It was about 8:45 a.m., not quite 29 hours since the rape.

***

The detectives wanted to follow the man. But he was behind them. So they turned down Scott Street, thinking to let him continue on Sherwood, so they could double around behind him. But the gold car turned, too.

And then, almost immediately, it turned right again, down an alley.

The detectives sped up and turned right onto Cooper Street, paralleling the alley, then waited at the end of the block for the gold car to come out of the alley. It didn't.

They made yet another right turn and looked down the alley. There was the car, parked behind a beige duplex with green trim.

"We got eyes on," said Brueckner - that is, they staked out the house, two in front, two in back, and watched it to make sure no one left - and called for backup. When it arrived, they knocked on the door; or, in police-speak, "initiated contact with the residents."

There were four adults inside - two couples - and two little kids, Brueckner said.

One of the men was smoking a cigarette. He had long curly hair.

***