The Burial Hour (Lincoln Rhyme 13)

Spiro regarded her with his narrow eyes. "Your operation...The fake kidnapping in New York, the real kidnappings here, the release of a psychotic patient, exotic drugs...So very much work. So very complicated."

McKenzie didn't hesitate. She said evenly, "You could try to fly from here to Tuscany by balloon and, if the winds cooperated and with some luck, end up in the vicinity of Florence, after a day or so. Or you could get into a jet and be in the city, efficiently and quickly, whatever the conditions, in one hour. A balloon is a very simple way to travel. A jet much more complicated. But what's the most effective?"

Rhyme was sure she had made this argument before--probably before a Senate or House finance committee.

McKenzie continued, "I'll tell you my background...and the background of the director of our organization."

Rossi said, "Intelligence officers usually come from the military or other branches of government. Academia sometimes."

"Well, I was government service and he was army intelligence, but before that: I was a producer in Hollywood, working on indie films. He was an actor in college and worked on Broadway some. We have experience turning the implausible into the believable. And do you know what people buy into the most? The biggest fantasies. So outrageous that nobody thinks to question them. Hence, Stefan Merck, the psychotic kidnapper, composing waltzes to die by. How could he possibly be involved in espionage? And even if he told anyone, why, he'd be dismissed as crazy."

Sachs said, "Still, even if nobody questioned your cover story, picking Stefan was risky--he was committed for kidnapping, assault and attempted murder."

"Those are the bald facts," McKenzie said. "But it's more complicated than that. A few years ago, while Stefan was an outpatient at a facility in Philadelphia, he saw a male nurse abusing patients, some very disabled. The nurse was reported but the executives at the hospital did nothing about it, and he went on abusing women, but was just more careful.

"Stefan found out where the man lived and broke in. He taped the man to a chair--that was the kidnapping charge--and put homemade earphones on the man. He hooked them to a sound generator and turned up the volume so high that it ruptured the man's eardrums. He's permanently deaf."

"The attempted murder?"

"Apparently if you play sound loud enough for a long-enough period of time, it can be fatal. Stefan's lawyers claimed that wasn't his intention. I'm sure it wasn't. To Stefan, being deaf is worse than dying. His psych evaluation led the judge to rule he wasn't fit for trial, and he was committed indefinitely."

"How did you find him?" Spiro asked.

"We wanted a functioning mental patient, with a history of schizophrenic behavior. We searched, okay, hacked medical records. Stefan seemed like a good possibility. The deal you were talking about, Lincoln? I told him if he helped us, I guaranteed he'd be moved to a nicer facility. He'd have access to music, the Internet. He'd get an electronic keyboard. He was starved for his music, for his collection of sounds. He'd be in Harmony if I'd do that, he said."

Rhyme recalled that Stefan's doctor, the director of the mental facility, had said much the same.

McKenzie said, "No, Stefan is unsettling but he's not dangerous. He's actually quite timid. Shy. He met a girl the other day. He was having an episode, so he went to downtown Naples. The noise, the chaos in the streets helps him. Calms him down. It's silence that's bad for him. Anyway, he met this girl. Her name was Lilly. He went with her to the Fontanelle Cemetery--an underground cavern here."

Rossi and Spiro nodded, obviously familiar with it.

She said, "An unstable person might have hurt her, assaulted her. But you know what he did? He secretly recorded her footsteps. Apparently he loved the sound her boots made in the cavern. After, he drove her home. That's the kind of 'danger' Stefan Merck represents. And, yes, the rifle shots? Only to scare you off."

Sachs said, "But Garry Soames? He could have been convicted."

"No. That wouldn't've happened. We hav

e absolute proof that Natalia Garelli assaulted Frieda. As soon as the operation was completed here--"

Sachs shook her head with dawning awareness. "You have the goddamn CCTV video from the hotel across the street."

McKenzie was nodding. "We hacked the security system and downloaded it, then overwrote their drive. It clearly showed Natalia committed the crime. I'll send it to the police tomorrow."

The comment about the security tape reminded Rhyme of something. "And the videos Stefan made? You had him do that?"

"No, no. His own idea, actually. We thought he might leave a noose and maybe a note to the press. But he thought the video would make the world think he was truly psychotic."

"Why the waltz?" Spiro asked.

"He loves them, for some reason. He's never told me why. Something about his parents, I think. This might be too tidy, but they weren't married when he was born. He was ten when they got married. I saw a picture of them dancing together. Stefan was there, watching them. She had problems too, drinking and prescription drugs--and serial affairs. She eventually killed herself. His father just vanished. disappeared. Maybe he associates waltzes with a happier time. Or a sad time. I don't know. He told me he found his mother's body in the family cellar."

"She hanged herself?"

"That's right." McKenzie shook her head. "What a terrible thing for a child to see."

Explains a few things, Rhyme reflected. In this line of work you reject the obvious, and dig for unnecessary subtlety, at your peril.

"He wouldn't say anything more. No reason for him to. We're close in some ways. Close enough so that he does whatever I ask him to. Well, whatever Euterpe tells him."