The Empty Chair

himself.
    Faint static.
    Come home, Sachs, he was thinking. Please! We can still salvage something from this. Your life is as precarious as the thread of the nerve in my neck—the tiny fiber that still works.
    And as precious to me.
    She said, “Garrett tells me we can get to Mary Beth by tonight or tomorrow morning. I’ll call you when we have her.”
    “Sachs, don’t hang up yet. One thing. Let me say one thing.”
    “What?”
    “Whatever you think about Garrett, don’t trust him. You think he’s innocent. But just accept that maybe he isn’t. You know how we approach crime scenes, Sachs.”
    “With an open mind,” she recited the rule. “No preconceptions. Believing that anything’s possible.”
    “Right. Promise me you’ll remember that.”
    “He’s cuffed, Rhyme.”
    “Keep him that way. And don’t let him near your weapon.”
    “I won’t. I’ll call you when we have Mary Beth.”
    “Sachs—”
    The line went dead.
    “Damn,” the criminalist muttered. He closed his eyes, tried to shake off the headset in fury. Thom reached forward and lifted the unit off his head. With a brush he smoothed Rhyme’s dark hair.
    Lucy hung up the phone in the other room and stepped inside. Rhyme could tell from her expression that the trace hadn’t worked.
    “Pete said they’re within three miles of downtown Tanner’s Corner.”
    Mason muttered, “They can’t do any better than that?”
    Lucy said, “If she’d been on the line a few minutes longer they could’ve pinpointed her down to fifteen feet.”
    Bell was examining the map. “Okay, three miles outside of downtown.”
    “Would he go back to Blackwater Landing?” Rhyme asked.
    “No,” Bell said. “We know they’re headed for the Outer Banks and Blackwater Landing’d take him in the opposite direction.”
    “What’s the best way to get to the Banks?” the criminalist asked.
    “They can’t do it on foot,” Bell said, walking to the map. “They’ll have to take a car or car and a boat. There’re two ways to get there. They could go Route 112 south to 17. That’ll take them to Elizabeth City and they could get a boat or keep on 17 all the way to 158 and drive to the beaches. Or they could take Harper
    Road. . . . Mason, you take Frank Sturgis and Trey and get over to 112. Set up a roadblock at Belmont.”
    Rhyme noticed this was Location M-10 on the map.
    The sheriff continued, “Lucy, you and Jesse take Harper down to Millerton Road. Set up there.” This was H-14.
    Bell called his brother-in-law into the room. “Steve, you coordinate communications and get everybody Handi-talkies if they don’t already have them.”
    “Sure thing, Jim.”
    Bell said to Lucy and Mason, “Tell everybody that Garrett’s in one of our detention jumpsuits. They’re blue. What’s your girl wearing? I don’t remember.”
    “She’s not my girl,” Rhyme said.
    “Sorry.”
    Rhyme said, “Jeans, black T-shirt.”
    “She have a hat?”
    “No.”
    Lucy and Mason headed out the door.
    A moment later the room was empty except for Bell, Rhyme and Thom.
    The sheriff called the state police and told the detective who’d helped them with the mobile locator to keep somebody on that frequency, that the missing person might call in later.
    Rhyme noticed Bell pause. He glanced at Rhyme and said into the phone, “Appreciate the offer, Pete. But so far it’s just a missing person. Nothing serious.”
    He hung up. Muttered, “Nothing serious. Jesus, our Lord . . .”

    Fifteen minutes later Ben Kerr walked into the office. He actually seemed glad to be back though he was visibly upset at the news that necessitated his return.
    Together he and Thom finished unpacking the state police’s forensic equipment while Rhyme stared up at the map and the evidence charts on 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
    F OUND AT S ECONDARY C RIME S CENE —Q UARRY
    Old Burlap Bag—Unreadable Name on It
    Corn—Feed and Grain?
    Scorch Marks on Bag
    Deer Park Water
    Planters Cheese Crackers
    F OUND AT S ECONDARY C RIME S CENE —M ILL
    Map of Outer Banks
    Ocean Beach Sand
    Oak/Maple Leaf Residue
    As Rhyme gazed at the