The Kill Room

Excellent call, Rhyme reflected.

“I’ll order the forensics unit to the spit of land to look for the sniper’s nest.” McPherson turned his broad face to Mychal Poitier. “Corporal, you will escort Captain Rhyme and his associates to the South Cove I

“It is, sir.”

Speaking now to Rhyme: “And I’ll arrange to have the full crime scene report and autopsy information released. Oh, and the evidence too. I assume you’ll want that, won’t you, Captain?”

“Evidence, yes. I would very much like that.” And, with some difficulty, refrained from adding that it was about goddamn time.

CHAPTER 48

Back on SW road.

With Thom driving, Poitier, Pulaski and Rhyme were in the accessible van, taking the same route to South Cove I

The sun was behind them, high even at this early hour, and the vegetation glowed green and red and rich yellow. A few white flowers, which Rhyme knew Sachs would love to see.

Miss you…

She’d disco

They’d stopped briefly to pick up basic evidence collection equipment at the Royal Bahamas Police Force crime scene facility. The gear was high quality and Rhyme was confident that Pulaski and Poitier could find something in the Kill Room that would help them indisputably link Barry Shales to the shooting and, possibly, find clues to Unsub 516’s identity.

Soon they were at the i

They entered the lobby and Mychal Poitier greeted the pleasant desk clerk. She was more curious at the presence of a man in a wheelchair than the police officer; the hotel had surely had its share of those recently. The i

The manager was busy at the moment but the clerk didn’t hesitate to prepare a key card for suite 1200.

Pulaski, who’d met her yesterday, nodded a greeting and displayed the picture of Barry Shales that Sachs had emailed. Neither she nor anyone else had ever seen Shales.

Which just about confirmed what Rhyme believed: that it was Unsub 516 who was at the i

With Pulaski and Poitier carrying the collection equipment, the entourage headed down the corridor the clerk had indicated.

After a walk of several minutes – the i

Suites 1200–1208 →

“Almost there.”

They turned the corner. And stopped abruptly.

“Wait,” Poitier muttered. “What’s this?”

Rhyme was looking at the double doors to suite 1200, the Kill Room – the crime scene that had presumably been marked with police tape and strident warnings not to trespass, duly sealed.

But was no longer.

The doors were wide open and a workman in stained white overalls stood in the middle of the room, with a paint roller, putting what seemed to be the final coat on the wall above the fireplace. The floors of the room were bare wood. The carpet had been removed. And everything else – the bloody sofa, the shards of glass – was gone.

CHAPTER 49

Jacob Swa

He was in jeans, a windbreaker (black, today), ru

The coffee he was sipping was hot and not bitter. The toast thick and buttered before meeting the heating element – the only way to do it. And the omelet? Better than well crafted, he decided. Damn good.

Eggs are the trickiest of ingredients and can make a dish sublime or turn it into a complete rout if you’re careless or conditions betray: toughening or curdling or collapsing. A bit of yolk in the whites you’re trying to meringue and your baked Alaska is fucked. And there’s always the chance of unpleasant bacteria reproducing eagerly in God’s perfect oval (gestating is  what shells are made for, after all).

But these eggs had been whisked just right – casually and without a whisper of liquid – and then cooked over high heat, the fresh chopped tarragon, chive and dill sprinkled in at just the right moment, not too soon. The completed mezzaluna shaped dish was yellow, brown and white, crisp outside, gently curded within.

Despite the food, though, Swa

She had been inside Lincoln Rhyme’s town house now for hours. She’d finessed the phone call issue, switching prepaid mobiles every few hours, it seemed – everybody on the team was using them now – and she had a wiretap alert on the landline into the town house, which there was no way to defeat without physically breaking into the central switch.

But with her being the lead investigator she’d have to emerge sooner or later.

He reflected on her partner, Rhyme. Now, that  was a setback. It had cost his organization nearly two thousand dollars to eliminate the man, his male nurse and another cop. But his contacts down there from the dock crowd had blown the attempt. They’d asked if Swa

He was sure there’d be another opportunity to take care of Rhyme. The man certainly couldn’t move very fast to get away from the Kai Shun. Swa

What an interesting idea: butchering a creature while it was alive.

Curious. He’d have to–

Ah, but here is our beautiful Amelia.

She wasn’t coming from the direction he’d expected her – the L shaped cul de sac for deliveries behind the town house, near where her Ford Torino was parked. She’d apparently left via the front door, which faced Central Park West. She was now walking west along the crosstown street’s sidewalk, across from the diner.

He’d hoped to get her in the cul de sac; there were too many pedestrians, stragglers on their way to work, here at the moment. But finding her alone would be only a matter of time.

Swa

Now he was out the door, climbing into his Nissan.

He observed Sachs through the windshield. Vigilant, she looked around carefully, though not toward him – only at those places where an attacker might come from. Interesting too: She looked up, sca

Don’t worry, Swa

As she fished for car keys her jacket slipped away from her hip and he noted she wore a Glock.