"Two percent."
"Good. And any of those cookies from last time? The chocolate chip ones?"
"Just oatmeal."
"Those're good too."
"Mel?" Thom asked. "You want something?"
"If I eat or drink near an examining table, I get yelled at."
Rhyme snapped, "It's hardly my fault if defense lawyers have this thing about excluding contaminated evidence. I didn't make the rules."
Sellitto observed, "See your mood hasn't improved. What's going on in London?"
"Now that's a subject I don't want to talk about."
"Well, just to improve your spirits we got another problem."
"Malloy?"
"Yep. He heard Amelia was running a scene and I okayed an ESU action. He got all happy thinking it was the Dienko case, then all sad when he found out it wasn't. He asked if it was connected with you. I'll take a fist on the chin for you, Linc, but not a bullet. I dimed you out. . . . Oh, thanks." Nodding as Thom brought him the refreshments. The aide set a similar offering on a table not far from Cooper, who pulled on latex gloves and started on a cookie.
"Some scotch, if you please," Rhyme said quickly.
"No." Thom was gone.
Scowling, Rhyme said, "I figured Malloy'd bust us as soon as ESU was involved. But we need brass on our side now that it's a hot case. What do we do?"
"Better think of something fast 'cause he wants us to call. Like a half hour ago." He sipped more coffee and, with some reluctance, set down the remaining quarter of his cookie with the apparent resolve not to finish it.
"Well, I need the brass on board. We've got to have people out there looking for this guy."
"Then let's call. You ready?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Sellitto dialed a number. Hit SPEAKER.
"Lower the volume," Rhyme said. "I suspect this could be loud."
"Malloy here." Rhyme could hear the sounds of the wind, voices and the clink of dishes or glassware. Maybe he was at an outdoor cafe.
"Captain, you're on speaker with Lincoln Rhyme and me."
"Okay, what the hell is going on? You could've told me that the ESU operation was what Lincoln called me about earlier. Did you know I deferred the decision about any operation till tomorrow?"
"No, he didn't," Rhyme said.
The detective blurted, "Yeah, but I knew enough to figure it out."
"I'm touched you're both taking the heat for each other but the question is why didn't you tell me?"
Sellitto said, "'Cause we had a good chance to collar a rapist-murderer. I decided we couldn't afford any delays."
"I'm not a child, Lieutenant. You make your case to me and I'll make the judgment. That's how it's supposed to work."
"Sorry, Captain. It seemed like the right decision at the time."