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“What else did you see?”
“In the back there was a cardboard box, three feet square, eighteen inches high, maybe. No markings I remember. Some serious black gloves that went up to your elbows, a pair of what looked like expensive binoculars—I don’t know what brand—and a paperback book. Couldn’t see the cover very well, but it was bright: red and orange. Only one letter of the jacket you could see: ‘K.’ The last letter of the title.”
“You’ve got good eyes.”
“Crane operators—always looking.”
“Any drink cups or cans?”
“No. Or food wrappers.”
“Bumper stickers?”
“Don’t think so.”
What about Garry’s sighting bothered the unsub enough to try to kill him?
Gripping his wife’s hand, Garry asked, “When can we go back inside?”
“You can’t go back. I want you to leave town until he’s caught. Disappear. I want him to think you’re dead.”
The man nodded. “So he won’t know I told you what I saw.”
“Exactly.”
“Just leave?” his wife whispered. “No clothes? No money, nothing?”
“Whatever’s in your wallet or purse. That’s it.”
They looked at each other. She said, “Benji can pick us up. We can stay with them in Syosset.”
Garry was staring out the window. He said in a low, angry voice, “He killed her.”
Sachs lifted an eyebrow.
“Big Blue. That’s what I named her. After Paul Bunyan’s ox. We put up thirty-four buildings together.”
Sachs said, “Come on, let’s get you inside.”
Inside the precinct house, Sachs handed the couple off to the community relations officer, a kind-eyed woman of about fifty. She led them to the watch room.
The wife embraced Sachs hard—if awkwardly, because of the woman’s near-bursting physique.
The detective returned to the car and sat with her head back—which seemed to help the coughing. Some oxygen. A new sensation—stinging—in her chest.
The ER? X-ray?
No.
She sat up, cranked the engine and texted Rhyme.
Unsub was at witness’s house. Queens. He got their name. Set an IED. They’re safe. Will canvass neighbors to see if anybody saw him.
Sixty seconds after she sent the message, she received a reply.
She felt a blow in her gut as she stared at the words.
Get statement but we have an ID. Unsub 89 is the Watchmaker. Gilligan working for him but dead now. Evidence at scene where you are? We need it. You okay to search?
