Michael Baden - Skeleton justice

"Why did you circumvent your electronic bracelet, Travis? Where did you go when you left your apartment?"

"I went to meet Paco. We weren't supposed to talk at school or phone each other, but I knew he had information he needed to tell me. I managed to pass him a note at school and told him where to meet me-a Laundromat down the block. I never made it there. Elena and Frederic grabbed me."

"Why did they want you?"

"From what I could figure out, they were still working out the details of the Webcam." Travis looked up at the camera lens, which captured their every move. "I didn't understand what they were planning, but I heard the word camera over and over again. I think they were afraid that if the police and the FBI kept interrogating me, they'd figure out the bombing was linked to the Vampire too soon. They had to buy time until they got this"-he gestured to the cage-"set up."

"I wish you hadn't been so loyal to Paco, Travis. I could have helped you if you'd told me the whole truth." Travis let out a quiet sob, and Manny regretted her words. This was no time for recriminations. "How many minutes have passed?" she asked as she unraveled another knot.

"About five, I think."

They paused in their conversation. The only sound was the steady tick of the timer.

And the click of the pacing dog's sharpened nails.

With the help of the police and the FBI, Jake met the Vampire's demands. The audience was tuned in. Manny and Travis would not be executed.

Vito had also mobilized a crew of computer geeks to track the transmission and see who owned the Web site, but Jake had little hope that they would be able to work fast enough to do Manny any good. Anyone clever enough to come up with this scheme would know how to cover his electronic tracks. The experts might be able to suss him out eventually, but they didn't have days to rescue Manny and Travis; they had only minutes.

Jake had never felt so helpless, so close to panic. He couldn't let fear get the upper hand, or he would be of no use to Manny whatsoever. He used the only resource available to steady himself: scientific method.

He called Sam and updated him. "I can't leave my office and go to Paterson now. I need you to be my eyes and hands. That body may contain evidence that will help us find Manny."

"What do you want me to do?" Sam asked.

Jake felt a swell of gratitude for his brother. They could sit around for hours arguing for sport, but in a crisis, Sam followed orders without question. "Look at his clothes and skin. Describe any foreign material you see there."

"Well, he's wearing destruction jeans and a T-shirt, and the jeans have a lot of white dust on them from the knees down. Like he knelt in something, or walked through it."

"Collect some of that and bring it back to me."

"Jake, I don't happen to have sterile specimen-collection envelopes on me."

"Improvise. Scrape it onto a clean sheet of paper and fold it up. It doesn't have to be sterile."

"Okay, I'm using a receipt from my pocket. Got a sample. What else?"

"Take a crisp dollar bill and use the edge to scrape out some of the material from under his nails," Jake directed.

"Done. That it?"

Jake sighed. That body might be a treasure trove of information, but he could use only what could be analyzed quickly. "Yes. Get back over to my office as fast as possible."

Knowing that the Sandovals and the Vampire's other victims were also watching, Jake sat in front of his computer screen and waited to see what would happen next. He clung to the hope that, having their undivided attention, the Vampire might be satisfied with just delivering a message.

Manny was untying Travis's hands. He wished she would have had the kid untie her first; she would be most useful free. He could hear the low murmur of their voices, but the audio quality was poor. He figured the microphone must not be near them. He wished he could shout encouragement or directions, but of course they could not hear him.

He studied the narrow field of vision displayed by the camera, looking for clues. He could see one large, dirty window, covered with a heavy grille. An old unvarnished wood floor. No furniture.

Manny was still working on freeing Travis's hands. Her work was interrupted when the boy's shoulders hunched, his torso shook, and his face turned red. He was coughing hard, although the sound reached Jake as a distant rustle.

Suddenly, a loud sound filled his office. Harsh, piercing, violent. Jake jumped and saw Manny and Travis do the same. The dog had barked. The microphone was on his collar. So even if the dog and his prey moved out of the camera's range, the witnesses would always be able to hear the barks and growls of his attack. And the screams of his victims.

He watched as Manny's and Travis's heads turned.

Manny looked directly into the camera. Her mouth was open, too. He didn't need the audio to know what she was yelling.

"Jake!"

"What do you see?"

Jake's head hunched over his microscope. He could hear the impatience in his brother's voice, but he needed to study this sample carefully He sought certainty, not conjecture.

"There are two types of fibers in the dust you found on Freak's body. One has a very distinctive shape-thin and needlelike." Jake looked up. "It's asbestos, and it's in this sample in a very high concentration."

"And the other fiber?" Sam asked.

"Cotton. Simple cotton."

"I don't see how that helps us," Sam said. "We don't know that Freak picked it up from the place where Travis and Manny are being held."

"True, we can't be certain. But Freak was the dog handler. And a pit bull is there with Manny, so it stands to reason Freak took it there. I'm sure he was once where Manny is now."

"Yes, but he may have picked up the dust elsewhere," Sam argued.

"I would be more willing to accept that if it weren't for the fact that Travis has been coughing steadily since he appeared on camera. Elena Costello also coughed when she spoke to me on the phone. Asbestos is tremendously irritating to the lungs. In these concentrations, the exposure would be enough to provoke coughing in a day or less."

Sam twisted a pencil in his long fingers. The computer terminal had been angled so both men could watch the screen, but neither could bear to keep their eyes on it for long. Manny still struggled with Travis's bindings. The dog had barked twice more.

"Okay, so they're in a place contaminated by asbestos. There must be thousands of locations in metro New York that fill that bill. Asbestos was a commonly used building material-it's in old linoleum, insulation, all kinds of stuff. Seems like every time a building gets remodeled, they have to call in the guys in the white moon suits to clean it up."

"Yes, but these fibers aren't from linoleum or insulation," Jake said. "There are no other building materials mixed in. Just asbestos and cotton."

"What's the significance of that?"

Jake crossed to another computer. "Time for a little research."

"I'll help," Sam offered.

Jake eyed him. Sam had been notorious for completing term papers in a hurry by making up any missing information.

"Don't look at me like that. I want to help. It'll go faster with two."

"Okay, search 'asbestos in clothing.' Let's see what we come up with."

Manny finally freed Travis of his ropes.

"Wow, thanks. Now let me untie you."

Manny hesitated. "Maybe it would be better if you used your piece of rope to tie the cage shut before you untie me."

Slowly, Travis bent to pick up the short piece of rope. He took two steps toward the cage, as if he were fighting against a strong gravitational pull from the opposite direction.

The dog barked and flung himself against the metal bars.

Travis leaped back.

"Never mind," Manny said. "Untie me quick and I'll go." As Travis untied her, Manny studied the bars on the cage, wondering if she could sprint across, thread the rope through the bars, and tie it tightly enough to hold that powerful beast in once the lock released.