The Empty Chair

gruffly. “I’ll get a new one here in twenty minutes.”
    Rhyme said, “ Getting the evidence isn’t the problem. Interpreting it is. That’s why I can use your help. This is Ben Kerr, my forensic assistant.”
    They shook hands. Ben seemed relieved that another able-bodied person was in the room.
    “Sit down, Henry,” Bell said, rolling an office chair up to him. The man sat and, leaning forward somewhat, carefully smoothed his tie. The gesture, his posture, the tiny dots of his confident eyes coalesced in Rhyme’s perception and he thought: charming, smart . . . and one hell of a tough businessman.
    Rhyme wondered again about WWJD . He wasn’t sure he’d solved the puzzle.
    “This is about those women who got kidnapped, isn’t it?”
    Bell nodded. “Nobody’s really coming right out and saying it but in the back of our minds . . .” He looked at Rhyme and Ben. “. . . We’re thinking Garrett might’ve already raped and killed Mary Beth, dumped her body someplace.”
    Twenty-four hours . . .
    The sheriff continued, “But we’ve still got a chance to save Lydia, we’re hoping. And we have to stop Garrett before he goes after somebody else.”
    The businessman said angrily, “And Billy, that was such a shame. I heard he was just being a Good Samaritan, trying to save Mary Beth, and got himself killed.”
    “Garrett crushed his head in with a shovel. It was pretty bad.”
    “So time’s at a premium. What can I do?” Davett turned to Rhyme. “You said interpreting something?”
    “We have some clues as to where Garrett’s been and where he might be headed with Lydia. I was hoping you might know something about the area around here and might be able to help us.”
    Davett nodded. “I know the lay of the land pretty well. I have geology and chemical engineering degrees. I’ve also lived in Tanner’s Corner all my life so I’m pretty familiar with Paquenoke County.”
    Rhyme nodded toward the evidence charts. “Can you look at those and give us any thoughts? We’re trying to link those clues to a specific location.”
    Bell added, “It’ll probably be someplace they could get to by foot. Garrett doesn’t like cars. He won’t drive.”
    Davett put on eyeglasses and eased his head back, looking up at the wall.
    F OUND AT P RIMARY C RIME S CENE —B LACKWATER L ANDING
    Kleenex with Blood
    Limestone Dust
    Nitrates
    Phosphate
    Ammonia
    Detergent
    Camphene
    F OUND AT S ECONDARY C RIME S CENE —G ARRETT’S R OOM
    Skunk Musk
    Cut Pine Needles
    Drawings of Insects
    Pictures of Mary Beth and Family
    Insect Books
    Fishing Line
    Money
    Unknown Key
    Kerosene
    Ammonia
    Nitrates
    Camphene
    Davett scanned the list up and down, taking his time, eyes narrowing several times. A faint frown. “Nitrates and ammonia? You know what that could be?”
    Rhyme nodded. “I think he left some explosive devices to stop the search party. I’ve told them about it.”
    Grimacing, Davett returned to the chart. “The camphene . . . I think that was used in old lanterns. Like coal-oil lamps.”
    “That’s right. So we think the place he’s got Mary Beth is old. Nineteenth century.”
    “There must be thousands of old houses and barns and shacks around here. . . . What else? Limestone dust. . . . That’s not going to narrow things down much. There’s a huge ridge of limestone that runs all the way through Paquenoke County. It used to be a big moneymaker here.” He rose and moved his finger diagonally along the map from the southern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp to the southwest, from Location L-4 to C-14. “You could find limestone anywhere along that line. That won’t do you much good. But”— he stepped back, crossed his arms—“the phosphate’s helpful. North Carolina’s a major producer of phosphate but it’s not mined around here. That’s farther south. So, combined with the detergent, I’d say he’s been near polluted water.”
    “Hell,” Jim Bell said, “that just means he’s been in the Paquenoke.”
    “No,” Davett said, “the Paquo’s clean as well water. It’s dark but it’s fed by the Dismal Swamp and Lake Drummond.”
    “Oh, it’s magic water,” the sheriff said.
    “What’s that?” Rhyme asked.
    Davett explained. “Some of us old-timers call the water from the Great Dismal magic water. It’s full of tannic acid from decaying cypress and juniper trees. The acid kills bacteria so it stays fresh for a long time—before refrigeration they’d use