Karen pulled up a chair at the table in front of the two white envelopes waiting for her. As Jack took the chair next to her, Denny shot him a questioning look. Jack ignored it.

"Both replies were put in the drop box outside sometime after 3:00 a.m., after the paper hit the streets," Denny said, taking a chair across from them.

Jack watched Karen pick up the envelopes with obvious reluctance.

"Don't worry," Denny said. "They've been dusted for evidence."

"And?" Jack asked.

Denny looked up at him. "You're still here, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm still here."

He shook his head, but answered the question. "No latents on one. The prints on the other didn't come up in the computer."

"One of the respondents took the time to use gloves?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Looks that way," Denny said.

Karen opened the first envelope, read the contents, then handed the letter to Jack.

He read the words scrawled in blue ink: "Meet me at the El Topo at noon today."

The second letter was even more to the point and neatly typed. "Tomorrow evening. Five-fifteen p.m. Ride the carousel. Come alone."

"I've already got things ready for your noon meeting," Denny was saying. "I think what we'll do is-"

"Why would he want to meet in broad daylight?" Jack asked.

Denny looked up, irritated. "Who knows? Who cares? Maybe because he's the secret lover but not the killer and he's ready to come out of hiding."

"Then why not just go to the police?" Jack persisted. "And why noon today? Why the rush?"

"I guess he's anxious to get this over with," Denny said, getting more angry at Jack's b.u.t.ting in.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Jack noted. "That he wants to get it over with. But you have to ask yourself, why would he take the chance of showing up today in broad daylight?"

"Because he thinks she already knows him," Denny said impatiently. "He needs to find out just what she does does know, who she's told and what she wants for her silence." know, who she's told and what she wants for her silence."

"Blackmail." Jack shook his head. "I don't like anything about this."

"I think you've already made that abundantly clear," Denny said. "But like I told you. Karen will be protected. We're going to wire her for sound. We'll be able to hear her as well as talk to her all the time it's going down. She will stay a safe distance away, under wraps. All she has to do is say, 'It's him,' and we move in. Simple."

These kinds of things were never that simple. "What if he hangs back looking for her, hoping for an opening with a high-caliber rifle?"

"Look, Jack, I hate to pull rank on you, but you're interfering in my investigation. I'm asking you to stay out of it. If you don't-"

"I want him there," Karen said.

They both turned to look at her. Jack had almost forgotten she was there. He suspected Denny had, as well. But Jack hadn't forgotten that she hadn't wanted to lean on him. What had changed?

"I want Jack at the meeting," she repeated. "If it's what he wants."

Jack smiled. "Nothing would have kept me away, anyway."

Denny raked a hand through his dark hair. "He's off duty, the same as a civilian, Karen. He has no business or authority-"

"If he's not there, I won't be, either," she said, getting to her feet.

Denny's jaw tensed. He studied her for a moment, then gave her one of his killer smiles. "This is your show, sweetheart."

FROM HER BIRD'S-EYE VIEW, Karen glanced at the small Mexican food restaurant across the street and tried to still the b.u.t.terflies as big as vultures circling in her stomach.

"How are you doing?" Jack asked softly into her earpiece.

Jack had left to take his position somewhere down on the street soon after she'd been wired. He'd said he wanted to check out the equipment. Karen knew he had to keep his distance because of his probation. But she also suspected it was more than that. He would want to position himself where he could stop this stakeout if he felt he needed to.

Denny stood nearby looking out the same window, at the same cafe, waiting, just like her.

"Fine," she said.

"It's not too late to back out," Jack said quietly.

Denny looked over at her and shook his head. "Guy just doesn't quit, does he?"

"I'm fine," she repeated. "Let's just hope this is the one." She tried to still the trembling in her hands as she studied the diners at the cafe through the high-powered binoculars. She wasn't looking forward to doing this again tonight if this wasn't the right man.

The cafe was small, with just a few tables inside and a half-dozen patio tables with umbrellas outside. Right now, most of the tables were filled.

Denny glanced at his watch. "Twelve noon. Do you see anyone who looks even vaguely familiar?"

She shook her head. She'd been watching the cafe since a quarter after eleven but she hadn't seen anyone who looked familiar. The place was busy, but no man came in alone, waiting for her.

"I'm going down there," Denny said. "Let us know if you see anyone who could be the guy."

She nodded and continued to scan the tables through the binoculars. Another five minutes pa.s.sed. "Maybe he's not going to show," she said, then realized a half-dozen cops were listening to her.

Every woman's dream to have that many men hanging on her every word. The lame thought made her realize how scared she was. How nuts this was making her. Maybe Jack was right. Maybe putting an ad in the paper had been a fool idea. What killer in his right mind would- She suddenly noticed a table at the back, inside the building. Moments before the table had emptied out. But now she could see a man sitting alone with his back to her.

"I see someone," she said.

"Is it him?" Denny asked. "Where is he sitting?"

