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"I talked him out of it," Cooper said.
"Autopsy," Sachs said, sighing, as if nothing about Rhyme could surprise her.
Why, she isn't even here, he thought angrily. Her mind's a thousand miles away.
"Ah," Cooper said. "Found something. I think it's a bit of the glove."
Cooper mounted a fleck on the compound microscope. Examined it.
"Leather. Reddish-colored. Polished on one side."
"Red, that's good," Sellitto said. To Sachs he explained, "The wilder their clothes, the easier it is to find the perp. They don't teach you that at the academy, bet. Sometime I'll tell you 'bout the time we collared Jimmy Plaid, from the Gambino crew. You remember that, Jerry?"
"You could spot those pants a mile away," the young detective said.
Cooper continued, "The leather's desiccated. Not much oil in the grain. You were right too about them being old."
"What kind of animal?"
"I'd say kidskin. High quality."
"If they were new it might mean he was rich," Rhyme grumbled. "But since they're old he might've found them on the street or bought them secondhand. No snappy deductions from 823's accessorizing, looks like. Okay. Thom, just add to the profile that the gloves are reddish kidskin. What else do we have?"
"He wears aftershave," Sachs reminded him.
"Forgot that. Good. Maybe to cover up another scent. Unsubs do that sometimes. Write it down, Thom. What did it smell like again, Amelia? You described it."
"Dry. Like gin."
"What about the clothesline?" Rhyme asked.
Cooper examined it. "I've seen this before. Plastic. Several dozen interior filaments composed of six to ten different plastic types and one--no, two--metallic filaments."
"I want a manufacturer and source."
Cooper shook his head. "Impossible. Too generic."
"Damn," Rhyme muttered. "And the knot?"
"Now that's unusual. Very efficient. See how it loops around twice? PVC is the hardest cord to tie and this knot ain't going anywhere."
"They have a knot file downtown?"
"No."
Inexcusable, he thought.
"Sir?"
Rhyme turned to Banks.
"I do some sailing . . ."
"Out of Westport," Rhyme said.
"Well, as a matter of fact, yeah. How'd you know?"
If there were a forensic test for location of origin Jerry Banks would turn up positive for Connecticut. "Lucky guess."
