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Only six more hours.

Ten minutes later Vulpes left the halfway house. Morris dialled Grosso.

 'Present,' she said.

'Fox is out of the den. Heading towards the Loop.'

'Keep me on the line,' she said.

Morris watched the corner. The grey Mustang drifted into sight, turned, and drove past the listening post. A block away Vulpes climbed the stairs to the elevated train stop.

'He's taking the el,' Grosso said a moment later on the phone. 'We're on foot. Call traffic and tell 'em not to bust our car. We'll contact Icicle as soon as he lights somewhere.'

'Rodge. Over and out,' Morris answered.

Grosso and Dobson followed Vulpes to a three-storey open-atrium mall in the downtown section. Vulpes seemed to be in no hurry. Grosso stayed half a city block behind Vulpes while Dobson tracked him from the opposite side of the atrium. Occasionally Grosso would enter a store and snoop around while Dobson kept Vulpes in view. Dobson stopped occasionally and window-shopped, watching Vulpes in the reflection of the store window. When Grosso was back on track, Dobson would enter a store. They both wore beepers and each had dialled in the other's number. If either of them lost Vulpes or got in trouble, they would simply push the send button and immediately beep the other. They were a good team: cautious, savvy, alert.

Vulpes strolled the first floor of the mall, engrossed in window-shopping, occasionally stopping and watching the shoppers. The mall was crowded. Winter sales. Vulpes went to the second floor of the mall, entered an ice cream store, and came out with a hot fudge sundae piled with whipped cream and sprinkles. He sat on a bench and ate it slowly, savouring every bite. He went to a record store and bought two CDs, then went to a men's clothing store, where he bought a black turtleneck sweater. He rented a copy of Sleepless in Seattle from the video rental store, then went to a one-dollar movie theatre in the mall and bought a ticket for Schindler's List. He got a hot dog and a Coke at one of the food counters that surrounded the entrance to the theatre and sat at a small table eating. Dobson and Grosso rendezvoused out of his line of sight.

'Shit, I saw that picture,' Dobson complained. 'It's three hours long!'

'Well, you're about to see it again,' Grosso answered. 'And don't talk about the movie while it's on. I hate people who tell me what's going to happen.'

When Vulpes finished eating, he checked his watch and went into the theatre.

'I'll get the tickets, you get the popcorn,' Grosso said.

'I'm getting the short end of the deal,' Dobson complained.

'For a change,' Grosso answered, and headed for the ticket window.

Stenner was waiting at the county airport when Vail and St Claire landed from their trip to the Justine Clinic.

'I brought Jane with me,' Stenner said, adding, almost as an apology, 'Didn't want to leave her by herself.'

'How about the house guard?' Vail asked.

Stenner looked at his watch. 'Just coming on now.'

He opened the back door of the car and Jane peered out. Vail smiled when he saw her. The tension that had ridged his face with hard lines seemed to ease a bit.

'You okay?' he asked, climbing in beside her.

'Of course. Hey, Mr DA, I wanted to come, okay?'

'I'm a little stressed out. Sorry,' he said. 'Let's swing by the office on the way home, Abel.'

She wrapped both arms around one of his arms. 'You can relax. Your bad boy is sitting in the movies as we speak.'

'The movies?'

'Our two best tails are baby-sitting through Schindler's List,' Stenner said, driving away from the airport. 'If he stays for the whole show, they'll be getting out about now.'

 'And he has to be in by ten,' said Venable. 'That's a little over an hour from now.'

'What did he do before the movie?'

'Went shopping, rented a movie, ate some ice cream.'

'Him and his damn ice cream,' said Vail. 'How about phone calls?'

'Morris says nothing significant.'

'Get him on the phone,' Vail said.

'Y'know, if he is tied in with our copycat, the old Fox could be bidin' his time,' St Claire said, tapping out the number on the car phone. 'Makes us wait until we get a little lax, then hit.'

'That's why we're not going to get lax, Harve,' Vail said.

'Here's Morris,' St Claire answered, stretching the cord and handing the phone back to Vail.

'This is Martin Vail, Bobby. Who did Vulpes call?'

'Only made two calls, Mr Vail. He called and got the time and then he made a call and got a bad connection. That's it. Then he left.'

'Thanks,' Vail said with disgust, cradling the receiver. 'He only made two calls and one of them was a bad connection.'

'We drew a bad connection at Daisyland, too,' said Stenner. 'They have an enormous cleaning staff and a fairly regular turnover. Over eight hundred patients. Delivery people, visiting firemen, a constant flow of traffic. Trying to go back two years?' He shook his head. 'Impossible.'

'So the only leads we got left are Hutchinson and Tribble. Both of 'em as long as a shot gets,' St Claire grumbled.

'Flaherty ran both of them through the state payroll computer after you called,' said Stenner. 'There's no record either of them ever worked at Daisyland. St Louis isn't doing any better. Flaherty talked to his pal, Sergeant Nicholson, this afternoon. They haven't got the first clue. Not a fingerprint, no blood samples, nobody saw anything, nobody heard anything.'

'We're dealin' with a real pro here, Marty,' St Claire said.

'No, we're dealing with Stampler. He's calling every turn.'

'Maybe you're puttin' too much emphasis on Stampler,' St Claire said. 'Maybe it is just a copycat killer, saw the tapes in Arrington's office, knew how it was done, found out about the bishop's library…'

'It's Stampler,' Vail said flatly. 'I saw him, I talked to him. He's running it and he's going to keep running it.'

'So we just wait, that it?' Stenner said.

'That's it. Everybody on the staff covered?'

'Yes, sir,' said Stenner. 'They're either under surveillance or with their families. Flaherty's keeping an eye on Shana - a task he seems to be enjoying, as does she, I might add.'

'Y'know, I don't like to bring this up,' said St Claire, 'but it's gonna get right costly - all this surveillance, I mean, if we gotta keep it up for long.'

Vail glared at the back of his head.

'You got a better idea, Harve?'

'I don't even have an idea half as good.'

Grosso and Dobson sat two rows apart in the back of the theatre so they could keep Vulpes in view and get out quickly when he got up to leave. He sat through the entire picture. He stood up as the credits rolled and Grosso and Dobson slipped out.

Outside, Grosso grabbed for her cigarettes.

'Three hours without a smoke,' she said. 'I'm having a seizure. You better get lost.'

'Too late,' Dobson said. Grosso turned and was face-to-face with Vulpes. His eyes were like stones.

'Excuse me,' he said, 'can I trouble you for a light?' He put a cigarette between his lips.

'Sure.'

'Did you enjoy the film?'

 'It's a great picture,' she said calmly.

 He smiled. 'Thanks for the light,' he said, and walked off towards the mall exit.

'He made us,' Grosso growled to Dobson.

'How? Man, we were practically invisible.'

 'I don't know how, but he made us. Not only that, but he wants us to know it. Shit, we're off the detail.'

'Well, he's probably on his way home. Let's tuck him in and let the electronics wizards take over. Stenner will decide what to do with us.'

'He's going to pull us off the case, Randy.'

'What case? Is this a case? Hell, nobody knows why we're even following this guy.'