“Good, good,” Lorna said. “Katie, I don’t like this. The more I think about it... Maybe we should head to Las Vegas for a girls’ weekend or something. Aren’t you scared? Terrified? Shouldn’t you be the hell out of your house?”

“I’m going to be okay.”

“He was there. At your house. A killer. And after what you went through as a kid... Oh, my God, Katie! Could it be the same guy? Could it be that he thinks you might know who he is or that he needs to finish what he started and... Oh, my God.”

“Let’s get back, Lorna, okay? Of course I’m scared. Everyone here is scared. But we need to behave in a sensible manner. And the cops or the FBI are going to rig my place with cameras. They’ll have people around it all the time.” She hesitated, not wanting to tell her Dan Oliver was staying with her, but then he had been at her house at the crack of dawn, so...

“Dan is staying over?” Lorna asked.

Katie nodded.

Lorna smiled. “Just don’t get so carried away that you’re not listening for danger.”

“Lorna, it’s nothing like that—”

“Sure, it is. Look at the two of you.”

“Lorna, it’s an arrangement.”

Lorna laughed at that. “Arrangement. I like that.”

“He’s working for me.”

“He works for me, too.”

“Lorna!”

“Okay, whatever you say.” Lorna gave her a look that said she absolutely did not believe Katie. “Listen, when you two go in for the night, Benny and I will come, too. All right? Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

“I still think a Vegas vacation would be a good idea. With me...or Dan.”

“Lorna!”

“Okay!”

With a grin, Lorna returned to her rig, and they headed back to Jackson Square.

Dan hadn’t yet returned. But seeing her, Benny came over to the rig as Katie jumped down.

“The fortune-teller was out again,” he told her. “She told me the number six was coming around again. And you know what else she told me?” he asked.

Lorna had joined Katie on the sidewalk then. “What?” she asked anxiously.

“She said it was coming again. It... Something supernatural, a demon, a spirit. And it liked jazz. So tomorrow, I should dress up as a famous jazz musician from New Orleans.”

“Satchmo. Louis Armstrong,” Katie said.

“Yes!” Lorna agreed. Satchmo, Louis Armstrong, born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901, and probably one of the greatest jazz musicians to ever live. He was still revered and honored in his city. The airport was named in his honor.

Satchmo would have been in the city at the time the Axeman had been striking.

He might well have been playing on the jazz night demanded by the killer.