“No,” he said. “Six. My neighbor was telling me about an incident. An entertainer on the street was wearing a steampunk hat with a playing card—the number six—stuck in the brim. A man went up and grabbed it from her, raving about the number six.”

Katie frowned, remembering how the one woman that afternoon had paused to talk to her.

“One of my customers today, she said that some man at her hotel was going on about the number six, too. Something about the bodies of six dead goats having been found somewhere in the city a few years back. Oh! I wish I could remember what she said.”

“Dead goats.”

“Yep.”

They had reached Bourbon.

Lights flooded the streets; music blared from a dozen of the clubs. People walked down the street in pairs and groups and occasionally alone.

She saw Dan was watching the street, too. He nodded to one of the two mounted policemen who were about a block away.

The policeman nodded back and raised his hand, as if assuring Dan they were on the streets and vigilant.

“This isn’t where the Axeman killed,” Katie said.

“No, I don’t think he’ll strike around Bourbon Street, either. Too much activity. He would have watched his victims. He knew they were quiet, they went to bed early. They weren’t the kind to have weapons in the house. They didn’t have a dog.”

Katie sighed sadly. “They weren’t expecting it.”

He sighed, pulling out his phone. She heard him address Axel, and he told him about the goats and all the coincidental mentions of the number six and then hung up.

He smiled at Katie.

“You haven’t said anything else about George,” she told him.

“I told you. I’m keeping an open mind.”

“But you want me to call him.”

“I do.”

Timing couldn’t have been more bizarre. Katie’s phone rang. Caller ID didn’t know the number.

She looked at Dan. He shrugged.

She answered the call.

“Katie,” said a man’s voice, low and hushed and frightened. “Katie, it’s uh... George.”

She almost dropped the phone.

“George. I... How are you?”

“Scared.”

“Where are you?”

“Gretna.”

“I...um, I hope you’re okay. You... I haven’t heard from you in six years.”