The Twelfth Card

thought you might want something to read. I say, damn, give the girl a Game-Boy, but they said, no, she like books. So they got it up for you with these.”
    “Really?”
    “Word. Ain’t no homework or nothing like that. Shit you can read for the fun of it.”
    “Who?”
    “Ronelle, some other girls, don’t know. Here. Weigh a ton.”
    “Well, thanks.”
    She took the bag.
    “Girls tell me, say ever’thing gonna be cool.”
    Geneva gave a sour laugh and thanked him again, told him to say hello to the other kids in her class. The boy left. Geneva glanced down into the bag. She lifted out a book by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Geneva gave another laugh. “Don’t know what they’re thinking of. I read this, must be seven years ago.” She dropped it back in the bag. “Anyway, it was nice of them.”
    “And useful,” Thom said pointedly. “Not much here for you to read, I’m afraid.” A sour glance at Rhyme. “I keep working on him. Music. He listens to music a lot now. Even threatens to write some tunes himself. But reading fiction? We haven’t gotten that far yet.”
    Geneva gave him an amused smile and she took the heavy bag and walked toward the hallway as Rhyme said, “Thank you for airing laundry, Thom.In any case, now Geneva can read to her heart’s content, which I’m sure she’d rather do than listening to your tedious editorializing. And as for my leisure time? I guess I don’t have much of it, you know, trying to catch killers and all.” His eyes returned to the evidence charts.
    THOMPSON BOYD’S RESIDENCE AND PRIMARY SAFE HOUSE
    • More falafel and yogurt, orange paint trace, as before.
    • Cash (fee for job?) $100,000 in new bills. Untraceable. Probably withdrawn in small amounts over time.
    • Weapons (guns, billy club, rope) traced to prior crime scenes.
    • Acid and cyanide traced to prior crime scenes, no links to manufacturers.
    • No cell phone found. Other telephone records not helpful.
    • Tools traced to prior crime scenes.
    • Letter revealing that G. Settle was targeted because she was a witness to a jewelry heist in the planning. More pure carbon—identified as diamond dust trace.
      • Sent to Parker Kincaid in Washington, D.C., for document examination.
    • Improvised explosive device, as part of booby trap. Fingerprints are those of convicted bomb maker Jon Earle Wilson. Presently searching for him.
    POTTERS’ FIELD SCENE (1868)
    • Tavern in Gallows Heights—located in the Eighties on the Upper West Side, mixed neighborhood in the 1860s.
    • Potters’ Field was possible hangout for Boss Tweed and other corrupt New York politicians.
    • Charles came here July 15, 1868.
    • Burned down following explosion, presumably just after Charles’s visit. To hide his secret?
    • Body in basement, man, presumably killed by Charles Singleton.
      • Shot in forehead by .36 Navy Colt loaded with .39-caliber ball (type of weapon Charles Singleton owned).
      • Gold coins.
      • Man was armed with Derringer.
      • No identification.
      • Had ring with name “Winskinskie” on it.
        • Means “doorman” or “gatekeeper” in Delaware Indian language.
        • Currently searching other meanings.
    EAST HARLEM SCENE (GENEVA’S GREAT-AUNT’S APARTMENT)
    • Used cigarette and 9mm round as explosive device to distract officers. Merit brand, not traceable.
    • Friction ridge prints: None. Glove-prints only.
    • Poisonous gas device:
      • Glass jar, foil, candleholder. Untraceable.
      • Cyanide and sulfuric acid. Neither containing markers. Untraceable.
    • Clear liquid similar to that found on Elizabeth Street.
      • Determined to be Murine.
    • Small flakes of orange paint. Posing as construction or highway worker?
    ELIZABETH STREET SAFE HOUSE SCENE
    • Used electrical booby trap.
    • Fingerprints: None. Glove prints only.
    • Security camera and monitor; no leads.
    • Tarot deck, missing the twelfth card; no leads.
    • Map with diagram of museum where G. Settle was attacked and buildings across the street.
    • Trace:
      • Falafel and yogurt.
      • Wood scrapings from desk with traces of pure sulfuric acid.
      • Clear liquid, not explosive. Sent to FBI lab.
        • Determined to be Murine.
      • More fibers from rope. Garrotte?
      • Pure carbon found in map.
        • Determined to be additional diamond dust.
    • Safe house was rented, for cash, to Billy Todd Hammil. Fits Unsub 109’s