Rules of Prey

it. He pushed his informants for names, promising money and immunity in return.
    There were more rumors of gang activity, recruitments of local chapters out of Chicago and Los Angeles. Gang growth was slow in the Cities. Members were systematically harassed by the gang squads in both towns and were sent to prison so often, and for so long, that any kid with an IQ above ninety stayed away from them.
    Indians on Franklin Avenue were talking about a woman who either jumped or was thrown off the Franklin Avenue bridge. No body had shown up. Lucas made a note to call the sheriff’s river patrol.
    He was back at his desk late in the afternoon when McGowan called.
    “Lucas? Isn’t it wonderful?” she bubbled.
    “What?”
    “You know about this thing with the maddog? They’re setting up surveillance around me?”
    “Yeah, I knew the chief was going to get in touch.”
    “Well, I agreed to the surveillance, but only if we could tape parts of it. You know, we’ll cooperate and everything, but once in a while, when it’s natural, we’ll get a camera in the house and get some tape of me cooking or sewing or something. They’re going to set up a surveillance post across the street and another one behind the house. They’ll let a camera come up and shoot the cops watching my house with their binoculars and stuff.” She was more than excited, Lucas thought. She was ecstatic.
    “Jesus, Annie, this isn’t a sporting event. You’ll be covered, of course, but this guy is a maniac.”
    “I don’t care,” she said firmly. “If he comes after me, the story will go network. I’ll be on every network news show in the country, and I’ll tell you what—if I get a chance like that and I handle it right, I’ll be out of here. I’ll be in New York in six weeks.”
    “It’s a nice idea, but death would be a nasty setback,” Lucas said.
    “Won’t happen,” she said confidently. “I’ve got eight cops, twenty-four hours a day. No way he’ll get to me.”
    Or if he got to her, there was no way he’d escape, Lucas thought. “I hope they’re setting you up with some sort of emergency alarm.”
    “Oh, sure. We’re working that out right now. It’s like a beeper and I wear it on my belt. I never take it off. As soon as I hit it, everybody comes running.”
    “Don’t get overconfident. Carla Ruiz never saw him coming, you know. If she hadn’t been worried about going out on the street alone and if she hadn’t been carrying that Mace, she’d be dead.”
    “Don’t worry, Lucas. I’ll be fine.” McGowan’s voice dropped a notch. “I’d like to see you, you know, outside of work. I was going to mention something, but now, with twenty-four-hour surveillance . . .”
    “Sure,” he said hastily. “It wouldn’t be good if the chief or even your people found out how close we are.”
    “Great,” she said. “I’ll see you, good old Red Horse.”
    “Take care of yourself.”
     
    Detectives from narcotics, vice, and sex set up the direct surveillance, backed by out-of-uniform patrolmen who were assigned unmarked cars on streets adjacent to McGowan’s. Lucas stayed away the first night, when the posts were established. Too many cops, too much coming and going, would draw attention from the neighborhood. The second night he went out with a vice cop named Henley.
    “You ever seen her place?” Henley asked.
    “No. Pretty nice?”
    “Not bad. Small older house across the street from Minnehaha Creek. Two stories. Lot and a half. There’s a big side yard on the east with a couple of apple trees in it. There’s another house on the west, maybe thirty feet between them, all open. Must have set her back a hundred thou.”
    “She’s got some bucks,” Lucas said.
    “Face like hers on TV, I believe it.”
    “She said you’re on both sides?”
    “Yeah. We’ve got a place directly across the street in front and one across the alley in back,” Henley said. “We’re watching from the attics in both places.”
    “We renting?”
    “The guy on the Minnehaha side didn’t want any money, said he’d be happy to do it. We told him we could be there a couple months, he said no problem.”
    “Nice guy.”
    “Old guy. Retired architect. I think he likes the company. Lets us put stuff in the refrigerator, use the kitchen.”
    “How about in back?”
    “That’s an old couple. They were going to give us the space, but they looked like they were hurting for money, so we rented. Couple hundred bucks a