“Well, I don’t care if he’s Al Capone reincarnated if he had the good judgment to like my work. Anyway, that’s nearly twenty thousand dollars in my pocket, after Edgar’s commission!” She threw off the covers. “Let’s go shopping!”

“Shopping for what?”

“We’ve got a gatehouse in Connecticut to furnish, haven’t we?”

“You’re not paying for that with the first money you’ve earned in years.”

“Well, I’ll buy you a very nice housewarming present, then. Come on!”

Half an hour later Stone was backing the car out of the garage, when he noticed a black van parked across the street.

“What are you looking at?” Sarah asked, turning so she could see out the rear window.

“A van I haven’t seen before in the block.”

“What about it?”

“The feds are famous for using vans for stakeouts and electronic surveillance, and that one has a couple of extra antennas.”

“I’ll bet it’s some of Dino’s people,” she said.

“Could be; the feds don’t have a monopoly on vans.” He turned downtown on Second Avenue.

“Stone, after tonight, I don’t want any more cops around. Anderson is all right, but that guy Kelly gives me a serious case of the willies. I’m sick of him.”

“Don’t worry about cops; after tonight, Dino has to pull his people off, anyway. He can’t justify it to the department any longer.”

“I’m beginning to think these murders and attacks are just a string of coincidences.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Stone replied, “but in my experience, when you get too many coincidences, it’s called fate.”

“Now you’re giving me the willies!”

“I’m sorry, but this is a serious business, and I don’t want you to start letting your guard down. Not until we’ve located this guy Mitteldorfer and done something about him.”

“But he’s been in prison for all these years; how could it have been him?”

“I don’t know, but both Dino and I have the very strong feeling that it is him. I didn’t tell you this, but a friend of Mitteldorfer, a woman who corresponded with him in prison, was murdered a couple of days ago.”

“So, he would get out of prison and, right away, murder a woman who would write to him? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know, but it’s one more coincidence, isn’t it?”

She was quiet for a minute. “Stone, is there any reason in the world why the two of us couldn’t go to England tomorrow? I mean, after the opening tonight, my obligations to the Bergman Gallery are finished; there’s nothing to keep me here. How about you?”

“I don’t like to run off and leave Dino with this thing hanging over him.”

“What thing? Nothing has happened for a while, now. Take some time off.”