‘What wouldn’t he like better than to get inside CAIN and have at his disposal a database containing the details of the most horrendous crimes committed in the world?’

‘Isn’t there some way to keep him out?’ she asked. ‘To tighten security so there is no way he or anyone else can slip through the system?’

‘We thought that had been taken care of,’ I replied. ‘In fact, my niece, who is their top programmer, was certain the system was secure.’

‘Oh yes. I think I’ve heard about your niece. She’s really CAIN’s creator.’

‘She has always been gifted with computers and would rather be around them than most people.’

‘I’m not sure I blame her. What is her name?’

‘Lucy.’

‘And she’s how old?’

‘Twenty-one.’

She got up from the couch. ‘Well, maybe there’s just some glitch that is causing these weird messages you’re speaking of. A bug. And Lucy will figure it out.’

‘We can always hope.’

‘Bring your wine and you can keep me company in the kitchen,’ she said.

But we did not get that far before her telephone rang. Commander Penn answered it and I watched the pleasant evening drain from her face.

‘Where?’ she quietly said, and I knew the tone of voice quite well. I recognized the frozen stare.

I was already opening the hall closet door to fetch my coat when she said, I’ll be right there.’

Snow had begun drifting down like ashes when we arrived at the Second Avenue subway station in the squalid section of lower Manhattan known as the Bowery.

Wind howled and blue and red lights throbbed as if the night were injured, and stairs leading into that hellhole had been cordoned off. Derelicts had been herded out, commuters had been detoured, and news vans and cars were arriving in droves because an officer with the Transit Police Homeless Unit was dead.

His name was Jimmy Davila. He was twenty-seven. He had been a cop one year.

‘You better put these on.’ An officer with an angry, pale face handed me a reflective vest and surgical mask and gloves.

Police were pulling flashlights and more vests out of the back of a van, and several officers with darting eyes and riot guns flashed past me down the stairs. Tension was palpable. It pulsed in the air like a dark pounding heart, and the voices of legions who had come to aid their gunned-down comrade blended with scuffing feet and the strange language radios speak. Somewhere far off a siren screamed.