Lincoln Child - Dance Of Death

D'Agosta glanced at her. "Can't say that I did."

"The colonial doctors frequently imported the European leech, Hirudinea annelida, because it was able to take in much more blood than Macrobetta decora."

"Macrobetta decora?"

"The American leech, Lieutenant." And Constance returned to her book.

Call me Vincent, D'Agosta thought as he looked reflectively at her.

He wasn't all that sure how much longer he was going to be a lieutenant, anyway.

His mind wandered to the previous afternoon, and the humiliating internal affairs hearing. On the one hand, it had been a huge relief: Singleton had been good to his word and the whole misadventure had been chalked up to an undercover operation gone awry, in which D'Agosta had displayed poor judgment, made errors-one of the board had termed him "maybe the stupidest cop on the force" -but in the end they found he had not willfully committed any felonies. The list of misdemeanors was ugly enough.

Stupidity was better than felony, Singleton had told him afterward. There would be more hearings, but his future as an NYPD cop-as any kind of cop-was very much in question.

Hayward, of course, had testified. Her testimony had been delivered in a resolutely neutral voice, employing the usual police jargon, and not once- not once -had she glanced in his direction. But in its own way, the testimony had been effective in helping him escape some of the heavier charges.

Once again, he dragged the Diogenes file into his lap, feeling a sudden stab of futility. Ten days before, he had been in this same room, looking at this same file, again without Pendergast there to guide him. Only now, four people had been murdered, and Pendergast, instead of being "dead," was in Bellevue, undergoing some kind of psych evaluation. D'Agosta had learned nothing helpful then- what could he possibly learn now?

But he had to keep plugging. They'd taken everything away from him: his career, his relationship with Hayward, his closest friend- everything. There was only one thing left for him to do: prove Pendergast's innocence. And to do that, he needed to find Diogenes.

A faint buzzer sounded in the depths of the house. Someone was at the door.

Constance looked up. For the briefest of moments, naked fear- and something else, something ineffable-showed in her face before a veil of blankness came down.

D'Agosta stood up. "It's okay. Probably just neighborhood kids, playing around. I'll check it out."

He put the file aside, stood up, surreptitiously checked his weapon, then began walking toward the library door. But even as he did, he saw Proctor approaching from across the reception hall.

"A gentleman here to see you, sir," Proctor said.

"You took the necessary precautions?" D'Agosta asked.

"Yes, sir, I-"

But just then, a man in a wheelchair came into view in the gallery behind Proctor. D'Agosta stared in astonishment as he recognized Eli Glinn, the head of Effective Engineering Solutions.

The man brushed past both Proctor and D'Agosta and wheeled himself toward one of the library tables. With a brusque motion of his arm, he shoved aside several stacks of books, clearing off a space. Then he deposited a load of papers on the table: blueprints, plats, building plans, mechanical and electrical diagrams.

Constance had risen and was standing, book in hand, looking on.

"What are you doing here?" D'Agosta asked. "How did you find this place?"

"Never mind that," said the man, turning to D'Agosta with a gleam in his good eye. "Last Sunday, I made a promise."

He raised his black-gloved hand, and in it was a slender manila folder. He laid it on the table.

"And there you have it: a preliminary psychological profile of Diogenes Dagrepont Bernoulli Pendergast. Updated, I might add, to reflect these most recent events-at least what I could glean of them from the news reports and my sources. I'm counting on you to tell me more."

"There's a lot more."

Glinn glanced over. "And you must be Constance."

She nodded in a way that was almost a curtsy.

"I'll need your help, too."

"I shall be glad."

"Why this sudden interest?" D'Agosta asked. "I had the impression-"

"The impression that I wasn't giving it a high priority? I wasn't. At the time, it seemed a relatively unimportant problem, a way to earn an easy fee. But then, this happened." And he tapped the manila folder. "There may not be a more dangerous man in the world."

"I don't get it."

A grim smile gathered on Glinn's lips. "You will when you read the profile."

D'Agosta nodded toward the table. "And what are all these other papers?"

"Blueprints and mechanical plans for the maximum security wing of the Herkmoor Correctional Facility in upstate New York."

"Why?"

"I should think the 'why' would be obvious. My client, Agent Pendergast."

"But Pendergast is in Bellevue, not Herkmoor."

"He'll be in Herkmoor soon enough."

D'Agosta glanced at Glinn in astonishment. "You don't mean we're going to… to bust him out?"

"I do."

Constance drew in a sharp breath.

"That's one of the worst pens in the country. No one's ever escaped from Herkmoor."

Glinn continued to stare at D'Agosta. "I'm aware of that."

"You think it's even possible?"

"Anything's possible. But I must have your help."

D'Agosta looked down at the papers and blueprints thrown across the table. Everything conceivable was there-diagrams and drawings of every technical, structural, electrical, and mechanical system in the building. Then he glanced at Constance. She nodded almost imperceptibly.

Finally, he looked back at Glinn's one glittering eye. For the first time in a long while, he felt a fierce, sudden rush of hope.

"I'm in," he said. "So help me God, I'm in."

Another smile spread across Glinn's scarred face. He gave the pile of papers a light slap with his gloved hand. "Come on, my friends- we've got work to do."