The Stone Monkey

When she died, it took him forever to get over it. He came to work, he did his job, but it took a year for that light to come back in his eyes. And his wife . . . They had some fights, sure—I’m talking MGM Grand kind of fights. It wasn’t the greatest marriage in the world but, after the accident, when he knew it wasn’t going to work and he got divorced, that was hard for him, real hard.”
    “I don’t know where you’re going with this.”
    “You don’t? It’s pretty clear to me. You’re the center of his life. He’s let down all his defenses with you. You’re going to break him. And I’m not going to let that happen.” His voice dropped even further. “Just think about—if you keep seeing this guy it’s going to kill Rhyme. It’s  . . . What the hell’re you laughing at?”
    “You’re talking about me and John Sung?”
    “Yeah, the guy you’ve been sneaking off to see.” Sachs’s hands rose to her face and she began shaking with laughter. “Oh, Lon . . . ” Then she turned away quickly from the detective because a moment later—as she’d suddenly known would happen—the laughter turned into tears.
    “I’ve got to talk to you about something.”
    “You’re looking like it’s bad news, Doctor.”
    “Why don’t we sit down over there in the corner?”
    “Jesus,” Sellitto said, starting forward. Then stopping, hands at his side, awkward. “Amelia, what . . . ”
    She held up a hand and turned away.
    “What’s going on?”
    Finally she caught her breath, wiped her face and turned back to the detective. “It’s not what you’re thinking, Lon.”
    Another tug of his belt. “Go on.”
    “You know Rhyme and I’ve talked about having kids.”
    “Yeah.”
    She gave a sour laugh. “It didn’t work. It’s not like we were trying that hard but I wasn’t getting pregnant. I was worried that there was something wrong with Lincoln. So a few weeks ago we went in and we both had checkups.”
    “Yeah, I remember he went to the doctor.”
    She thought back to that day in the waiting room.
    “Ah, Ms. Sachs. Here you are.”
    “Hello, Doctor.”
    “I’ve just been meeting with Lincoln Rhyme’s physician.”
    “Yes?”
    “I’ve got to talk to you about something.”
    “You’re looking like it’s bad news, Doctor.”
    “Why don’t we sit down over there in the corner?”
    “Here’s fine. Tell me. Let me have it straight.”
    “Well, Lincoln’s doctor tells me that the results of his fertility workup are well within normal levels. A slightly diminished sperm count, which is typical of someone in his condition, but nowadays that’s a very slight hurdle to pregnancy. I’m afraid, though, that you have a more serious problem.”
    “Me?”
    Staring at the butcher block next to her, she now told Sellitto about this conversation with the doctor. Then she added, “I’ve got something called endometriosis. I’ve always had problems but I never believed it was as bad as what the doctor told me.”
    “Can they cure it?”
    Sachs shook her head. “No. They can operate, do hormonal therapy, but it wouldn’t really help the fertility thing.”
    “Jesus, I’m sorry, Amelia.”
    She wiped her face again. A sad smile blossomed on it. “Dryness and heat in the kidney.”
    “What?”
    Sachs offered a hollow laugh. “That’s what I was doing at John Sung’s. Dryness and heat in the kidney—those’re the reasons for infertility, according to Chinese medicine. Last night he examined me and gave me an acupressure treatment. And he’s getting some herbs that he thinks’ll help. That’s what he just called about. Wait here.” Sachs walked to the hallway, dug into her purse and returned with what Sung had just given her when she’d seen him last night. She handed the book to the detective. The title was Herbal Treatments and Acupressure Techniques to Assist Fertility.
    “It turns out a lot of Western doctors recommend that women with endometriosis use Chinese medicine to treat it. Last night, when I took Lincoln upstairs we talked about it. He thought it was pretty silly but he’d noticed how upset I’ve been lately because of this. He’s right—he said I’ve been distracted. It’s even bothering me when I’m running scenes. So we decided I’d go ahead and see what Sung could do for me.” She fell silent. Finally she said, “There’s so much death around me, Lon . . . my father, my relationship with my boyfriend, Nick—when he went off to