"What?"

Dance nodded at the straw Vincent had used. "Can you order a DNA test?" she asked Rhyme.

"Yes. But it'll take some time."

"That's okay, as long as we can say truthfully it's been ordered." She smiled. "Never lie. But you don't have to tell a suspect everything."

Rhyme wheeled around to the main portion of the lab, where Mel Cooper and Pulaski were still working on the evidence. He explained what they needed and Cooper packaged the straw in plastic and filled out a DNA analysis request. "There. Technically it's been ordered. The lab just doesn't know it yet." He laughed.

Dance explained: "There's something big he's keeping from me. He's very nervous about it. His response to my question about being arrested was deceptive but it's also very rehearsed. I think he was collared but it was a while ago. There're no prints on file so he fell through the cracks-maybe a lab screwup, maybe he was a juvenile. But I know he's run into the law before. And I finally got a sense of what it might be. That's why I took my jacket off and had Amelia walk around in front of him. He's eating up the two of us with his eyes. Trying not to but he can't help it. That makes me think there's a sexual assault or two in his past. I want to bluff and use that against him.

"The problem is," she continued, "that he could call me on it. Then we lose our bargaining power and it'll take a long time to grind him down and get anything helpful."

Sellitto said to Rhyme, "I know where you come down on it."

Hell, yes, Rhyme thought. "Take the chance."

Sellitto asked, "And you, Dennis?"

"I oughta call downtown. But we'd be kicking ourselves if they say no. Go ahead and do it."

The agent said, "One other thing I need to do. I have to take myself out of the equation. Whatever he had planned with me in the alley, we have to let it go. If I bring it up it'll move the relationship to a different place and he's going to stop talking to me; we'll have to start over again."

"But you know what he was going to do to you?" Sachs asked.

"Oh, I know exactly what he had in mind. But we have to stay focused on our goal-finding the Watchmaker. Sometimes you just have to let other things slide."

Sellitto looked at Baker and nodded.

The agent walked to the closest computer and typed some commands, then a user name and pass code. She squinted when the website appeared and typed in some more commands. A page of some suspect's DNA rolled onto the screen.

Dance opened her purse and replaced the sheep glasses with the wolf ones. "Now it's time for the fun part." She walked to the door and opened it, asked that Vincent be brought back.

The big man, sweat stains under his arms, lumbered back into the room and sat down in the chair, which groaned under his weight. He was cautious.

Dance broke the silence with, "I'm afraid we've got a problem, Vincent."

His eyes narrowed.

Dance held up the plastic evidence bag containing the straw he'd drunk from. "You know about DNA, don't you?"

"What're you talking about?"

Rhyme wondered, Is it going to work? Will he fall for it?

Was Vincent going to end the interview, clam up and insist on an attorney? He had every right to do that. The bluff would end in disaster and they might never get any information from him until after the Watchmaker had killed his next victim.

Calmly Dance asked, "You ever seen your DNA analysis, Vincent?"

Dance turned the computer monitor toward Vincent. "I don't know if you're aware of the FBI's Combined DNA Index System. We call it CODIS. Whenever there's a rape or sexual assault and the perp isn't caught, his fluids, skin and hair are collected. Even with a condom, there's usually some material left on or near the victim with DNA in it. The profile is stored and when police get a suspect, his profile is matched against what's in the forensic index. Take a look."

Beneath the heading CODIS were dozens of lines of numbers, letters, grids and fuzzy bars virtually incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with the system.

The man was completely still, though his breathing was heavy. His eyes, to Rhyme, seemed defiant. "This's bullshit."

"You know, Vincent, that nobody ever beats a case built on solid DNA. And we've gotten convictions years after the assaults."

"You can't… I didn't say it was okay to do that." He stared at the bagged straw.

"Vincent," Kathryn Dance said softly, "you're in trouble."

Technically true, Rhyme reflected. He was in possession of a deadly weapon.

Never lie…

"But you've got something we want." A pause, then Dance continued. "I don't know about New York procedures but in California our district attorneys have a lot of latitude to work with cooperative suspects."

She looked at Sellitto, who took over. "Yeah, Vincent, same thing here. The DA'll listen to our recommendations."

Lost in the bars on the computer screen, his teeth set, Vincent said nothing.

Baker continued. "Here's the deal: If you help us get the Watchmaker and if you confess to the prior sexual assaults, we'll get you immunity on the murder and assault counts for the two victims the other day. We'll make sure you have access to a treatment center. And you'll be isolated from the general population."

Dance said firmly, "But you have to help us. Right now, Vincent. What do you say?"

The man glanced at the screen that contained a DNA analysis that had nothing whatsoever to do with him. His leg was bouncing slightly-a sign that a debate was raging within him.

He turned his defiant eyes to Kathryn Dance.

Yes or no? What would it be?

A full minute passed. Rhyme heard only the ticking of the Watchmaker's clocks.

Vincent grimaced. He looked up at them with cold eyes. "He's a businessman from the Midwest. His name's Gerald Duncan. He's staying in a church in Manhattan. Can I have another Coke?"

"Where is he now?" Dennis Baker barked.

"There was somebody else he was going to…" Vincent's voice faded.

"Kill?"

The suspect nodded.

"Where?"

"I don't know exactly. He said Midtown, I think. He didn't tell me. Really."

They glanced at Kathryn Dance, who apparently sensed no deception and nodded.

"I don't know whether he's there now or the church."

He gave the address.

Sachs said, "I know it. Closed a while ago."

Sellitto called ESU and had Haumann put together some tactical teams.

"He was going to meet me back in the Village in an hour or so. Near that building in the alley."

Where, Rhyme reflected, Vincent had been going to kill and rape Kathryn Dance. Sellitto ordered unmarked cars stationed near the building.

"Who's the next victim?" Baker asked.

"I don't know. I really don't. He didn't tell me anything about her because…"

"Why?" Dance asked.

"I wasn't going to have anything to do with her."

Do with her…

Rhyme understood. "So you were helping him out and in exchange he'd let you have the victims."

"Only the women," Vincent said quickly, shaking his head in disgust. "Not men. I'm not weird or anything… And only after they were dead, so it wasn't really rape. It's not. Gerald told me that. He looked it up."

Dance and Sellitto seemed unmoved by this but Baker blinked. Sachs was trying to control her temper.

Baker asked, "Why weren't you going to do anything with the next one?"

"Because…he was going to burn her to death."

"Jesus," Baker muttered.

"Is he armed?" Rhyme asked.

Vincent nodded. "He's got a gun. A pistol."

"A thirty-two?"

"I don't know."

"What's he driving?" Sellitto asked.

"It's a dark blue Buiek. It's stolen. A couple years old."