“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Sure it is. This guy followed you the night Susan Bean was killed, you know.”

“You have a point there.”

“It bothers me that he could recognize Mary Ann on the street.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“It means he’s been doing his homework, checking out our lives.”

“That’s pretty scary.”

“And for God knows how long. He may have plans for other people we know. You been seeing any girls at all?”

“No, nobody.”

“That’s not like you, Stone.”

“It’s just as well, though, isn’t it? At least I don’t have to call up women and tell them there’s a lunatic on the loose.”

“He is a lunatic, isn’t he?”

“This is hardly a sane thing to do, even if it is revenge.”

“Has it occurred to you that one victim didn’t even know you? That she just had the misfortune to live within sight of your house?”

“It has. Did anything come of checking out the residents of the buildings on my side of the block?”

Dino shook his head. “Nothing; all solid citizens.”

“He had to have seen her through her rear window,” Stone said. “She wasn’t chosen at random.”

“He wanted you to watch,” Dino said. “Maybe me, too.”

“It was the single worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I know how you feel.”

Dino picked up the phone at his side and pressed a speed-dial button. “This is Bacchetti; let me speak to Anderson. Andy? Tomorrow I want you to dig out the case file on a Herbert Mitteldorfer; killed his wife twelve, thirteen years ago. I want you to go back to the neighborhood where he used to live—in the old Germantown area, I think—the East Eighties. Talk to his neighbors, the shopkeepers, anybody who remembers him. See if any of them knows whether he had any family in this country, particularly a son or a nephew; find out who his friends were, and check with them. I want to know about everybody he knew. Check his former workplace, too. There’s a woman called Eloise Enzberg who worked or maybe still works there. Talk to her nicely, and maybe she’ll spill something. She’s been writing to Mitteldorfer at Sing Sing. Also, call the warden’s office and get a list of Mitteldorfer’s visitors for the past two years. Report back to me as you find out things; I want to know it all. Hang on.” Dino covered the receiver. “Can you think of anything else?” he asked Stone.

Stone furrowed his brow. “Have them find out who Mitteldorfer was friends with at Sing Sing and whether any of them has gotten out recently.”

“Good idea.” Dino gave the instruction to Anderson, then hung up. “I don’t know of anything else we can do, do you?”

Stone shook his head. “Not apart from being very, very careful.”

10