“I know,” Sachs said.
“In and around the Jardin du Luxembourg. That’s a garden. But you probably know that too.”
“That I didn’t know.”
Szarnek added, “Whoever it was, the lawyer called and texted him or her a lot over the past few weeks. Almost like he was reporting in.”
“Maybe a consultant,” Sachs said, walking to the evidence cartons on an examination table. “You thought the lawyer was Mr. Y, who planned it all out. Might have been this person.”
“Could be.”
“Rhyme,” Sachs said, lifting an evidence bag. It was Carreras-López’s day planner. Pasted inside the cover was a Post-it note with the name François Letemps. A series of numbers was beside it. Account numbers maybe.
French name. Was he the man on the other end of the line in Paris?
Szarnek said, “Now, here’s the weird part.”
In an already weird case.
“The texts were encrypted with exactly the same algorithm you were asking about a few days ago. Duodenal. Using numbers zero through nine plus the upside-down two and three. Never rains but it pours.”
Jesus. Rhyme’s eyes slowly eased to the evidence boards.
“And no chance of cracking it?”
“About the same as me appearing on Dancing with the Stars.”
“The hell is that?”
“Let’s say impossible.”
“I’ve got to go.” Rhyme disconnected and shouted to Mel Cooper, “That package we got from the Alternative Intelligence Service? The international delivery?”
It had arrived last night but Rhyme had been too preoccupied with the case to look at it.
Cooper sliced open the box. There was no letter, only a note from Daryl Mulbry.
Here you go. Any thoughts would be helpful.
Cooper lifted a small evidence envelope. Inside was the small crescent of metal that had tested positive for radiation, though not of any dangerous dosage. Rhyme now studied it.
He recalled that Mulbry was concerned that the bit of springy metal might be a timer in a dirty bomb — part of a mechanical detonator, intended to avoid the countermeasures to defeat an electronic one.
This, Rhyme now knew, was not correct.
But the truth behind the bit of metal was, in a way, even more troubling.
Rhyme placed a call to Mulbry now.
“Lincoln! How are you?”
“Not much time here. Maybe have a situation. That bit of metal you sent me?”
“Yes.” The man’s voice was sober.
“Let me ask a couple more questions.”
“Of course.”
“You found anything more about your suspect, the man who dropped it?”
“We finally found the café he was hanging out in when he made a lot of his calls. It was—”
“Near the Jardin du Luxembourg.”
“Mon dieu, Lincoln. Yes. How—”
“And what did the EVIDINT unit find?”
“Nothing. No prints, no usable trace, no DNA. Just a description.”
“Which is?”
“White male, forties, fifties. Spoke perfect French but possibly with an American accent.”
Rhyme’s head rested back against the leather pad. Thoughts swirled. “It’s not a bomb, Daryl. No terrorist issues.”
“No?”
“You don’t have anything to worry about.” He paused. “I do.”
“You? That’s a bit cryptic.”
“I’ll send you a detailed report,” Rhyme told him. They disconnected.
He was now looking over the charts. Impossible. But on the other hand...
“Rhyme, what is it?” Sachs asked. She’d be noting the frown.
He didn’t answer but called Rodney Szarnek back and asked for the number of the phone that Carreras-López had repeatedly called in Paris.
“It’s a dead burner, Lincoln. We’ve pinged it a dozen times.”
“Just the number, if you would.”
Rodney dictated it.
“Thanks,” Rhyme muttered and stared at the digits as he disconnected.
He verbally commanded his phone to send a text to the French one. It was a simple message:
Text or call this number.
After disconnecting he said to Sachs, “Didn’t we say this whole plot was complicated?”
“Yep.”
“And do you remember what the extra features of a watch are called? Like the date, phases of the moon, tides, different time zones.”
“They’re called complications. Where’s this going?”
“The encryption package that Mulbry’s suspect in Paris was using — and the one Carreras-López and his contact used — was written in the duodecimal system. Twelve. Like the hours on a clock.”
He nodded at the bit of metal. “It’s not a detonator. It’s a watch spring. And the radiation isn’t from a dirty bomb. It’ll be radium from the dial of a clock or watch. The man AIS was suspicious of... and the man hired to put together the El Halcón escape plot were one and the same. And he has a hobby. Building timepieces.”
“Rhyme, no!”
But the answer was yes, he believed.
The individual in question was none other than Charles Vespasian Hale, though he often used a favored pseudonym, Richard Logan, if he needed to be less obtrusive. Rhyme thought of him, however, exclusively by his nickname, the Watchmaker.
Rhyme closed his eyes briefly, recalling he’d been thinking of the Watchmaker just the other day, reflecting that Unsub 47’s plot, while smart, didn’t rise to the level of Hale’s brilliance. Now, though, knowing that Krueger was merely a gear, one might say, in the plan, the hallmarks of genius were evident.
“Rhyme,” Sachs said. “Letemps. French for ‘time.’”
He gave a brief laugh. “He’s got Mexican connections. Remember that case a few years ago? The Watchmaker was hired by one of the cartels. It was an assassination, if I remember. So Carreras-López must have known about him and signed him up to break his client out of lockup.”
Sachs asked, “Do you think you’ll hear from him? As soon as he learned the operation failed, I’d imagine he pitched that phone in the Seine.”
But Rhyme knew the phone was alive and well. The Watchmaker had held on to it for one reason, and one reason only.
No more than ten minutes later Rhyme’s own mobile chimed — several times — with a series of texts.
Hello, Lincoln. It’s been some time. Doing well, from what I’ve heard. My, I was afraid this might happen. I tried to plan El Halcón’s escape anywhere but New York, worried that you would leap into the fray. Sadly, there could be no change of venue — for El Halcón or for my plan. Brooklyn was the only weak link in security.
And so I created as smart a plan as I could, to keep you fooled, but we saw what happened. I have my down payment on the job but you cost me three million dollars for the rest of the fee. That, I don’t care so much about. What troubles me is the damage to my reputation. Word will get around and people might think: Perhaps his timepieces are not ticking as accurately as in the past. After all, a clock that loses only a thousandth of a second a year is still a faulty clock. Time is absolute.
This cannot happen again. The next time we meet — and we will meet again, I promise you — will be the last. Farewell, for now, Lincoln. I’ll leave you with this sentiment, which I hope you will ponder on sleepless nights: Quidam hostibus potest neglecta; aliis hostibus mori debent.
Rhyme was not a classics scholar but he could translate that line well enough: