The Apprentice: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

beginning, advantage Hoyt, and yes, she was scared.
    In silence she gathered up her papers.
    “Jane?”
    “I heard everything you said.”
    “It doesn’t make a difference to you. Does it?”
    She looked at him. “You know what? A bus could hit me when I cross the street outside. Or I could keel over at my desk from a stroke. But I don’t think about those things. I can’t let them take over. I almost did, you know. The nightmares—they just about wore me down. But now I’ve got my second wind. Or maybe I’ve just gone numb and I can’t feel anything anymore. So the best I can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep on marching. That’s how to get through this, just
keep on marching.
That’s all any of us can do.”
    She was almost relieved when her beeper went off. It gave her a reason to break eye contact, to look down at the digital readout on her pager. She felt him watching her as she crossed to the conference room phone and dialed.
    “Hair and Fiber. Volchko,” a voice answered.
    “Rizzoli. You paged.”
    “It’s about those green nylon fibers. The ones lifted from Gail Yeager’s skin. We found identical fibers on Karenna Ghent’s skin as well.”
    “So he’s using the same fabric to wrap all his victims. No surprises there.”
    “Oh, but I do have one little surprise for you.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I know which fabric he used.”

    Erin pointed to the microscope. “The slides are all ready for you. Take a look.”
    Rizzoli and Dean sat down facing each other, eyes pressed to the microscope’s double teaching head. Through the lenses, they saw the same view: two strands, laid side by side for comparison.
    “The fiber on the left was lifted from Gail Yeager. The one on the right from Karenna Ghent,” said Erin. “What do you think?”
    “They look identical,” said Rizzoli.
    “They are. They’re both DuPont nylon type six, six, drab green. The filaments are thirty-denier, extremely fine.” Erin reached into a folder and took out two graphs, which she laid on the countertop. “And here’s the ATR spectra again. Number one is from Yeager, number two from Ghent.” She glanced at Dean. “You’re familiar with Attenuated Total Reflection techniques, Agent Dean?”
    “It’s an infrared mode, isn’t it?”
    “Right. We use it to distinguish surface treatments from the fiber itself. To detect any chemicals that have been applied to the fabric after weaving.”
    “And were there any?”
    “Yes, a silicone rub. Last week, Detective Rizzoli and I went over the possible reasons for such a surface treatment. We didn’t know what this fabric was designed for. What we did know was that these fibers are heat-and light-resistant. And that the threads are so fine that, if woven together, they’d be watertight.”
    “We thought it might be a tent or a tarp,” said Rizzoli.
    “And what would the silicone add?” asked Dean.
    “Antistatic properties,” said Erin. “Some tear and water resistance. Plus, it turns out, it reduces the porosity of this fabric to almost zero. In other words, even air can’t pass through it.” Erin looked at Rizzoli. “Any guesses what it is?”
    “You said you already know the answer.”
    “Well, I had a little help. From the Connecticut State Police Lab.” Erin placed a third graph on the countertop. “They faxed that to me this afternoon. It’s an ATR spectrograph of fibers from a homicide case in rural Connecticut. The fibers were lifted from the suspect’s gloves and fleece jacket. Compare it to Karenna Ghent’s fibers.”
    Rizzoli’s gaze flew back and forth between the graphs. “The spectra match. The fibers are identical.”
    “Right. Only the color’s different. The fibers from our two cases are drab green. The fibers from the Connecticut homicide came in two different colors. Some were neon orange; others were a bright lime green.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “Sounds pretty gaudy, right? But aside from the color, the Connecticut fibers match ours. DuPont nylon type six, six. Thirty-denier filaments, finished with a silicone rub.”
    “Tell us about the Connecticut case,” said Dean.
    “A skydiving accident. The victim’s chute failed to open properly. Only when these orange and lime-green fibers turned up on the suspect’s clothing did it turn into a homicide investigation.”
    Rizzoli stared at the ATR spectra. “It’s a parachute.”
    “Exactly. The suspect in the Connecticut homicide tampered with the