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Everything must be planned, a battle of wits against both his victim and the police. He played a simultaneous game in which he was both the hunter and hunted. He would stalk his victim, set her up, and reap the rewards. He knew his activity would catch the attention of someone in authority. Soon he would be the prey. He intended to stay several steps ahead. The thought excited him though he knew he had to be careful.
    Two days after his encounter with Kelt , he spent the day looking for apartments. He found one just off Elysian Fields in a lower middle class neighborhood, just right for a newly divorced man starting over. A woman answered the bell, dragging herself to the door with a cane on each hand and a cigarette dangling from her lips. She was wearing a flowered housedress with ashes spreading like a bib under a chin rolling down in waves.
    “Yeah?” she said.
    “I see you have an apartment to let,” Watt said. “I’d like to take a look at it if I could. I’m looking for a place close to the University for the summer session.” He was wearing a Saints baseball cap, sunglasses, and a white T-shirt. 
    “You a student? I’m telling you right off I don’t put up with any parties. Had enough of that with the last people. Always playing their music and people coming and going in the middle of the night.”
    “No, M’am, I won’t have any of that. I’m only here for the summer session and don’t know anybody in town yet. I’ll only need the place for three months if that’s alright.”
    “I only take cash. No checks. Been burned like that too.”
    “I understand. Cash is fine. If I like the place that is. Is it furnished?”
    “Got a bed and some tables. A sofa and coffee table in the living room. Nothing’ fancy but college students don’t need fancy.”
    “Can I take a look at it?”
    She eyed him up and down. There was no long hair sticking out from the cap and no outrageous clothes. Livia Schumaker was no fool and she smelled money. The room had been empty for six months because she wouldn’t put up with any foolishness. This kid looked clean, maybe a little older than most of the kids who came knocking on her door looking for a cheap place to party while in school. He was decently dressed and polite.
    “You heard me when I said cash, right?”
    “Yes, M’am. I heard you. I can do cash. But I really have to see it first, please.”
    Another look. “Wait here.” She shuffled off into the house, leaving Watt standing at the door. He could hear a game show playing on a TV somewhere. The house smelled of cigarettes and beans cooked in an open pot. She came back clutching a small gold key, handing it over reluctantly.
    “You’ll have to let yourself in. I don’t get around so good anymore. Bring the key right back.”
    Twenty minutes later, he had the key in his pocket and Livia Schumaker had a hundred dollars in the pocket of her flowered housedress. A strictly cash transaction, no ID necessary. The place was perfect. There was a covered garage in back and a rear entrance. The backyard was a jungle. Livia didn’t spend money on a place nobody else could see. If he wanted to cut it that was fine with her. The rest of the rent, and a deposit, were due in a week. He left smiling. A week was plenty of time. He wouldn’t need that long.
     
     
    “What you need is some practical experience. I can’t just send you overseas without some working knowledge of how a police department operates,” Wesl ing said. She was in her office. Cassie Reynold sat across from her in front of her desk.
    “Why do I need that? I have no intention of having anything to do with a police department. You need someone dead. God knows I know how to do that. I spent three years with you sending me through every kind of weapons training and tactical training you could throw at me. I already know how to kill people. Don’t you remember Virginia?”
    “This isn’t Virginia. This is a completely different thing. You’re