"Stay on the line," Gregg said. "I'll liaise."
Please let this work, Lucy thought. Please… Then she added a footnote to her prayer: And, dear Lord, give me one clear shot at my Judas.
Thom fitted the headset over Rhyme's head. The aide then punched in a number.
If Sachs' phone was shut off it would ring only three times and the pleasant lilt of the voice-mail lady would start to speak.
One ring… two…
"Hello?"
Rhyme didn't believe he'd ever felt such relief, hearing her voice. "Sachs, are you all right?"
A pause. "I'm okay."
In the other room he saw Lucy Kerr's sullen face nod.
"Listen to me, Sachs. Listen to me. I know why you did it but you have to give yourself up. You… are you there?"
"I'm here, Rhyme."
"I know what you're doing. Garrett's agreed to take you to Mary Beth."
"That's right."
"You can't trust him," Rhyme said. (Thinking in despair: Or me either. He saw Lucy moving her finger in a circle, meaning: Keep her on the line.) "I've made a deal with Jim. If you bring him back in they'll work something out with the charges against you. The state's not involved yet. And I'll stay here as long as it takes to find Mary Beth. I've postponed the operation."
He closed his eyes momentarily, pierced with guilt. But he had no choice. He pictured what the death of that woman in Blackwater Landing had been like, the death of Deputy Ed Schaeffer… Imagining the hornets swarming over Amelia's body. He had to betray her in order to save her.
"Garrett's innocent, Rhyme. I know he is. I couldn't let him go to the detention center. They'd kill him there."
"Then we'll arrange for him to be held someplace else. And we'll look at the evidence again. We'll find more evidence. We'll do it together. You and me. That's what we say, Sachs, right? You and me… Always you and me. There's nothing we can't find."
There was a pause. "There's nobody on Garrett's side. He's all by himself, Rhyme."
"We can protect him."
"You can't protect somebody from a whole town, Lincoln."
"No first names," Rhyme said. "That's bad luck, remember?"
"This whole thing has been bad luck."
"Please, Sachs…"
She said, "Sometimes you just have to go on faith."
"Now who's dispensing maxims?" He forced himself to laugh – in part to reassure her. In part, himself.
Faint static.
Come home, Sachs, he was thinking. Please! We can still salvage something from this. Your life is as precarious as the thread of the nerve in my neck – the tiny fiber that still works.
And as precious to me.
She said, "Garrett tells me we can get to Mary Beth by tonight or tomorrow morning. I'll call you when we have her."
"Sachs, don't hang up yet. One thing. Let me say one thing."
"What?"
"Whatever you think about Garrett, don't trust him. You think he's innocent. But just accept that maybe he isn't. You know how we approach crime scenes, Sachs."
"With an open mind," she recited the rule. "No preconceptions. Believing that anything's possible."
"Right. Promise me you'll remember that."
"He's cuffed, Rhyme."
"Keep him that way. And don't let him near your weapon."
"I won't. I'll call you when we have Mary Beth."
"Sachs -"
The line went dead.
"Damn," the criminalist muttered. He closed his eyes, tried to shake off the headset in fury. Thom reached forward and lifted the unit off his head. With a brush he smoothed Rhyme's dark hair.
Lucy hung up the phone in the other room and stepped inside. Rhyme could tell from her expression that the trace hadn't worked.
"Pete said they're within three miles of downtown Tanner's Corner."
Mason muttered, "They can't do any better than that?"
Lucy said, "If she'd been on the line a few minutes longer they could've pinpointed her down to fifteen feet."
Bell was examining the map. "Okay, three miles outside of downtown."
"Would he go back to Blackwater Landing?" Rhyme asked.
"No," Bell said. "We know they're headed for the Outer Banks and Blackwater Landing'd take him in the opposite direction."
"What's the best way to get to the Banks?" the criminalist asked.
"They can't do it on foot," Bell said, walking to the map. "They'll have to take a car or car and a boat. There're two ways to get there. They could go Route 112 south to 17. That'll take them to Elizabeth City and they could get a boat or keep on 17 all the way to 158 and drive to the beaches. Or they could take Harper Road… Mason, you take Frank Sturgis and Trey and get over to 112. Set up a roadblock at Belmont."
Rhyme noticed this was Location M-10 on the map.
The sheriff continued, "Lucy, you and Jesse take Harper down to Millerton Road. Set up there."
This was H-14.
Bell called his brother-in-law into the room. "Steve, you coordinate communications and get everybody Handi-talkies if they don't already have them."
"Sure thing, Jim."
Bell said to Lucy and Mason, "Tell everybody that Garrett's in one of our detention jumpsuits. They're blue. What's your girl wearing? I don't remember."
"She's not my girl," Rhyme said.
"Sorry."
Rhyme said, "Jeans, black T-shirt."
"She have a hat?"
"No."
Lucy and Mason headed out the door.
A moment later the room was empty except for Bell, Rhyme and Thom.
The sheriff called the state police and told the detective who'd helped them with the mobile locator to keep somebody on that frequency, that the missing person might call in later.
Rhyme noticed Bell pause. He glanced at Rhyme and said into the phone, "Appreciate the offer, Pete. But so far it's just a missing person. Nothing serious."
He hung up. Muttered, "Nothing serious. Jesus, our Lord…"
Fifteen minutes later Ben Kerr walked into the office. He actually seemed glad to be back though he was visibly upset at the news that necessitated his return.
Together he and Thom finished unpacking the state police's forensic equipment while Rhyme stared up at the map and the evidence charts on the wall.
FOUND AT PRIMARY CRIME SCENE -
BLACKWATER LANDING
Kleenex with Blood
Limestone Dust
Nitrates
Phosphate
Ammonia
Detergent
Camphene
FOUND AT SECONDARY CRIME SCENE -
GARETT'S ROOM
Skunk Musk
Cut Pine Needles
Drawings of Insects
Pictures of Mary Beth and Family
Insect Books
Fishing Line
Money
Unknown Key
Kerosene
Ammonia
Nitrates
Camphene
FOUND AT SECONDARY CRIME SCENE -
QUARRY
Old Burlap Bag – Unreadable Name on It
Corn – Feed and Grain?
Scorch Marks on Bag
Deer Park Water
Planters Cheese Crackers
FOUND AT SECONDARY CRIME SCENE -
MILL
Map of Outer Banks
Ocean Beach Sand
Oak/Maple Leaf Residue
As Rhyme gazed at the last chart he realized how little evidence Sachs had found at the mill. This was always a problem when you locate obvious clues at crime scenes – like the map and the sand. Psychologically your attention flags and you search less diligently. He now wished they had more evidence from the scene.
Then Rhyme recalled something. Lydia had said that Garrett'd changed his clothes at the mill when the search party was closing in. Why? The only reason was that he knew that the clothes he'd hidden there could reveal where he'd hidden Mary Beth. He glanced at Bell. "Did you say Garrett was wearing a prison jumpsuit?"