The Steel Kiss (Lincoln Rhyme 12)

"Gramercy Park is just as dangerous if that's where you get shot."

She smiled. "I can't talk you out of this?"

"No."

"Then I'll forget all about it on one condition. You don't agree, I'll report you and get your ass suspended for a month."

"What condition?"

"I don't want you on this alone. You go to meet Oden, I want somebody with you. Anybody you know who can back you up?"

Pulaski thought for a moment. "I've got a name in mind."

Lincoln Rhyme dialed Sachs's mobile.

No response. He'd called twice already this morning, once early--at 6 a.m. She hadn't picked up then either.

He was in the lab with Juliette Archer and Mel Cooper. The hour was early but they were already looking over the evidence chart and kicking ideas back and forth like players in a soccer game. A simile Rhyme had used coyly, given the sedentary nature of two of the participants.

Cooper said, "Got something here."

Rhyme wheeled over to him, his chair nearly colliding with Archer's.

"It's the varnish that Amelia found at one of the earlier scenes. It just came in from the bureau's database."

Braden Manufacturing, Rich-Cote.

"Took their sweet time."

Cooper continued, "Used in fine furniture making. Not for floors or general carpentry. Expensive."

"Sold in how many stores?" Archer asked.

The appropriate question.

"That's the bad news," Mel Cooper offered. "It's one of the most common varnishes on the market. I make it a hundred twenty retail locations in the area. And they sell it in bulk direct to furniture operations. Big ones and small. And--not to brighten everyone's day--they also sell it online through a half-dozen resellers."

"Write it up on the chart, would you?" a discouraged Lincoln Rhyme muttered to Archer.

Silence filled the parlor.

"I, uh."

"Oh, right," Rhyme said. "Sorry. Forgot. Mel, write it up."

The officer added the brand and manufacturer in his fine penmanship.

Archer said, "Even if there're a lot of outlets I'll start canvassing stores that sell it. See if anybody recognizes our unsub."

Rhyme said, "There's also a chance that the unsub--"

Archer continued, "--works for the store. I've thought of that. I figured I'd do some preliminary. Check out the shops and see if they have employee pictures. Their websites, Facebook, Twitter. Maybe softball teams. Charities, blood drives."

"Good." Rhyme wheeled again to the charts and examined them. He felt prodded by urgency. Now that they'd confirmed that the People's Guardian, their Unsub 40, was a serial performer, they had every reason to suspect that he would move again soon. That was often the nature of multiple criminals. Whatever motivated them, sexual pleasure or terrorist statement, lust tended to accelerate the frequency of their kills.

Until tomorrow...

There came the sound of a key in the lock, the door opening and footsteps in the front hall.