Jeffery Deaver - XO

“And something else here,” Rhyme said with some excitement in his voice. He glanced at the evidence bags. “From the PA system control room, the phone and from behind Edwin’s house: calcium powder? But it’s not what you suggested, Charlie-medical or dietary supplement. It’s bone dust.”

“Well, couldn’t people still take it like a supplement?”

Rhyme frowned. “Don’t think they’d want to. I forgot to mention: it’s human.”

THE BONE MATERIAL was quite minimal and to confirm the source would require a confocal laser scanning microscope, Rhyme explained, looking around the room as if one of these magical devices were nearby in the lab.

Charlie Shean said that while he was aware of the machine and had wanted to acquire one, the FMCSO could not, in fact, afford it.

“Well, I’m ninety-nine percent sure. The morphology of the particles and the geometry of the dust almost guarantee it’s human. I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t.”

What they could do with that information, though, Rhyme wasn’t positive. “Can’t quite see how it fits into the big picture,” he admitted. “Anybody among the cast of characters here have a job that might involve bone? Surgeon, dentist?”

“No.”

“Undertaker?” Harutyun suggested.

“They don’t do much bone work. I could see medical examiners, pathologists. Wait, Fresno College-where he made the call-does it have a medical school?”

“Yes,” Harutyun reported.

“Ah, that could be it. Human skeletons in the classrooms and then procedures too, involving bone saws. Until we get more information, I think we’ll go on the assumption that he picked up the bone dust at the school and then continued his surveillance at Edwin’s.”

O’Neil said, “At least we know that the person who was behind Edwin’s house was the perp.”

“So, that means it isn’t him,” Harutyun said.

“Unless,” Dance pointed out, “Edwin himself was the source of the bone dust and he left the trace when he walked back to see who’d been spying on him.”

“Exactly, Kathryn,” Rhyme said.

Harutyun muttered, “That’s the way this case’s been going all along-he’s guilty, he’s innocent, guilty, innocent.”

Rhyme wheeled back to the microscope. “Hm, still a few things I want to look at. Ammonium oxalate… Scotch?”

Crystal Stanning broke her vow of silence. “You… you found some traces of liquor?”

“No, no, I want some scotch.”

“Oh, well, we don’t actually have any in the sheriff’s office.”

“Really?” Rhyme sounded surprised.

“Lincoln,” Thom said.

“I was simply asking.” He returned to the microscope.

Dance and O’Neil looked over the chart, on which Sachs had highlighted Rhyme’s deductions.

• Sunday. Robert Prescott homicide, convention center stage/orchestra pit/scaffolding

– strip lamp

– no matching friction ridge prints

– no matching tool marks (unit removed by wing nuts)

– fifty-foot power cord

– no matching fingerprints

– smoke detectors in pit, disabled

– no matching fingerprints

– smudges determined to be produced by latex gloves, brand unknown, not associated with gloves in Edwin Sharp’s possession

– cardboard cartons moved from projected path of victim

– no matching fingerprints

– smudges determined to be produced by latex gloves, brand unknown, not associated with gloves in Edwin Sharp’s possession

– unique trace from stage/orchestra pit/scaffolding

– triglyceride fat (lard)

– 2700K color temperature (yellowish)

– melting point: 40-55 degrees F

– specific gravity: 0.91 at 40.0 C

– Determined likely to be neatsfoot oil, treatment for leather sports equipment, tack and gun slings

– no footprints/vehicle tread marks

• Monday. Frederick Blanton homicide, gas station, near San Joaquin River

– two 9 mm shell casings

– weapon possibly Det. Gabriel Fuentes’s, no casings for comparison

– Determined likely to be his weapon

– no friction ridge prints

– extractor marks match those found at Sheri Towne scene

– one 9 mm slug recovered

– lands and grooves match slugs from Sheri Towne scene

– accelerant

– Shell gasoline, 89 octane

– gasoline container destroyed

– no footprints/vehicle tread marks

• Monday. Frederick Blanton’s residence, Fresno

– no relevant friction ridge prints, footprints, vehicle tread marks

• Monday. Public phone in classroom building at Fresno College

– No relevant friction ridge prints

– unique trace collected

– calcium powder

– Determined likely to be human bone dust

– chemicals: limonite, goethite and calcite.

– Determined likely to be gangue, ore collection and processing byproduct

– no footprints/vehicle tread marks

• Tuesday. Sheri Towne crime scene

– cigarette ash

– Determined likely to be Marlboro

– twenty-three 9 mm shell casings

– weapon possibly Gabriel Fuentes’s, no casings for comparison

– Determined likely to be his weapon

– no friction ridge prints

– extractor marks match those at gas station scene

– seven 9 mm slugs recovered

– lands and grooves match those at Frederick Blanton scene

– no friction ridge prints

– no footprints/vehicle tread marks

• Tuesday. Emerson High School stadium, PA system facility

– no friction ridge prints

– no footprints/vehicle tread marks

– unique trace recovered

– calcium powder

– Determined likely to be human bone dust

• Tuesday. Park across from Mountain View Motel

– Marlboro cigarette. DNA analysis requested

– fishing line trip wire, generic brand

– no friction ridge prints

– no footprints/vehicle tread marks

• Wednesday. Edwin Sharp’s house

– outside:

– boot print probably cowboy-style, unable to determine size, male or female

– no vehicle tread marks

– unique trace materials

– triglyceride fat (lard)

– 2700K color temperature (yellowish)

– melting point: 40-55 degrees F

– specific gravity: 0.91 at 40.0 C

– Determined likely to be neatsfoot oil, treatment for leather sports equipment, tack and gun slings

– fungus

– Determined likely to be used in place of chemical-based fertilizers

– chemicals: limonite, goethite and calcite

– Determined likely to be gangue, ore collection and processing by-product

– mineral oil, with lime sulfur

– Determined likely to be organic pesticide

– calcium powder

– Determined likely to be human bone dust

– ammonium oxalate

– inside:

– latex gloves, not associated with those at Prescott homicide

– household cleaning materials (to eliminate trace?)

– no cigarettes, matches or lighters, odor of cigarettes

It was then that Dance’s mobile buzzed. She regarded the text with a frown. “I’ll be right back,” she told the others.

She walked outside and into the parking lot of the sheriff’s office. She nearly laughed to see P. K. Madigan undercover-he was now in khakis, a plaid shirt and tan vest, the fishing cap and mirrored aviator sunglasses.

Dance smiled. “Hi, I-”

But Madigan interrupted and said urgently, “We’ve got a situation. I mean, you ’ve got a situation.”