He was, of course, eager to move forward but he understood that it would be a while before he could return to New York. As a man who was obsessed with the inscrutable topic of time, Charles Vespasian Hale, the Watchmaker, knew that designs as important as his could not be hurried.
If it took nine months to create a life, why shouldn’t ending one be approached with equal patience?
He lifted the wine glass toward the west, in Lincoln Rhyme’s direction. “To our next encounter,” he whispered.