Katie pulled her phone out and called Benny, who didn’t answer. She left him a message.
Ryder returned to the office.
“Where did you take her?” Dan asked.
“I let her go,” Ryder said. “But I feel like I should have taken her to the police psychiatrist. I’m no professional, but I’d say she’s suffering from delusions.”
“Hypnotism,” Dan said.
“What?”
“I think our guy is a talented hypnotist. He took a good look around the square, and he had a great deal of fun with Greta. She was susceptible to hypnotism.” Dan shrugged. “I know one young woman who works down there a lot. She reads tarot cards. But what she really reads is people, which I believe is the same talent our famed Marie Laveau possessed. Lacey, the young woman I know, was a psychology major. A lot of the locals bring their young adult children to her. She knows how to fathom a problem someone might be having and then she points out possible solutions. But Greta was an easy mark. She likes the feeling of being a medium, and she loves believing the world is full of mysticism.”
“Maybe she can be dehypnotized,” Ryder said, shaking his head sadly. “I mean, we’re free people, right? Free to believe as we like. But it’s just not great when someone is running around spouting the mantra of killer!”
“I hope she can...be helped, I guess. Except that...”
“That what?”
“I believe I’m paranoid, but with good reason. If the person who saw her was the man we know as Neil Browne, and Neil Browne is doing the killing, Greta might now be in danger.”
“Let’s face it. Anyone vulnerable in the area right now is in danger. I still say the killer is basically a coward. He watched the house before he went in to kill the Rodenberry couple and Elle Détente. He made sure they weren’t tough enough to fight back.”
“Right. But this woman, Greta, Ryder will watch out for her,” Dan said, looking at Ryder.
“Yeah, yeah, Ryder will take this one on,” Ryder said. Then he sighed. “What do you think?”
“I think Neil Browne talked to her and in this instance, I don’t think we need to be afraid. She did exactly what he wanted her to do. Ryder, we’re going to head down to the square. Katie has a friend who may have one of those six cards. And then George gave us a heads-up. He thinks that Neil Browne might have been an extra recently in a movie. The casting director Carly Britton just might have a way to find him.”
“I’ll be back on the streets. We’ve just begun to investigate all the tips we’ve received between the FBI and the police hotline.”
Dan nodded, and they left the station, driving quickly to the square.
“There he is!” Katie said, pointing to a supposed statue in on the walk near the street.
“How do you know that’s Benny?”
“Satchmo,” she said. “He’s perfect!”
She hopped out of the car while he was still pulling the keys from the ignition, hurrying to the statue.
Benny was a damned good Satchmo, down to the way he held his saxophone. The bucket in front of him, brimming with ones, showed just how much his dead-still performance was appreciated.
But he moved when Katie talked to him, hopping down from his little stand. “Got your message, and I found the card!” he told Katie excitedly. “I had stuffed it into my little case.”
He reached into the case next to the bucket and produced the card for her. He looked at Dan with happy triumph. “Here!” he exclaimed.
Of course, his hands were all over it.
Dan smiled his gratitude. “This is great, Benny, thank you,” he said, taking it with a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and sliding it into an evidence bag from his jeans. “They’ll send someone for your prints, and they’ll get Greta’s prints. She’s the lady who gave it to you. And just maybe they’ll be able to pull other prints as well. We just need yours for elimination. Is that all right?”
“Should be fine,” Benny said, grinning. “I’m the kid who never even stole a piece of gum, so I don’t think there are warrants out for me anywhere.”
“Benny, you look great, by the way,” Katie told him.
He beamed. “Yeah, and Matt and Lorna are both out with their carriages now. We’re all going to head in together once they’re back. Monty said he might take Sarah and your rig out later. He’s cool with us coming in once it starts getting late.”
“Monty is the best,” Katie said. “Okay, thank you, thank you. We have an appointment. We’ll see you later.”
He nodded. “Back to it!” he said, and crawling up on his little stand again, he posed as Satchmo, the great Louis Armstrong.
Neither Lorna’s nor Matt’s carriages were resting at the curb; both were out with tourists, Dan reckoned.
He looked over the area. It wasn’t as busy as it might have been.
But it was still filled with humanity.
“On to Magazine. I’ll call Axel, and he’ll have someone meet us there to take the card back to the offices so forensics can get on it.”
She nodded, watching people on the street.
“What are you thinking?”
She let out a sigh. “I think we all have a tendency to think bad things happen to other people. We never think it will happen to us. I’m sure that made most Londoners feel safe back in the Jack the Ripper days. They weren’t prostitutes in the Whitechapel area, so they were going to be okay. They’ll stay out by day and run back to their hotels when they start to get nervous. I imagine some of the small bed-and-breakfast places might be losing clientele.”
“A lot of people use travel sites where people just own a place and rent it out, too,” Dan said. “Houses, rooms. Well, I guess they’re paid in advance.”
“People who feel they aren’t vulnerable will
