The dispatcher contacted unit three and I recognized Commander Penn’s voice. She knew we had arrived. Wesley, Marino and I carefully descended slick steps as rain fell harder. The tile floor inside was wet and dirty, but no one was around. I was getting increasingly anxious.

We passed the information window, and Wesley knocked on a wooden door. It opened and Detective Maier, whom I had first met at the morgue after Davila’s death, let us into a space that had been turned, essentially, into a control room. Closed-circuit television monitors were on a long table, and my niece sat at a console equipped with telephones, radio equipment and computers.

Frances Penn, wearing the dark commando sweater and pants of the troops she commanded, came straight to me and warmly grasped my hand.

‘Kay, I’m so happy you’re here,’ she said, and she was full of nervous energy.

Lucy was absorbed in a row of four monitors. Each showed a blueprint of a different section of the subway system.

Wesley said to Commander Penn, ‘I’ve got to go on to the field office. Marino will be out with your guys, as we discussed.’

She nodded.

‘So I’ll leave Dr. Scarpetta here.’

‘Very good.’

‘Where is this going down, exactly?’ I inquired.

‘Well, we’re closing Second Avenue station, which is right there at the pharmacy,’ Commander Penn answered me. ‘We’ll block the entrance with traffic cones and sawhorses. We can’t risk a confrontation when civilians are in the area. We expect him to come up through the tunnel along the northbound track or leave that way, and he’s more likely to be enticed by Second Avenue if it’s not open.’ She paused, looking over at Lucy. ‘It will make more sense when your niece shows you on the screen.’

‘Then you hope to grab him somewhere inside that station,’ I said.

‘That’s what we hope,’ Wesley said. ‘We’ll have guys out there in the dark. HRT will be out there and all around. The bottom line is we want to grab him away from people.’

‘Of course,’ I said.

Maier was watching us closely. ‘How did you figure out the lady from the park was his sister?’ he asked, looking straight at me.

I gave him a quick summary, adding, ‘We’ll use DNA to verify it.’

‘Not from what I heard,’ he said. ‘I heard they lost her blood and shit at the morgue.’

‘Where did you hear that?’ I asked.

‘I know a bunch of guys who work over there. You know, detectives in the Missing Persons Division for NYPD.’

‘We will get her identified,’ I said, watching him closely.

‘Well, you ask me, it’s a shame if they figure it out.’

Commander Penn was listening carefully. I sensed she and I were arriving at the same conclusion.

‘Why would you say that?’ she asked him.