The Vanished Man (Lincoln Rhyme 5)

Sellitto said, "Yeah, well that was a long time ago. We're a little more sophisticated than that now." To Rhyme and Sachs he said, "I'll take him downtown, see if he wants to share a little more with us."

But as they started for the doorway Rhyme said, "Hold on." His eyes were on the evidence chart.

"What?" Sellitto asked.

"When he got away from Larry Burke after the crafts fair he slipped the cuffs."

"Right."

"We found saliva, remember? Take a look in his mouth. See if he's got a pick or key hidden there."

Weir said, "I don't. Really."

Sellitto pulled on the latex gloves that Mel Cooper offered. "Open up. You bite me and I'll vanish your balls. Got it? One bite, no balls."

"Understood." The Conjurer opened his mouth and Sellitto shined his flashlight into it, fished around a bit. "Nothing."

Rhyme said, "There's another place we ought to check too."

Sellitto grunted. "I'll make sure they do that downtown, Linc. Some things I do not do for the money they pay me."

As the detective led Weir toward the door Kara said, "Wait. Check his teeth. Wiggle them. Especially the molars."

Weir stiffened as Sellitto approached. "You can't do that."

"Open up," the big detective snapped. "Oh, and the balls comment still applies."

The Conjurer sighed. "Right top molar. Right on my side, I mean."

Sellitto glanced at Rhyme then reached in and gently pulled. His hand emerged with a fake tooth. Inside was a small piece of bent metal. He dumped it on an examining board and replaced the tooth.

The detective said, "It's pretty small. He can actually use that?"

Kara examined it. "Oh, he could open a pair of regulation handcuffs in about four seconds with that."

"You're too much, Weir. Come on."

Rhyme thought of something. "Oh, Lon?" The detective glanced his way. "You have a feeling when he helped us find the pick in his tooth that might've been a little misdirection?"

Kara nodded. "You're right."

Weir looked disgusted as Sellitto searched again. This time the detective checked every tooth. He found a second lock pick in a similar fake tooth on the lower left jaw.

"I'm gonna make sure they put you someplace real special," the detective said ominously. He then called another officer into the room and had him shackle Weir's feet with two sets of cuffs.

"I can't walk this way," Weir complained in a wheeze.

"Baby steps," Sellitto said coldly. "Take baby steps."

Chapter Thirty-three

The man got the message at a diner on Route 244, which because he didn't have a phone in his trailer--didn't want one, didn't trust 'em--is where he took and made all his calls.

Sometimes a few days went by before he picked up the messages but because he was expecting an important call today he'd hurried--to the extent he ever hurried--to Elma's Diner right after Bible school.

Hobbs Wentworth was a bear-sized man with a thin red beard around his face and a fringe of curly hair, lighter than his beard. The word "career" was one that nobody in Canton Falls, New York, had ever associated with Hobbs, which wasn't to say that he didn't work like an ox. He'd give a man his money's worth, as long as the job was out of doors, didn't require too much calculating and his employer was a white Christian.

Hobbs was married to a quiet, dusty woman named Cindy, who spent most of her time homeschooling, cooking, sewing and visiting with women friends who did the same. Hobbs himself spent most of his time working and hunting and spending evenings with men friends, drinking and arguing (though most of these "arguments" should be called "agreements" since he and his buddies were all extremely like-minded).