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Chapter Thirty-five
Lon Sellitto said, "But the evidence on the ship'd be messed up, wouldn't it, Linc? Because of the water."
Sachs said, "'Although submersion in water may destroy or degrade certain types of evidence, such as water-soluble chemicals, other forms of physical evidence, even trace, may be preserved and readily discovered, depending on the currents and the depth and temperature of the water. Indeed, some may be better preserved than had the scene been on dry land.' How'd I do, Rhyme?"
"Good, Sachs. I'm impressed." The passage was from Rhyme's textbook on criminalistics.
"Somebody call the Coast Guard, patch me through to whoever's in charge of the rescue out there."
Sellitto finally got through and put the call on speakerphone.
"This is Fred Ransom speaking. I'm captain of the Evan Brigant." The man was shouting; the wind whistled loudly over the mouthpiece of his radio mike.
"This is Detective Sellitto, NYPD. I talked to you before?"
"Right, sir. I recall."
"I'm here with Lincoln Rhyme. Where are you now?"
"Just above the Dragon. We're still looking for survivors but haven't had any luck."
Rhyme asked, "What's the status of the ship, Captain."
"She's on her starboard side about eighty, ninety feet down."
"What's the weather like now?"
"Lot better'n it was. Ten-foot seas, wind about thirty knots. Light rain. Visibility, probably two hundred yards."
"You have divers available who can check out the interior?" Rhyme asked.
"Yessir."
"Can they dive in that weather?"
"Conditions aren't the best but they're acceptable. You know, sir, we've already scanned for survivors. Negative on that."
"No, I'm talking about searching for evidence."
"I see. We could send some folks down. The thing is, though, that my divers've never done that. They're S and R."
Search and Rescue, Rhyme recalled.
The captain asked, "Could somebody walk them through what to do?"
"Sure," Rhyme said, though he was discouraged at the idea of explaining a lifetime of crime scene investigation to a novice.
Then Amelia Sachs's voice interrupted. "I'll search it."
Rhyme said, "I'm talking about the ship itself, Sachs."
"I understand that."
"It's ninety feet underwater."
She bent down and said into the speakerphone, "Captain, I can be down in Battery Park in thirty minutes. Can you have a chopper get me out to your location?"
"Well, we can fly in this weather. But--"
