Judge & Jury

"It's beautiful," Andie said, gazing out the window.

"It is." I nodded. I placed my hands on her shoulders."Just remember why we're here."

"It doesn't mean we can't find time to take a swim in the Mediterranean."

"Go ahead." I picked a few things out of my travel case: a set of binoculars, a map, my gun, which was licensed."I'll be back in a little while."

"Nick"-Andie turned, a worried look on her face-“don't do anything without me. Promise?"

"Relax." I smiled."I'm just going sightseeing. I promise."

I had our rented Ford parked in front of the hotel. I got behind the wheel, then folded back the map. I had marked out this route many times in advance. I almost felt as if I actually knew the way.

Yehudi Street . 225.

I drove higher up the mountain, on Yefe Nof, a little way past the hotel. Up here was Carmel Center -parks, museums, trendy cafés. Farther up, the road began to loop in ever-narrowing switchbacks overlooking the sea. I turned onto Hayem, then Vashar. Up here, there were expensive homes with dramatic views. I kept on climbing higher. The road clung to the clifflike sides of Mount Carmel. The brilliant blue Mediterranean was a thousand feet below.

Finally I found Yehudi. It was a quiet, residential street with a spectacular view. Number 225 was a few houses down. It was a white, flat-roofed contemporary, down a short stone drive. As I passed it, I felt my blood run cold a little. I drove on to the next switchback, then stopped at a point where I didn't think I could be detected. I got out of the car with the binoculars and looked back down at the house.

Through the lens I could see an expensive house. Murder was always a business that paid handsomely. I didn't see anyone. I didn't see any activity inside. There was a blue minivan parked in the driveway, a European model.

I squinted through the lens.

After a few minutes, I knew I'd better move on. Someone would drive by. The area was affluent, probably well patrolled. I could always say I was up here for the view, but I couldn't keep hanging around.

The garage door suddenly started to open.

A white Audi backed out. I focused closely. The glass was tinted, but the driver's window was rolled down. I could see.

It was him.Remlikov! He was wearing sunglasses, but I recognized him immediately. My heart jumped as if it had been jolted with an electric shock.

And someone else was in the car with him. I shifted the lens. It was a boy. In the passenger seat. He looked about ten, maybe younger. The Audi backed out and turned around in the driveway. I could clearly see Remlikov now.

I found you, Remlikov. I found you, you bastard!

The Audi pulled out onto Yehudi Street and drove away.

I remained there for a few minutes, making notes about the house. Today, I didn't want to follow. I had promised Andie. I got back in the car and drove away.

As I went by the house, I paused for a second in front of the mailbox. I pulled the latch. Quickly, I filtered through and grabbed the most i

Back at the hotel, I opened the door to find Andie on the bed taking a nap. She stirred."What'd you find?"

"I found the house. It's nearby. I'll take you there tomorrow."

Andie sat up. She nodded, a little tentatively.

"Andthis, " I said, tossing the piece of junk mail, a solicitation from a local rug cleaner, on the bed."Souvenir. His name isn't Remlikov or Kollich.

"It's Richard Nordeshenko."

Chapter 94

"LOOK!" NICK POINTED toward the modern, glass-ringed house a hundred feet below."That's him! That's Remlikov."

Andie focused the binoculars. She spied the man-thin, dark, not so large, not so scary. A surge of anger tightened her chest.

She hadn't known how she would feel when she saw the man who killed her son. And now that it was happening, now that he was only a few yards away, she knew it wasn't what she wanted. It made her stomach cramp.

"I see him." Andie's fingers gripped the binoculars even more tightly. Behind her, Nick squeezed her arm.

"Does he look familiar?"

"No." She wished he did. She wanted to feel deep hatred for him. Revulsion.Something. So this was the killer? The man who took her whole world away? She shook her head again."No. I've never seen him before."

"He lives with his wife and son."

"He has aboy? " That, Andie hadn't expected. Did his family know? The terrible things he'd done? When they were sitting at their meals or kicking a ball between them or whatever the hell they did? How could someone with a child do these horrible things?

"He goes out every day around this time," Nick said, gazing through his own binoculars."At four, he drives his son."

"Nick." Andie put down the glasses and looked at him, teary-eyed."I don't think I can do this. I know I'm supposed to hate this man. Look what he did to me. I know what we need from him. I know what we have to do. It's just that…You sonovabitch, " she spat toward the house. She turned her eyes away.

"Just do what you have to do," she said angrily."You were right. Youare right."

Suddenly the garage doors started to open again. Nick glanced at his watch."There he goes."

The man who had killed her son stepped out of a door from inside the garage. He was wearing a white, short-sleeved shirt, tan slacks, and sunglasses. He looked around for a second, then climbed in the Audi and started the car.

"Every day. Same time. There's the boy."

Andie turned and brought the glasses up again. The boy couldn't have been much more than eleven or twelve. A little older than Jarrod. He was i

"I don't know. I want to follow them. Are you okay with that?"

Andie nodded. This scum. This bastard.How could he play the loving father when he knew what he had done?

The boy stepped out of the house and met the car, which was backing around in the driveway.

Andie focused closer. He was carrying a book and what looked like a portable computer. The cover of the book came into view. She didn't know why she was even interested.

Chess.

The boy climbed into the Audi.

"Come on," Nick said. He tossed his binoculars into the backseat."Let's go. I don't want to fall too far behind."

Andie nodded, about to put down the lens, taking one more sweep of the car backing up to the front of the house.

Then, as if she'd been plunged into an icy pool of water, she exclaimed,"Oh my God, Nick!"

The shock of what she had just seen sent a violent, nauseating force through her. She became covered in perspiration as flashes of the horrible memory invaded her brain."Oh, Jesus Christ, no."

"What?" Nick put the car back in park.

"Look in the house!" Her jaw tightened, and her mouth was so dry she could barely spit out the words."You see that man?"

Nick grabbed the binoculars from her.

He saw the man standing near the front window, hands on hips, in sweatpants and a white Gui

"That's him!" The blood drained out of Andie's face. She could see his long blond hair in her mind's eye.

"That's the same man I saw ru