Dan shook his head slightly. He didn’t want any of their theories shared.

“Oh, who knows?” Katie said.

“What’s going on here?”

They all spun around. Monty was coming toward them. “I’ve got a business to run here!” he said, but he was smiling. He paid his three drivers, but most of their income came in tips. He seldom cared what hours they worked. He wanted to know when they were and weren’t going on, the best they could, so that he could cover their little piece of the action himself.

He was a good employer.

They were good employees.

“We’re ready...well, we’re almost ready,” Lorna told him.

“All three of you are going out today?” Monty asked, scratching his head through the wild thickness of his hair.

Katie glanced at Dan.

“I’m going to ride with Katie again,” Dan said. He didn’t ask permission; it was a statement.

But Monty didn’t mind. He just nodded. “Good. I’m going to do some cleaning up around here today, then. Go forth, children. Do your best. And try not to let anxious tourists get to you.” He looked at Dan hopefully. “Are we any closer to catching a madman?”

“Maybe. We have good people on it,” Dan said. “Anyway, I am pretty capable. I can help get the mules harnessed.”

Dan was a big help. Between them and Benny working carefully in order not to disturb his costuming, they were quickly ready. And with Matt leading the way, they headed toward the French Quarter and their curb at the square across from Café du Monde.

As Katie drove her carriage, she tried to articulate her thoughts to Dan.

“This thing with the number six. We know Neil and Jennie—I’m going to stick with those names until we know their real names—were part of it. We believe there’s a big man behind it. Literally. But they’d need three more people if they were going to be a group with the power of six.”

“They were trying to recruit Nathan Lawrence. Maybe they did,” Dan said. “Mild-mannered schoolteacher by day and vicious axeman by night.”

“You think so?”

“No, but it’s a group that needs money, and I told you Nathan Lawrence may be a teacher, but he inherited money. All this travel, fake IDs, it takes money.”

“Then...who could it be? All we know right now is the big man, who is maybe pulling the strings, and Neil. Jennie is dead. So...”

“They may need new people all the time, since it seems even the members of the group wind up dead if they might endanger the game,” Dan said. He was quiet then, thoughtful.

“What?”

“The casting director?” he said.

“What? She was terrified!”

“Or was she? And Nathan Lawrence...innocent and duped? Or maybe he was up to something.”