The Empty Chair

And part of him hated Amelia Sachs too – for engineering this whole diversion and taking him away from his shark cells and Dr. Weaver's hands.

"Well, sir -"

"' Lincoln ' is fine."

"The thing is I specialize in marine sociozoology."

"Which is?" Rhyme asked impatiently.

"Basically, the behavior of marine animal life."

Oh, great, Rhyme thought. Not only do I get a crip-phobe for an assistant but I get one who's a fish shrink. "Well, it doesn't matter. You're a scientist. Principles are principles. Protocols are protocols. You've used a gas chromatograph?"

"Yessir."

"And compound and comparison microscopes?"

An affirmative nod though not as assertive as Rhyme would have liked. "But…" Looking at Bell for a moment then returning obediently to Rhyme's face. "… Aunt Lucy just asked me to stop by. I didn't know she meant I was supposed to help you on a case… I'm not really sure… I mean, I have classes -"

"Ben, you have to help us," Rhyme said curtly.

The sheriff explained, "Garrett Hanlon."

Ben let the name settle in his massive head somewhere. "Oh, that kid in Blackwater Landing."

The sheriff explained about the kidnappings and Ed Schaeffer's wasp attack.

"Gosh, I'm sorry about Ed," Ben said. "I met him once at Aunt Lucy's house and -"

"So we need you," Rhyme said, trying to steer the conversation back on track.

"We don't have a clue where he's gone with Lydia," the sheriff continued. "And we hardly have any time left to save those women. And, well, as you can see – Mr. Rhyme, he needs somebody to help him."

"Well…" A glance toward, but not at, Rhyme. "It's just I have this test coming up. I'm in school and all. Like I said."

Rhyme said patiently, "We don't really have any options here, Ben. Garrett's got three hours on us and he could kill either of his victims at any time – if he hasn't already."

The zoologist looked around the dusty room for a reprieve and found none. "Guess I can stick around for a little while, sir."

"Thank you," Rhyme said. He inhaled into the controller and swung around to the table on which the instruments rested. He stopped and surveyed them. He looked over at Ben. "Now, if you could just change my catheter we'll get to work."

The big man looked stricken. Whispered, "You want me to…"

"It's a joke," Thom said.

But Ben didn't smile. He just nodded uneasily and with the grace of a bison walked over to the chromatograph and began studying the control panel.

Sachs jogged into the impromptu lab in the County Building, Jesse Corn keeping up the speedy pace beside her.

Moving more leisurely, Lucy Kerr joined them a moment later. She said hello to her nephew Ben and introduced the huge man to Sachs and Jesse. Sachs held up one cluster of bags. "This is the evidence from Garrett's room," she said, then held up more bags. "This is from Blackwater Landing – the primary scene."

Rhyme looked at the bags but did so with some discouragement. Not only was there very little physical evidence but Rhyme was troubled again by what had occurred to him earlier: he had to analyze the clues without any firsthand knowledge of the surrounding area.

Fish out of water …

He had a thought.

"Ben, how long've you lived here?" the criminalist asked.

"All my life, sir."

"Good. What's this general area of the state called?"

He cleared his throat. "I guess the Northern Coastal Plain."

"You have any friends who're geologists who specialize in the area? Cartographers? Naturalists?"

"No. They're all marine biologists."

"Rhyme," Sachs said, "when we were at Blackwater Landing I saw that barge, remember? It was shipping asphalt or tar paper from a factory near here."

"Henry Davett's company," Lucy said.

Sachs asked, "Would they have a geologist on staff?"

"I don't know about that," Bell said, "but Davett, he's an engineer and's lived here for years. Probably knows the land as good as anybody."

"Give him a call, will you?"

"You bet." Bell disappeared. He returned a moment later. "I got Davett. There's no geologist on staff but he said he might be able to help. He'll be over in a half hour." Then the sheriff asked, "So, Lincoln, how do you want to handle the pursuit?"

"I'll be here, with you and Ben. We're going to go through the evidence. I want a small search party over at Blackwater Landing now – to where Jesse saw Garrett and Lydia disappear. I'll guide the team as best I can, depending on what the evidence shows."

"Who do you want on the team?"

"Sachs in charge," Rhyme said. "Lucy with her."

Bell nodded and Rhyme noticed that Lucy gave no reaction to these orders about the chain of command.

"I'd like to volunteer," Jesse Corn said quickly.

Bell looked at Rhyme, who nodded. Then he said, "Probably one other."

"Four people? That's all?" Bell asked, frowning. "Hell, I could get dozens of volunteers."

"No, less is better in a case like this."

"Who's the fourth?" Lucy asked. "Mason Germain?"

Rhyme looked at the doorway, could see nobody outside. He lowered his voice. "What's Mason's story? He's got some history. I don't like cops with histories. I like blank slates."

Bell shrugged. "The man's had a tough life. He grew up north of the Paquo – the wrong side of the tracks. Father tried to make a go of it at a couple businesses and then started ru

Rhyme observed, "And he's gu

"You got that right."

"Why?"

"Mason just about begged to be lead investigator on that case we were telling you about – the girl got stung to death in Blackwater. Meg Blanchard. Truth be told, I think the victim had, you know, some co

Rhyme shook his head. "We don't need hotheads in an operation like this. Pick somebody else."

"Ned Spoto?" Lucy suggested.

Bell shrugged. "He's a good man. Sure. Can shoot good but he also won't unless he for sure has to."

Rhyme said, "Just make sure Mason's nowhere near the search."

"He won't like it."

"That's not a consideration," Rhyme said. "Find something else for him to do. Something that sounds important."

"I'll do the best I can," Bell said uncertainly.

Steve Farr leaned into the doorway. "Just called the hospital," he a

"Has he said anything? About the map he saw?"

"Not a word. Still unconscious."

Rhyme turned to Sachs. "Okay… Get going. Hold up where the trail stops in Blackwater Landing and wait to hear from me."

Lucy was looking uncertainly at the bags of evidence. "You really think this's the way to find those girls?"

"I know it is," Rhyme answered shortly.

She said skeptically, "Seems a little too much like magic to me."

Rhyme laughed. "Oh, that's exactly what it is. Sleight of hand, pulling rabbits out of hats. But remember that illusion is based on… on what, Ben?"

The big man cleared his throat, blushed and shook his head. "Uhm, don't quite know what you mean, sir."