Blowing out a sigh of relief, Manfred shut his own door and locked it. He drew the curtains closed.

He went into the kitchen to heat up his Mexican supper at about the same moment Joe was landing behind the Antique Gallery and Nail Salon. Outside it grew as dark as it was going to get on this night of the glowing moon.

Manfred didn’t look out again, not even an hour later when he heard a sort of bellow. He thought it came from nearby, perhaps from across the road, and he thought it sounded like a terrified animal. But he only looked up from his book for a moment and then went back to reading with his jaw set. Much later, in the middle of the night, he woke. Despite the window air-conditioning in the front room, which served to cool the whole house, he had thrown off his sheet. He sat up to find the end so he could draw it back up. As he groped around the bed, he heard something pass by outside his house, something big, something that made an odd coughing noise. He closed his eyes and prayed, and the thing passed by. He sank back down on the bed, pulling the percale sheet up over him like a child.

Whatever had prowled around his house seemed to be going in the direction of the pawnshop.

—

In her basement apartment, with its windows right by the ground, Olivia watched the paws walk by outside. Her lights were all off. She felt safer that way.

—

Above the Antique Gallery and Nail Salon, Joe and Chuy looked out the front windows. For the most part, they were silent. Joe’s ankle was hurting, but it was bandaged and he’d taken some pain relievers. He was as comfortable as he was going to be that night. They’d pulled up chairs and a small table for their wineglasses, and Chuy had gotten Joe a footstool to prop his ankle on.

They sat there through the night. They were keeping guard, in their own way. So they saw everything that happened.

“At least one more night, maybe two,” Chuy said, as the darkness began to lighten. “You think we can do this two more nights?”

Joe said, “I think we have to. With the boy being so young.” He shook his head. “Honey, you can sleep if you want to. Doesn’t need but one of us. My ankle would keep me up, anyway.”

“I’m not going to leave you watching by yourself,” Chuy said.

Joe didn’t answer out loud, but he reached over to take Chuy’s hand.

—