The Coffin Dancer (Lincoln Rhyme 2)

"I'm not sure. It's just . . . well, that green fiber."

"Green fiber?" Talbot followed Rhyme's eyes to the evidence chart.

"Everyone seems to've forgotten about it. Except me."

"Man never forgets a single thing. Do you, Lincoln?"

"Not too often, Fred. Not too often. That fiber. Sachs--my partner--"

"I remember you," Talbot said, nodding toward her.

"She found it in the hangar that Hansen leased. It was in some trace materials near the window where Stephen Kall waited before he planted the bomb on Ed Carney's plane. She also found bits of brass and some white fibers and envelope glue. Which tells us that somebody left a key to the hangar in an envelope somewhere for Kall. But then I got to thinking--why did Kall need a key to break into an empty hangar? He was a pro. He could've broken into the place in his sleep. The only reason for the key was to make it look like Hansen had left it. To implicate him."

"But the hijacking," Talbot said, "when he killed those soldiers and stole the guns. Everybody knows he's a murderer."

"Oh, he probably is," Rhyme agreed. "But he didn't fly his airplane over Long Island Sound and play bombardier with those phone books. Somebody else did."

Percey stirred uneasily.

Rhyme continued, "Somebody who never thought we'd find the duffel bags."

"Who?" Talbot demanded.

"Sachs?"

She pulled three large evidence envelopes out of a canvas bag and rested them on the table.

Inside two of them were accounting books. The third contained a stack of white envelopes.

"Those came from your office, Talbot."

He gave a weak laugh. "I don't think you can just take those without a warrant."

Percey Clay frowned. "I gave them permission. I'm still head of the Company, Ron. But what're you saying, Lincoln?"

Rhyme regretted not sharing his suspicions with Percey before this; it was coming as a terrible shock. But he couldn't risk that she might tip their hand to Talbot. He'd covered his tracks so well until now.

Rhyme glanced at Mel Cooper, who said, "The green fiber that we found with the particles of key came from a ledger sheet. The white ones from an envelope. There's no doubt they match."

Rhyme continued, "They all came from your office, Talbot."

"What do you mean, Lincoln?" Percey gasped.

Rhyme said to Talbot, "Everybody at the airport knew Hansen was under investigation. You thought you'd use that fact. So you waited until one night when Percey and Ed and Brit Hale were working late. You stole Hansen's plane for the flight, you dumped the fake duffel bags. You hired the Dancer. I assume you'd heard about him on your jobs in Africa or the Far East. I made a few calls. You worked for the Botswana air force and the Burmese government advising them in buying used military airplanes. The Dancer told me he was paid a million for the hit." Rhyme shook his head. "That should have tipped me right there. Hansen could have had all three witnesses killed for a couple hundred thousand. Professional killing's definitely a buyer's market nowadays. A million told me that the man ordering the hit was an amateur. And that he had a lot of money at his disposal."

The scream rose from Percey Clay's mouth and she leapt for him. Talbot stood, backed up. "How could you?" she screamed. "Why?"

Dellray said, "My boys from financial crimes're looking over your books now. What we think we're gonna be finding is lots and lots of money that ain't where it oughta be."

Rhyme continued. "Hudson Air's a lot more successful than you were thinking, Percey. Only most of it was going into Talbot's pocket. He knew he was going to get caught someday and he needed to get you and Ed out of the way and buy the Company himself."

"The stock purchase option," she said. "As a partner he had a right to buy our interest from our estates at a discount if we die."

"This's bullshit. That guy was shooting at me too, remember."

"But you didn't hire Kall," Rhyme reminded. "You hired Jodie--the Coffin Dancer--and he sub-contracted the work with Kall. Who didn't know you from beans."

"How could you?" Percey repeated in a hollow voice. "Why? Why?"