Doors and halls opened off the living room in unexpected ways. Merrill moved quickly from one room to the next, looking for a room that looked like an office. The first seemed to be a spare bedroom, with a conventional narrow double bed. At the end of the hall was the master bedroom, with a king-sized bed, big-screen projection television set, a private bath with a spa and sauna. The view was of the south, back toward the city. Across the water, almost directly below, was a marina sheltering some expensive and very pretty sailboats.

Even here you could hear the elevator returning and stopping on a lower floor. Paper-thin walls seemed to be the order of the day the world over. From the closet Merrill grabbed a long-sleeved bright red shirt that fit him well enough and covered the bloodstains on his pants. On the other side of the living room was Ruiz’s office. Desk. Another big-screen TV. Small leather sofa. Merrill could hear his blood pulsing in his ears. Ruiz had been a clean-desk man. No Rolodex, and another leather bound book like the one Merrill had taken from Ruiz’s body, but larger, like a diary. He opened it.

Not a diary, an address book. Merrill carried it to the kitchen, paging from the back to the front of the book. The handwriting was hard to read, the Ls were vertical carats, the 7s bisected by hyphens. Finally he saw something he recognized.

Gregory’s telephone number as it had appeared on Ruiz’s chauffeur’s cellular telephone.

With an address and the notation Ch in a circle.

Merrill opened the laptop and typed in the last word of the address. The elevator started again — heading down? No, not the elevator. The elevator’s electric motor, in its own tower on the roof above him. Merrill pressed Enter. Bad Command or File Name. He looked again at the last line of the address. Were the three words one name, like Ruiz’s? He typed them and Entered. A new picture snapped up, treetops mostly, orange tile roofs, and some swimming pools. The coordinates were east of the city.

Amy shoots for three! She scores!

O’Malley had zoomed in on an area. Merrill wondered if he could reverse the process. The elevator seemed to be getting louder. No, it was getting louder. Merrill turned off the laptop and listened. The elevator slammed to a stop — it had to be this floor! Merrill stepped quickly to the light switch, slapped the one in the on position and returned to the darkened kitchen. He waited. Another apartment door should be opening and closing. A couple kissing goodnight? No, this knob was turning…

A man came through the door with a gun in his hand.

Five

FIVE

Gregory put his hand over the telephone. “They have him.”

“So quickly?” Chino asked.

“They got to Ruiz’s apartment just as he entered the building. He’s in there now.”