The Broken Window (Lincoln Rhyme 8)

Rhyme felt the excitement of moving forward in the hunt. "And Five Twenty-Two knows enough about his victims to get close to them, get inside their defenses. He knows enough about the fall guys to plant evidence that's identical to what they have at home."

"And," Sellitto added, "he knows exactly where they were at the time of the crime. So they won't have an alibi."

Sachs looked over the tiny tag. "Jorgensen said his life started to fall apart around the time he got that book."

"Where'd he buy it? Any receipts or price stickers, Mel?"

"Nope. If there were he cut them out."

"Call Jorgensen back. Let's get him in here."

Sachs pulled out her phone and called the transient hotel where she'd just met with him. She was frowning. "Already?" she asked the clerk.

Doesn't bode well, Rhyme reflected.

"He's moved out," she said after hanging up. "But I know where he's going." She found a slip of paper, placed another call. Though after a brief conversation she hung up, sighing. Jorgensen wasn't at that hotel either, she said; he hadn't even called to make a reservation.

"Do you have a cell number?"

"He doesn't have a phone. He doesn't trust them. But he knows my number. If we're lucky he'll call." Sachs walked closer to the tiny d

evice. "Mel. Cut the wire off. The antenna."

"What?"

"Jorgensen said now that we've got the book, we're infected too. Cut it off."

Cooper shrugged and glanced at Rhyme, who thought the idea was absurd. Still, Amelia Sachs didn't spook easily. "Sure, go ahead. Just make a notation on the chain-of-custody card. 'Evidence rendered safe.' "

A phrase usually reserved for bombs and handguns.

Rhyme then lost interest in the RFID. He looked up. "All right. Until we hear from him, let's speculate. . . . Come on, folks. Be ballsy. I need some thoughts here! We've got a perp who can get his hands on all this goddamn information about people. How? He knows everything the fall guys bought. Fishing line, kitchen knives, shave cream, fertilizer, condoms, duct tape, rope, beer. There've been four victims and four fall guys--at least. He can't follow everybody around, he doesn't break into their houses."

"Maybe he's a clerk at one of those big discount stores," Cooper suggested.

"But DeLeon bought some of the evidence at Home Depot--you can't buy condoms and snack food there."

"Maybe Five Twenty-Two works for a credit card company?" Pulaski suggested. "He can see what people buy that way."

"Not bad, rookie, but some of the time the vics must've paid cash."

It was Thom, surprisingly, who provided one answer. He fished out his keys. "I heard Mel mention the discount cards earlier." He displayed several small plastic cards on his key chain. One for A&P, one for Food Emporium. "I swipe the card and get a discount. Even if I pay cash the store still knows what I bought."

"Good," Rhyme said. "But where do we go from there? We're still looking at dozens of different sources the victims and fall guys shopped at."

"Ah."

Rhyme looked at Sachs, who was staring at the evidence board with a faint smile on her face. "I think I've got it."

"What?" Rhyme asked, expecting the clever application of a forensic principle.

"Shoes," she said simply. "The answer's shoes."

Chapter Fifteen

"It's not just about knowing generally what people buy," Sachs explained. "It's knowing the specifics about all the vics and the fall guys. Look at three of the crimes. Your cousin's case, the Myra Weinburg case and the coin theft. Five Twenty-Two not only knew the kind of shoe the fall guys wore. He knew the sizes."

Rhyme said, "Good. Let's find out where DeLeon Williams and Arthur buy their footwear."