She focused the binoculars on the lone man. But between the sun's glare off the windows and one of the umbrellas on a table outside flapping in the breeze, her view was obstructed.

"I can't tell from here," she answered, still straining to get a clear view of him. "He's in the far back."

Karen waited to see if anyone joined him. He did appear to be expecting someone. Her?

She hesitated a moment longer. "I'm going down to get a closer look."

"Negative," Jack snapped. "Stay there. Wait for him to move."

Karen watched the man a few moments longer through the binoculars. She knew going anywhere near the cafe would be dangerous if the man was the killer. But the way he had just suddenly appeared, she suspected he'd come in through some back way. Through the kitchen? She feared he'd leave the same way and she wouldn't get a look at him.

"Stay put, Karen," Jack ordered. "Denny, can you see from where you are? Denny? Are you picking up?"

Denny still hadn't answered by the time Karen reached the street.

"Dammit, Karen," she heard Jack say into her earpiece as she must have come into his view.

"I'm just going to take a quick look," she said quietly and started across the one-way side street.

"DENNY?" Jack radioed again. Silence. Where the h.e.l.l was he? Jack watched Karen advance toward the cafe, the hair on his neck p.r.i.c.kling with foreboding. Dammit, he didn't like this.

He told himself he knew Denny. His partner must have moved in too close to use his radio. That had to be it.

He held his breath as Karen disappeared behind one of the umbrellas on a patio table, then disappeared altogether as she rounded the corner of the building and dropped out of his sight.

"Karen?" No answer.

His earlier foreboding turned to dread and a terrible feeling of impending doom. "Denny? Have you got her?"

Silence.

His cop training argued that if he moved now, he'd blow the stakeout, ruin any chance Karen might have of identifying the man and more than likely spook the suspect and allow him to escape.

But right now Jack didn't feel like a cop and it had nothing to do with being on probation or a forced two-week vacation. He swore and started to move in, telling himself he didn't give a d.a.m.n about anything but getting Karen out of there.

"Jack, I'm almost there."

Her voice stopped him. That and the clatter of dishes. She must have gone around back and in through the kitchen. "You've got five seconds and I'm coming after you," he said to her. Five. Four. Three. Two.

"It's not him," Karen whispered, sounding disappointed. "He's not the man I saw with Liz."

Jack felt the tension rush out of him. He closed his eyes. "Get out of there," he told her. But his relief was short-lived. Now they'd have to do this again tonight.

"It's a wrap, then," Denny said over the radio, sounding more disappointed than Jack. Just as Jack had suspected, Denny had gotten too close to use his radio and had turned it off. Denny always had to be where the action was.

"Wait a minute," Jack heard Karen say. "He's not the man I saw with Liz, but, Jack, I saw him at the hotel Sat.u.r.day night."

Jack froze. The man in the back of the cafe got to his feet and started to leave by the side door.

"It's Vandermullen," Denny barked over the radio. "Move in."

"Karen, get out of there," Jack ordered as the other detectives swarmed the cafe.

Dr. Carl Vandermullen? Liz's ex-husband had answered the ad? G.o.d, could Captain Baxter have been wrong about Carl Vandermullen?

Jack took the stairs from his hiding place and came out of the building just as Karen emerged from the cafe.

She saw him and stopped at the curb on the side street. He started across the street, feeling her gaze, feeling a connection that he could no more explain than he could levitate. Just seeing her filled him with such a rush of emotions that he felt himself smiling like a fool at her.

She smiled back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw the car.

"Look out!" he cried, but his words were drowned out by the roar of the engine and the squeal of tires as the car turned the corner and bored down on Karen.

CHAPTER NINE

Jack dove for her. The car roared past, so close he could feel the heat of the engine and the rush of displaced air.

He and Karen hit the sidewalk and rolled into one of the patio tables, coming to a dish-crashing stop.

He looked down at the woman in his arms. Her eyes were closed, her face pale. "Karen?" he cried, fear making his voice crack.

She opened her eyes, then seemed to focus on his face, and smiled. "You really take this protection stuff seriously, don't you."

He laughed and shook his head, amazed she was all right, amazed how relieved he was. In those few seconds before she'd opened her eyes, his life stopped.

"You're sure you're all right?" he asked, relief making him downright giddy as he helped her to her feet.

"I'm fine." Her smile seemed to attest to that fact. "Nothing appears to be broken."

What's a few sc.r.a.pes and scratches to this woman, he thought, smiling back at her. He felt as though he'd been breathing laughing gas. He could hear voices of people around them, a faint distant roar of questions and exclamations. "Are they all right? What happened?" he thought, smiling back at her. He felt as though he'd been breathing laughing gas. He could hear voices of people around them, a faint distant roar of questions and exclamations. "Are they all right? What happened?"

"Did you see that?"

"A car tried to run them down. Did anyone get the license-plate number?"

Jack felt as if they were the only two people in the world. He watched her brush at the dirt on her shirt and jeans. "It's a good thing you're tough."