As he strolled beside the parking lots, he raised his eyes to the rear corners of the buildings that faced Fifth Avenue. Electronic devices had always been his special talent. He would use his skills to make the recordings from security cameras disappear, or maybe the opposite. He could take control of the system to send the security footage to the parents as proof that he had their little girl in his possession.

The first raindrops arrived with a slight increase of the wind, so he put up his umbrella and turned his steps toward his car. Probably he would kill the girl. That was always safest. But before he did, maybe he would take the pleasure of making the parents’ bad dreams come true.

8

Leah Hawkins, like other cops, had spent years of her life doing surveillance, so she knew how to make the job easier. The apartment she had rented was on the Gulf shore side of Mrs. Alma Weiss’s house, so the afternoon sun was behind her and not shining into her eyes. In the morning, from the back windows of the bedrooms, a person could see the Gulf of Mexico and the beach.

The beaches here were among Leah’s favorites on the continent. Their white sand looked like sugar, with tall swaying palm trees along the margin. From this apartment house a person could simply stroll down the sidewalk for two blocks to the west, where the street ended in a narrow path through a stand of leafy trees. After no more than twenty feet on the shady path, she would emerge on the sand, looking out over the blue water at tiny, distant white clouds just above the horizon.

Leah had known that she would have to do much of her reconnaissance after dark. The person she was interested in was likely to be nocturnal, and the landscape of a town was often markedly different at night. In hot places, some buildings that during the day seemed unused and unoccupied had people coming in and out all night. Bars and restaurants that had few customers in daylight were teeming once the sun was down. Even in a prosperous residential city like Naples, there were sure to be places that reached full liveliness after midnight. The man Leah Hawkins was watching for knew that he was being hunted, and that it would never stop until he died. He had done too much, and committed the wrong kind of crimes, for the interest in him to end. He would be reluctant to show his face at any time, but particularly in daylight.

If he had to go out in daylight, he would drive rather than walk. He would try to stay off the busiest downtown streets, where the popular stores and restaurants were. He would be a man who used back entrances. He would favor additions like facial hair, sunglasses, and hats.