This story began when my editors, Michael V. Korda and Chuck Adams, over dinner started musing about the possibility of a suspense story set on Christmas Eve in Manhattan. I became intrigued.

Many thanks for that initial discussion and all the wonderful help along the way, Michael and Chuck.

My agent, Eugene Winick, and my publicist, Lisl Cade, offered constant support and help. Merci and grazie, Gene and Lisl.

And finally many thanks to the readers who are kind enough to look forward to my books. I wish all of you a blessed, happy, and safe holiday season.

For Joan Murchison Broad, and in memory of Col. Richard L. Broad, with love and thanks for all the marvelous times we shared.

St. Christopher, patron of travelers, pray for us, and protect us from evil.

It was Christmas Eve in New York City. The cab slowly made its way down Fifth Avenue. It was nearly five o’clock. The traffic was heavy and the sidewalks were jammed with last-minute Christmas shoppers, homebound office workers, and tourists anxious to glimpse the elaborately trimmed store windows and the fabled Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

It was already dark, and the sky was becoming heavy with clouds, an apparent confirmation of the forecast for a white Christmas. But the blinking lights, the sounds of carols, the ringing bells of sidewalk Santas, and the generally jolly mood of the crowd gave an appropriately festive Christmas Eve atmosphere to the famous thoroughfare.