Jeffery Deaver - The Cold Moon

Now it was Pulaski's chance not to get it. "Denmark? The one in Europe?"

"The one in Shakespeare, Ron," the criminalist said impatiently. And when the young officer grinned blankly Rhyme gave up.

Sachs took over again. "He means it's proof there was major corruption at the One One Eight. Obviously they're doing more than just sitting on investigations for some crew out of Baltimore or Bay Ridge."

Looking up absently at the office building, Rhyme nodded, oblivious to the cold and the wind. There were some unanswered questions, of course. For instance, Rhyme wasn't sure if Vincent Reynolds really was a partner or was just being set up.

Then there was the matter of where the extortion money was, and Rhyme now asked, "Who's the one in Maryland? Who're you working with? Was it OC or something else?"

"Are you deaf?" Baker snapped. "Not a fucking word."

"Take him to CB," Sellitto said to the patrol officers standing beside the car. "Book him on assault with intent for the time being. We'll add some other ornaments later." As they watched the RMP drive away, Sellitto shook his head. "Jesus," the detective muttered. "Were we lucky."

"Lucky?" Rhyme grumbled, recalling that he'd said something similar earlier.

"Yeah, that Duncan didn't kill any more vics. And here too-Amelia was a sitting duck. If that piece hadn't misfired…" His voice faded before he described the tragedy that had nearly occurred.

Lincoln Rhyme believed in luck about as much as he believed in ghosts and flying saucers. He started to ask what the hell did luck have to do with anything, but the words never came out of his mouth.

Luck…

Suddenly a dozen thoughts, like bees escaping from a jostled hive, zipped around him. He was frowning. "That's odd… " His voice faded. Finally he whispered, "Duncan."

"Something wrong, Linc? You okay?"

"Rhyme?" Sachs asked.

"Shhhhh."

Using the touch-pad controller he turned slowly in a circle, glanced in a nearby alleyway, then at the bags and boxes of evidence Sachs had collected. He gave a faint laugh. He ordered, "I want Baker's gun."

"His service piece?" Pulaski asked.

"Of course not. The other one. The thirty-two. Where is it? Now, hurry!"

Pulaski found the weapon in a plastic bag. He returned with it.

"Field-strip it."

"Me?" the rookie asked.

"Her." Rhyme nodded at Sachs.

Sachs spread out a piece of plastic on the sidewalk, replaced her leather gloves with latex ones and in a few seconds had the gun dismantled, the parts laid out on the ground.

"Hold up the pieces one by one."

Sachs did this. Their eyes met. She said, "Interesting."

"Okay. Rookie?"

"Yessir?"

"I've got to talk to the medical examiner. Track him down for me."

"Well, sure. I should call?"

Rhyme's sigh was accompanied by a stream of breath flowing from his mouth. "You could try a telegram, you could go knock, knock, knockin' on his door. But I'll bet the best approach is to use…your… phone. And don't take no for an answer. I need him."

The young man gripped his cell phone and started punching numbers into the keypad.

"Linc," Sellitto said, "what's this-"

"And I need you to do something too, Lon."

"Yeah, what?"

"There's a man across the street watching us. In the mouth of the alley."

Sellitto turned. "Got him." The guy was lean, wearing sunglasses despite the dusk, a hat and jeans and a leather jacket. "Looks familiar."

"Invite him to come over here. I'd like to ask him a few questions."

Sellitto laughed. "Kathryn Dance's really having an effect on you, Linc. I thought you didn't trust witnesses."

"Oh, I think in this case it'd be good to make an exception."

Shrugging, the big detective asked, "Who is he?"

"I could be wrong," Rhyme said with the tone of a man who believed he rarely was, "but I have a feeling he's the Watchmaker."

Gerald Duncan sat on the curb, beside Sachs and Sellitto. He was handcuffed, stripped of his hat, sunglasses, several pairs of beige gloves, wallet and a bloody box cutter.

Unlike Dennis Baker's, his attitude was pleasant and cooperative-despite his being pulled to the ground, frisked and cuffed by three officers, Sachs among them, a woman not noted for her delicate touch on takedowns, particularly when it came to perps like this one.

His Missouri driver's license confirmed his identity and showed an address in St. Louis.

"Christ," Sellitto said, "how the hell'd you spot him?"

Rhyme's conclusion about the onlooker's identity wasn't as miraculous as it seemed. His belief that the Watchmaker might not have fled the scene arose before he'd noticed the man in the alley.

Pulaski said, "I've got him. The ME."

Rhyme leaned toward the phone that the rookie held out in a gloved hand and had a brief conversation with the doctor. The medical examiner delivered some very interesting information. Rhyme thanked him and nodded; Pulaski disconnected. The criminalist maneuvered the Storm Arrow wheelchair closer to Duncan.

"You're Lincoln Rhyme," the prisoner said, as if he was honored to meet the criminalist.

"That's right. And you're the quote Watchmaker."

The man gave a knowing laugh.

Rhyme looked him over. He appeared tired but gave off a sense of satisfaction-even peace.

With a rare smile Rhyme asked the suspect, "So. Who was he really? The victim in the alleyway. We can search public records for Theodore Adams, but that'd be a waste of time, wouldn't it?"

Duncan tipped his head. "You figured that out too?"

"What about Adams?" Sellitto asked. Then realized that there were broader questions that should be asked. "What's going on here, Linc?"

"I'm asking our suspect about the man we found in the alley yesterday morning, with his neck crushed. I want to know who he was and how he died."

"This asshole murdered him," Sellitto said.

"No, he didn't. I just talked to the medical examiner. He hadn't gotten back to us with the final autopsy but he just gave me the preliminary. The victim died about five or six P.M. on Monday, not at eleven. And he died instantly of massive internal injuries consistent with an automobile accident or fall. The crushed throat had nothing to do with it. The body was frozen solid when we found it the next morning, so the tour doc couldn't do an accurate field test for cause or time of death." Rhyme cocked his eyebrow. "So, Mr. Duncan. Who and how?"

Duncan explained, "Just some poor guy killed in a car crash up in Westchester. His name's James Pickering."

Rhyme urged, "Keep going. And remember, we're eager for answers."

"I heard about the accident on a police scanner. The ambulance took the body to the morgue in the county hospital. I stole the corpse from there."

Rhyme said to Sachs, "Call the hospital."

She did. After a brief conversation she reported, "A thirty-one-year-old male ran off the Bronx River Parkway about five Monday night. Lost control on a patch of ice. Died instantly, internal injuries. Name of James Pickering. The body went to the hospital but then it disappeared. They thought it might've been transferred to another hospital by mistake but they couldn't find it. The next of kin aren't taking it too well, as you can imagine."

"I'm sorry about that," Duncan said, and he did look troubled. "But I didn't have any choice. I have all his personal effects and I'll return them. And I'll pay for the funeral expenses myself."

"The ID and things in the wallet that we found on the body?" Sachs asked.

"Forgeries." Duncan nodded. "Wouldn't pass close scrutiny but I just needed people fooled for a few days."