Sudden Prey [antikvár]

ONETHROUGH THE SPEAKERS ABOVE HIS HEAD, LITTLE CHIL-dren sang in sweet voices, O holy night, the stars are brightly shining, it is the night of the dear Savior's birth The man who might kill Candy LaChaise stood in the cold and watched her through the glass doors. Sometimes he could see only the top of her head, and sometimes not even that, but he never lost track of her.Candy, unaware, browsed through the lingerie, moving slowly from rack to rack. She wasn't really interested in un-derwear: her attention was fixed on the back of the store, the appliance department. She stopped, pulled out a black bustier, held it up, cocked her head like women do. Put it back, turnéd toward the doors.The man who might kill her stepped back, out of sight.A minivan pulled to the curb and a chunky woman in an orange parka hopped out and pushed back the van's side door. An avalanche of dumplinglike children spilled onto the side-walk. They were of both sexes, all blond, and of annual sizes: maybe four, five, six, seven, eight and nine years old. The