Invisible Prey

hidden in the roof of the trunk of his new car, which was used, but had only twenty-five thousand on the clock.
    The Mexican border guard waved him through, touched the front fender of the silver SL500—the very car the Widdlers had dreamed of—for good luck, and called, smiling, to the mustachioed, sharp-dressed hometown boy behind the wheel,
    “Hey, man! Mercedes-Benz!”
    •  •  •
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Author’s Note
    There are two people mentioned in this book who are not fictional.
     
    Mentioned in passing is Harrington, the St. Paul chief of police. His full name is John Harrington, he is the chief, and years ago, when he was a street cop, he used to beat the bejesus out of me at a local karate club. One time back then, I was walking past a gun shop near the dojo, and saw in the window a shotgun with a minimum-length barrel and a pistol grip. I bumped into Harrington going in the door of the dojo—he was dressed in winter street clothes—and I mentioned the shotgun to him. He said, “Let’s go look.” So we walked back to the shop, big guys, unshaven, in jeans and parkas and watch caps, and maybe a little beat-up, and went inside, and John said, “My friend here saw a shotgun…” The clerk got it out and delivered his deathless line as he handed it over the counter to Sergeant Harrington: “Just what you need for going into a 7-Eleven, huh?” In any case, my wife and I were delighted when John was named St. Paul chief. He’s the kind of guy you want in a job like that.
     
    Karen Palm, mentioned early in the book as the owner of the Minnesota Music Café, is a longtime supporter of the St. Paul Police Federation and hosts some of the more interesting music to come through town; along with a lot of cops. Sloan’s bar, Shooters, is modeled on the Minnesota Music Café.
     
    Nancy Nicholson (who is not mentioned by name as a character) took a good chunk of time out of her busy day to show me around the most spectacular private mansion in St. Paul, and introduced me to such subjects as torchieres and butlers’ pantries, the existence of which I hadn’t even suspected, much less known how to spell. Thank you, Nancy.
     
    Lucas used The Antiques Price Guide, by Judith Miller, when he was researching antiques. That’s a real guide, published by Dorling Kindersley (DK), and I used it to get a hold on the values mentioned in the book.
    —J.S.