The Broken Window (Lincoln Rhyme 8)

"And they want us to hold off on the investigation, at least as far as SSD's involved. But we've got another problem. Amelia's missing."

"What?" Sellitto barked.

"Looks that way. I don't know where she was going after she went to her town house. She never called. . . . Oh, Christ, the power was out, the phones were off. Check voice mail. Maybe she called."

Cooper dialed the number. And they learned that Sachs had called. But she'd said only that she was following up on a lead and said nothing more. She asked that Rhyme call her and she'd explain.

Rhyme jammed his eyes closed in frustration.

A lead . . .

To where? One of their suspects. He gazed at the chart.

Andrew Sterling, President, Chief Executive Officer Alibi--on Long Island, verified. Confirmed by son Sean Cassel, Director of Sales and Marketing No alibi

Wayne Gillespie, Director of Technical Operations No alibi

Samuel Brockton, Director, Compliance Department Alibi--hotel records confirm presence in Washington Peter Arlonzo-Kemper, Director of Human Resources Alibi--with wife, verified by her (biased?) Steven Shraeder, Technical Service and Support Manager, day shift Alibi--in office, according to time sheets Faruk Mameda, Technical Service and Support Manager, night shift No alibi

Alibi for groundskeeper's killing (in office, according to time sheets) Client of SSD (?)

Robert Carpenter (?)

UNSUB recruited by Andrew Sterling (?) Runnerboy?

Did the lead involve one of them?

"Lon, go check out Carpenter."

"What, like, 'Hi, I used to be a cop but will you let me question you 'cause I'm such a nice person even though you don't have to'?"

"Yeah, Lon, just like that."

Sellitto turned to Cooper. "Mel, gimme your shield."

"My shield?" the tech asked nervously.

"I won't get it scratched," the big man muttered.

"I'm more worried about getting me suspended."

"Welcome to the fucking club." Sellitto took the badge and got Carpenter's address from Pulaski. "I'll let you know what happens."

"Lon, be careful. Five Twenty-Two's feeling cornered. He's going to hit back hard. And remember he's--"

"The son of a bitch who knows everything." Sellitto stalked out of the lab.

Rhyme noticed Pulaski staring at the charts. "Detective?"

"What?"

"There's something else I'm thinking of." He tapped the whiteboard containing the suspects' names. "Andrew Sterling's alibi. Well, when he was on Long Island he told me his son was hiking in Westchester. He'd called Andy from out of town, and we could see the time in his phone records. That checked out."

"So?"

"Well, I remembered Sterling said his son took the train to Westchester. But when I talked to Andy, he said he drove up there." Pulaski cocked his head. "And there's something else, sir. The day the groundskeeper was killed, I checked the time sheets. I saw Andy's name. He left right after Miguel Abrera, the janitor. I mean, seconds afterwards. I didn't think about it because Andy wasn't a suspect."

"But the son doesn't have any access to innerCircle," Cooper said, nodding at the suspect chart.