“I will not calm down,” Coletti said through clenched teeth. “We’ve got a killer to catch, and that’s more important than anything either one of you think about me. So I’ll tell you what. Either we can get along, or we can stand here bickering while more people die. It’s up to you.”

Mann wanted to argue the point, but he knew Coletti was right, and though he hadn’t forgiven his new partner, he no longer felt the same anger that Sandy did.

He took a deep breath and turned to her. “If you want me to rough him up later, I’ll do it,” he deadpanned while glancing at the old detective. “Right now we just need to know where the guy was when you spotted him.”

Sandy glared once more at Coletti. Then she walked about fifteen feet from the corner and stood in front of the apartment building. “He was right here.”

“What was he doing?” Coletti asked.

“He was standing still. That’s what caught my eye, because nobody stands still down here. Most people are on their way to the train or work or home.”

“And this guy you saw, he had on a big hat, right?” Coletti asked.

Sandy nodded.

“So how’d you see his eyes?” he asked.

“A breeze turned up the brim of his hat.”

“And were you able to see his whole face, or just part of it?” Mann asked.

Sandy thought about it. “I mainly remember his eyes, but I did notice how pale his skin was. Most people aren’t that pale in August.”

Coletti rubbed his chin and closed his eyes. “Maybe he spends a lot of time indoors.”

“Could be,” Mann said. “But that still doesn’t explain how he walked around the corner and disappeared.”

“Can you show us exactly where he went?” Coletti asked.

“He went this way,” Sandy said, tracing the man’s footsteps around the corner as Mann and Coletti followed.

“This is where I lost him, but there’s nowhere he could’ve gone. We checked that apartment building up the street, but the doorman said nobody came in or out, and I had Harris, the officer who was coming down the street, check every house on the block. Nobody saw anything.”

“Maybe the guy had an accomplice with a car,” Mann said. “Since the traffic goes the same direction he was running, he could’ve jumped in and nobody would’ve seen him.”

Coletti looked across the street at a store on the corner. “Hopefully, no one needed to see him,” he said, pointing to the surveillance camera above the entrance. “We might have it all on tape.”

It was eleven fifteen when they reached the store’s owner. She lived only a few blocks away, on the cusp of affluent Rittenhouse Square, and arrived within minutes of receiving the call.