He started away.
Ron Pulaski said, "Oh, hey, look."
The man slowly pivoted. Pulaski was pointing at something in the street a few feet away from them. It was a twenty-dollar bill.
"You drop that?" Pulaski asked.
"Me. Ha."
"If we take it, we have to report it. Pain in the ass."
"Bullshit."
Sachs, playing along. "True. Rules."
Pulaski said, "You go ahead and take it. Finders keepers. Simon says."
"Think I will. There's a reason you get half sandwiches in the trash. Nobody throws out a good sandwich." He scooped up the money with his long, sinewy fingers and pocketed it.
Sachs nodded to Pulaski, acknowledging the goo
d deed. It had never occurred to her to handle the gift that way.
The man wandered off, muttering to himself.
"How long, you think?" she asked.
"Before backup? Eight, nine minutes."
"He can't've gotten very far. Let's check the ground for footprints. See if we can find which way he went, size thirteens."
They began to walk a lazy grid in search of tread marks. The search was, of course, slowed by the fact that each officer looked up from time to time, searching for a threat.
Just because Unsub 40 had not shot anyone yet didn't mean he wasn't willing and able to try.
CHAPTER 19
Thom had dropped Evers Whitmore and Lincoln Rhyme off in front of the building that housed the blogger's office, whose address Juliette Archer had tracked down, and drove off to park the accessible van in a lot a few blocks away.
The lawyer once again pressed the button on the intercom. Social Engineering Second-ly. It was on the top floor.
Still no answer.
"We can keep looking," Whitmore said. "There have to be other people who've researched the DataWise."
But Rhyme wanted the man who'd written the piece that Archer had found. He wanted to know exactly what kind of ambient radio waves had caused it to activate.
Expert witness...
A perfect one.
Whitmore gazed around the deserted streets. "We can leave a note, I suppose."
"No," Rhyme said. "He'll never contact us. We know where he works now. Let's come back later. We can--"
"What was that?" Whitmore said quickly.
Rhyme too had heard the scrape of sole on the cobblestones. Around the corner, it seemed.