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And leaves behind the unfulfilled
To dwell on ways to make amends.
Rhyme grunted. Poetry, even less than prose fiction, did not figure in his world. “And it means what, do you think?”
Sachs chuckled. “It’s a love poem, Rhyme.”
“Hm. How?”
“It says that love changes us. Makes us whole, like a season ripens fruit. But that’s only part of the message.”
“What’s the rest?”
“A threat. Making amends. She’s saying she’ll be coming for us. Ah, and there’s something else?”
Rhyme said, “I caught it. The ‘blood on parlor wall.’ She knows how and where he died. She was in the park when it happened. Watching us.”
They had lost one enemy, and gained another.
“Handwriting?”
“No, computer. Generic paper.”
“Untraceable, naturally. And the hunk of metal?”
“A wheel.” She picked up a dark-red-painted metal disk about five inches across. Spokes radiated from hub to ring. “Part of a clock, I’d guess.”
“Show me.”
Sachs turned on her video camera and hit the live stream app. She held up the wheel.
“It’s not from a clock. We ran a case a year ago. The Brooklyn Museum of Industry.”
“Remember. Vaguely.”
“It’s a miniature wheel from a steam engine. A toy maybe or a hobbyist’s.” After a brief pause: “I wonder if it’s sentimental, or practical.”
“How do you mean, Rhyme?”
“Heartfelt emotion was no part of Hale’s makeup. I have a feeling Woman X is the same way. I think she left the wheel for a reason. To lead us somewhere. Or lead usawayfrom somewhere.”
“If that’s true, then she’s as good at engineering plans as he was.”
She heard a faint laugh from the other end of the line. “How long did it take us to find Hale’s real name?”
“Years. We knew him as, what? Richard Logan, Gerald Duncan, finally Hale.”
“But wealwaysknew him as the Watchmaker … Woman X needs a nickname too.”
“Fine with me. Can’t think of any at the moment.”
After a brief silence Rhyme said, “Maybe here’s one. Just thinking about her plots, all the planning. How does ‘the Engineer’ sound?”
“I like it. But you know what I’d like more?”
“Which is?”
“To see her in detention.”
