My neighborhood was one of the wealthiest in Richmond, and certainly there had been problems before, mostly with gypsies who tended to walk in during the day when people were home. I was not as worried about them, for I never left doors unlocked, and the alarm was activated constantly. It was an entirely different breed of criminal I feared, and he was not as interested in what I owned as in who and what I was. I kept many guns in the house in places where I could get to them easily.

I seated myself on the couch, the shadow from flames moving on oil paintings on the walls. My furniture was contemporary European, and during the day the house was filled with light. As I sorted mail, I came across a pink envelope similar to several I had seen before. It was note size and not a good grade of paper, the stationery the sort one might buy in a drugstore. The postmark this time was Charlottesville, December 23. I slit it open with a scalpel. The note, like the others, was handwritten in black fountain ink.

Dear Dr. Scarpetta,

I hope you have a very special Christmas!

CAIN

I carefully set the letter on my coffee table.

‘Marino?’ I called out.

Gault had written the note before he had murdered Jane. But the mail was slow. I was just getting it now.

‘Marino!’ I got up.

I heard his feet moving loudly and quickly on stairs. He rushed into the living room, gun in hand.

‘What?’ he said, breathing hard as he looked around. ‘Are you all right?’

I pointed to the note. His eyes fell to the pink envelope and matching paper.

‘Who’s it from?’

‘Look,’ I said.

He sat beside me, then got right back up. ‘I’m going to set the alarm first.’

‘Good idea.’

He came back and sat down again. ‘Let me have a couple pens. Thanks.’

He used the pens to keep the notepaper unfolded so he could read without jeopardizing any fingerprints I hadn’t already destroyed. When he was finished, he studied the handwriting and postmark on the envelope.

‘Is this the first time you’ve gotten one of these?’ he asked.

‘No.’

He looked accusingly at me. ‘And you didn’t say nothing?’

‘It’s not the first note, but it’s the first one signed cain; I said.

‘What have the rest of them been signed?’

‘There’s only been two others on this pink stationery, and they weren’t signed.’

‘Do you have them?’

‘No. I didn’t think they were important. The postmarks were Richmond, the notes kooky but not alarming. I frequently get peculiar mail.’

‘Sent to your house?’

‘Generally to the office. My home address isn’t listed.’

‘Shit, Doc!’ Marino got up and started pacing. ‘Didn’t it disturb you when you got notes delivered to your home address when it’s not listed?’