Malone, but it was also a proble with him noould mean there’d be questions, ones she had no intention of answering

Time with an old friend would have to await another occasion

MALONE EXITED THE ROUND TOWER AND STARTED AFTER STEPHANIE As he’d left the roof, para to the older couple The elderly ht The woman ree that she be taken to a waiting ambulance

Red Jacket’s body still lay on the street, beneath a pale yellow sheet, and police were busy h the crowd, Malone watched as the sheet was lifted away and the police photographer went to work The thief had clearly slit his throat The bloodied knife lay a few feet away frole Blood had poured fro across the cobbles in a dark pool The skull was caved in, the torso crushed, the legs twisted as if they contained no bone The police had told Malone not to leave--they would need a statement--but at the ed fro sky, where the late-afternoon sun shone with spendthrift glory Not a cloud looht to view the stars, but no one would visit the observatory atop the Round Tower No That was closed for the evening, as a man had just jumped to his death

And what of that le of curiosity and apprehension He knew he should go back to his bookshop and forget all about Stephanie Nelle and whatever she was doing Her business was no longer his But he knew that wasn’t going to happen

Soood

He spotted Stephanie fifty yards ahead on Vestergade, another of the long lanes that spiderwebbed Copenhagen’s shopping district Her pace was brisk, undaunted, then she abruptly veered right and disappeared into one of the buildings

He trotted forward and saw HANSEN’S ANTIKVARIAT--a bookshop, its proprietor one of the few people in toho’d not offered Malone a elconers, especially Americans, and had even tried to block Malone’s induction into the Danish Antiquarian Booksellers Association Thankfully, Hansen’s distaste had not proven contagious

Old instincts were taking over, feelings and senses that had lain dormant since his retirement last year Sensations he did not like But ones that had always driven him forward

He stopped short of the front doorway and saw Stephanie inside, talking to Hansen The two then retreated deeper into the store, which filled the ground floor of a three-story building He knew the interior layout, having last year studied the Copenhagen bookstores Nearly all of theanized by subject, books carefully shelved Hansen, though, was more haphazard His was an eclectic mix of old and new--mainly new, since he was not one to pay top dollar for private acquisitions

Malone slipped into the dim space and hoped none of the employees called out his name He’d had dinner a couple of tier, which was how he’d learned that he was not Hansen’s favorite person Luckily, she was not around and only ten or so people perused the shelves He quickly moved toward the back where, he knew, there werewith shelves He was not co here--after all, Stephanie had merely called and said she’d be in town for a few hours and wanted to say hello--but that was before Red Jacket And he was da

He shouldn’t be surprised by Stephanie’s behavior She’d always kept everything close to her vest, too close so to be safe in an Atlanta office working a co out in the field Good decisions could never be ood information

He spotted Stephanie and Hansen inside a less alcove that served as Hansen’s office Malone had visited there once when he’d first tried to make friends with the idiot Hansen was a heavy-chested rizzly mustache Malone positioned hirabbed a book, pretending to read

"Why have you coht, wheezy voice

"Are you familiar with the Roskilde auction?"

Typical Stephanie, answering a question she didn’t want to ansith another question

"I attend often Lots of books for sale"

Malone, too, was familiar with the auction Roskilde lay thirty en The town’s antique-book dealers convened once a quarter for a sale that brought buyers fro his shop, Malone had earned nearly two hundred thousand euros there froed to find at an obscure estate sale in the Czech Republic Those funds had overnment employee to entrepreneur a lot less stressful But they also bred jealousy, and Peter Hansen had not hidden his envy

"I need the one book we spoke about Tonight You said there would be no proble it," Stephanie said, in the tone of so orders