The Steel Kiss (Lincoln Rhyme 12)

Archer thought Queens was too restrictive, even though Rhyme's soil database, which, yes, he'd compiled years ago at the NYPD, suggested that the trace Sachs had found came from the eastern portion of the borough, where it bordered Nassau County.

She explained her reasoning: "I'll give you that the soil material might've originated in Queens. But how many gardening and landscaping businesses are there? Tons."

"Tons?" Rhyme's tone sneered at the imprecise word.

"Many," Archer corrected. "It could have been shipped to a resort in Westchester, where it picked up the herbicides and fertilizer. Or a golf course on Staten Island, for a dirt trap or something there--"

Rhyme said, "I don't think they have those at golf courses. Dirt traps."

"Whatever they might have, the courses order landscaping supplies and soil from Queens and have them shipped to New Jersey, Connecticut, the Bronx," she replied. "Our unsub might've picked the trace in Bergen County, where he lives or works, and left a sample at the scene. He does woodworking at a posh country club there."

"Possibly. But we play the odds," Rhyme explained. "It's more likely than not that our perp was in Queens when he picked up the humus."

Archer would not back down. "Lincoln, when we do medical investigations in epidemiology, tracing infectious diseases, the worst thing you can do is draw a conclusion prematurely. Do you know the myopia study?"

Nearsightedness was relevant why? Rhyme wondered. "Missed it." His own eyes were on the single-malt whisky bottle, perfectly in focus but hovering just out of reach.

Archer continued, "A few years ago some doctors noticed that children who slept with the lights on were more likely to develop myopia. The MDs began to create programs to modify children's sleeping habits, change the lighting in the room, arrange for counseling if children were anxious in the dark. Lots of money was spent on campaigns to reduce myopia."

"And

?"

"The researchers got the causation fixed in their head at the beginning. Lights on leads to myopia."

Despite his impatience he was intrigued. "But that wasn't the case."

"Nope. Myopia is genetic. Because of their vision problems, parents with severe myopia tended to leave the lights on in their children's rooms more frequently than parents with normal eyesight. Leaving lights on didn't cause myopia; it followed from myopia. And that causation error set research back years. My point, in our case, is that if we're convinced he has a connection with Queens, we'll stop looking at the other possibilities. Once you get something into your head do you know how hard it is to dislodge?"

"Like the Pachelbel Canon? I truly dislike that piece of music."

"I find it lovely."

Rhyme said stridently, "We know for a fact he has a Queens connection. White Castle burgers and the car service he used there. Probably some shops he goes to. The plastic bag, recall?"

"That's western Queens. By the East River. The soil and fertilizer are from miles away, east. Look, I'm not saying ignore Queens but give it gradiently less importance."

He didn't believe he'd ever heard that adverb.

Archer persisted. "Look for other locales in the New York City area where landscaping supplies from Queens were delivered. That's all. He might've picked up the trace in the Bronx or Newark, New Jersey."

"Or Montana," Rhyme mused with the cool, sardonic tone he quite loved. "Let's get a dozen officers together and have them canvass Helena for somebody who visited an eastern Queens landscaping company for a lawn gnome."

Patience finally depleting, Mel Cooper brandished the marker again and asked, "What do you want me to write up on the board?"

Rhyme said, "Put the humus originated in Queens but that our perp might have picked it up in Montana. No, let's start alphabetically. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas..."

"Lincoln. It's getting late," Cooper said.

He asked Archer, "Can you live with Queens with a question mark?"

"Two question marks," she countered.

Ridiculous. Did the woman ever back down? "All right. Two goddamn question marks."

Cooper wrote.

Rhyme said, "And don't forget the 'well-tended lawn.'" He glanced at Archer, who seemed to have no objections.