The Night was hideous.  Torrential rains had gotten Muddy every place you could think of stepping. One needed high rubber boots instead of street shoes.  Oh well, he was not about to be deterred. It wasn’t every night he could get out away from the wife and he wasn’t about to waste this one.  At least the rain had finally stopped, he told himself comfortingly.

Now it was ‘the wait’.  She was bound to turn up before too long.  Waiting was boring and nearly drove him mad each time.  Another half hour passed before he heard the clickety-click of high-heeled shoes approaching.  There was always a new dummy walking the streets alone on most manhattan nights.  Maybe this one would have some class.

She passed him.  Hadn’t seen him there in the shadows.  He began following her.  But slowly, not to attract attention.  His wet shoes weren’t very noisy.  Hers still went clickety-click.

He knew she knew he was there cause she began turning her head slightly toward him.  Maybe she heard his footsteps or his breathing.  He didn’t know.  He didn’t care, actually. 

She was wearing one of those long sweaters that comes to your knees.  Knitted type.  It was black with gray furry trim around the collar.  On her feet making the clickety-click sounds were expensive-looking black pumps that glistened in the streetlights.  Not bad, he thought.  Not bad at all.

She quickened her pace slightly.  Now he was sure she knew he was following her.  Already he knew how it was going to turn out.  He’d had several like this one. 

He continued following.  He’d have to act in less than a minute or forget it.  He didn’t want her getting to the end of the street and turning onto another.  He looked around and up toward the lights of the apartments on that street.  Nothing unusual.  Nobody looking out any particular window. 

It was now.  He began running amazingly fast and practically lunged at her.

Lieutenant Harry “kip” Browne, jr. winced when he saw the crude wooden crucifix protruding from the nude victim’s vagina. Minds, He told himself. Deranged ones. 

“Looks like a new monster on the loose, lieutenant,” A young officer helping with the investigation said sadly.

“It’s more than a monster,” the lieutenant replied in that tired i've-seen-this-all-before voice of the investigating cop. “It’s a complete maniac.”

End of “Clickety-click”