Nick sipped the beer. "You believe me, don't you?"
Sachs cocked her head.
"About Donnie and everything. You never said."
Sachs gave him a smile. "I wouldn't've given you the file if I didn't. I wouldn't be here now."
"Thank you." Nick looked down at the carpet, which was worn in a particular configuration that she attributed to heels of the shoes worn by a heavy person's outstretched legs. She remembered when they would sit on the couch--yes, this very couch--it had a slipcover on it back then, but she could tell from the shape that it was the same. He put the carton of artifacts away. "How's the case coming? The guy screwing around with the appliances? Which is pretty sick, by the way."
"The case? Slow. He's smart, this perp." She sighed. "These controllers--they're in everything now. Our Computer Crimes contact said there'll be twenty-five billion embedded products in a few years."
"Embedded?"
"Smart controllers. Stoves, refrigerators, boilers, alarm systems, home monitors, medical equipment. All of them, with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth computers in them. He can hack into a pacemaker and shut it off."
"Jesus."
"You saw what happened with the escalator."
"I'm taking stairs now." Nick wasn't making a joke, it seemed. He added, "I saw a thing in the paper about what he's doing. And how these companies should fix their servers or something. In the cloud. To keep him out. Not all of them're doing it. You see that?"
She laughed. "I'm responsible."
"What?"
"I tipped a reporter off. There's a security patch that'll make it impossible for the unsub to hack into the controllers. But not everybody's installing it, looks like."
"I didn't see a press conference from One PP."
"Well, I didn't exactly share I was doing it. Going through channels would've taken too long."
"Some things in policing never change."
She lifted her wineglass to that.
"Domestic terrorism? That's his agenda?"
"The way it's looking. Ted Kaczynski sort."
After a moment, Nick asked, "How is he doing?"
"Who?"
"Your friend. Lincoln Rhyme."
"Healthy as can be expected. There are always risks." She told him about some of them, including potentially fatal dysreflexia, the rapid spike in blood pressure that can lead to stroke, brain damage and death. "But he takes good care of himself. He exercises--"
"What? How can he do that?"
"It's called FES. Functional electrical stimulation. Electrodes in the muscles..."
"Fifty Shades of Grey... Oh, hell, sorry. That was way out of line." He seemed to be blushing, not a typical aspect of Nick Carelli.
Sachs smiled. "Lincoln doesn't have pop culture on his compass much but if he knew what the book is, or the movie, he'd laugh and say, Hell yes. He's got a sense of humor about his condition."
"Hard for you?"
"Me? Yep. I saw the movie with a