He shoved splinters under the door to wedge it shut.
"Arrested?" Mary Beth asked. "Then what're you doing here?"
Finally the redhead spoke. In a mumbling voice she said, "I got him out of jail. So we could find you and bring you back. And you could back up his story about the man in the overalls."
"What man?" Mary Beth asked, confused.
"At Blackwater Landing. The man in the tan overalls, the one who killed Billy Stail."
"But..." She shook her head. "Garrett killed Billy. He hit him with a shovel. I saw him. It happened right in front of me. Then he kidnapped me."
Mary Beth had never seen such an expression on another human being. Complete shock and dismay. The redhead started to turn toward Garrett but then something caught her eye: the rows of Farmer John canned fruits and vegetables. She walked slowly toward the table, as if she were sleepwalking, and picked one up. Stared at the picture on the label--a cheerful blond farmer wearing tan overalls and a white shirt.
"You made it up?" she whispered to Garrett, holding the can up. "There was no man. You lied to me."
Garrett stepped forward, fast as a grasshopper, and pulled a pair of handcuffs off the redhead's belt. He ratcheted them onto her wrists.
"I'm sorry, Amelia," he said. "But if I'd told you the truth you never would've got me out. It was the only way. I had to get back here. I had to get back to Mary Beth."
... chapter thirty-six
FOUND AT THE SECONDARY CRIME SCENE--MILL
Brown Paint on Pants
Sundew Plant
Clay
Peat Moss
Fruit Juice
Paper Fibers
Stinkball Bait
Sugar
Camphene
Alcohol
Kerosene
Yeast
Obsessively Lincoln Rhyme's eyes scanned the evidence chart. Top to bottom, bottom to top.
Then again.
Why the hell was the damn chromatograph taking so long? he wondered.
Jim Bell and Mason Germain sat nearby, both silent. Lucy had called in a few minutes before to say that they'd lost the trail and were waiting north of the trailer--at Location C-5.
The chromatograph rumbled and everyone in the room remained still, waiting for the results.
Silence for long minutes, finally broken by Ben Kerr's voice. He spoke to Rhyme in a soft voice. "They used to call me it, you know. What you're probably thinking."