The Burial Hour (Lincoln Rhyme 13)

"He says Mario wasn't badly hurt. The greatest injury was to his pride." Prescott shrugged. "But, then, isn't that often the case?"

Chapter 41

C apitano Rhyme glanced up as he was finishing a call to Amelia Sachs.

Ercole fell silent, noticing the phone.

Sachs, still in Milan, was reporting no success; it was almost certain that the clue they'd found--the Post-it note--was from Malek Dadi, not the Composer. For completeness's sake, she was taking soil samples in the warehouse, and photographing footprints. As for fingerprints, she'd found nearly three hundred latents, too many for a practical analysis. But the effort was surely futile; it was unlikely the Composer had any connection to the place.

Rhyme was disappointed, though not surprised. He was disappointed too that Sachs wouldn't be able to return to Naples until tomorrow. The crew of Mike Hill's private plane would stay in Switzerland that night and would collect Sachs in the morning, early.

She reported, though, that she'd found a great hotel, the Manin, across the street from what had been the famed Milan zoo. It was also within walking distance of La Scala, the opera house, and the Duomo, the Milan cathedral. She was lukewarm about tourist sites but would probably hit them, since there wasn't time to do what she really wanted: head out to Maranello--the home of Ferrari--and take an F1 out on the track for a joyride.

Rhyme now looked up at the Forestry officer. "Yes, yes, Ercole. Tell me." He nodded too to Thom, indicia of his thanks.

"Beatrice Renza has finished her analysis of the evidence." Ercole lowered his voice, unnecessarily, for they were alone. "In the Soames case. I will report to you now. First, about the apartment where the attack occurred."

Ercole walked to the desk and found the yellow pad that the unauthorized investigative team was using for the renegade assignment--the mini chart. He wrote carefully, apparently recalling his bad marks for penmanship:

The Smoking Station, Natalia Garelli's Apartment, Via Carlo Cattaneo

--Trace: --Acetic acid.

--Acetone.

--Ammonia.

--Ammonium oxalate.

--Ash.

--Benzene.

--Butane.

--Cadmium.

--Calcium.

--Carbon monoxide.

--Cumin.

--Enzymes: --Protease.

--Lipases.

--Amylases.

--Hexamine.

--Methanol.

--Nicotine.

--Phosphates.

--Potassium.