The Twelfth Card

wearing size-11 walking shoes, most likely Bass brand. Uneven wear on right one, suggesting outturned foot.
    • Cotton-fiber rope with bloodstains was murder weapon; fibers similar to those found at present scene.
    • Motive was staged. The murder appeared to have been ritualistic. Candles were set on the ground at his feet and a pentacle was drawn in the dirt. But investigation into the victim’s life and profiling of the offense led investigators to conclude that this evidence was planted to lead the police off. No other motive was established.
    • No fingerprints were recovered; suspect wore latex gloves.
    Status: Active.
    “What’s the next case?” Rhyme asked.
    Cooper scrolled down.
    Incident Two: Homicide in Cleveland, Ohio. Case 2002-34554F (Ohio State Police): Three years ago, a forty-five-year-old businessman, Gregory Tallis, was found dead in his apartment, shot to death.
    Elements of similarity with Unsub 109 case:
    • Victim was subdued with blows to the back of the head with a blunt object.
    • Shoe prints of suspect identical to Bass-brand walking shoes, with outward-pointing right foot.
    • Cause of death was three gunshots to the heart. Small caliber, probably .22 or .25, similar to present case.
    • No relevant fingerprints were recovered; suspect wore latex gloves.
    • Victim’s pants were removed and a bottle inserted into his rectum, with apparent intent to suggest he was the victim of a homosexual rape. The Ohio State Police profiler concluded that the scene was staged. The victim was scheduled to testify in a forthcoming organized crime trial. Bank records indicate that the defendant withdrew fifty thousand in cash one week prior to the killing. However, the money could not be traced. Authorities presume that this was the fee paid to a hired killer to murder Tallis.
    Status: Open but inactive due to misplaced evidence.
    Misplaced evidence, Rhyme thought . . . Jesus. He looked over the screen. “Staging evidence to set up a phoney motive—and another fake ritualistic assault.” He nodded at The Hanged Man tarot card.“Subduing with the club, then strangulation or shooting, latex gloves, the Bass shoes, the right foot . . . Sure, it could be our boy. And it looks like he’s a hired gun. If so, we’ve probably got two perps: the unsub and whoever hired him. All right, I want everything Texas and Ohio have on both those cases.”
    Cooper made some calls. He learned that the Texas authorities would check the file and get back to them as soon as possible. In Ohio, though, a detective confirmed that the file was among those for dozens of cold cases misplaced in a move to a new facility two years ago. They’d look for it. “But,” the man added, “don’t hold your breath.” Rhyme grimaced at this news and told Cooper to urge them to track it down if at all possible.
    A moment later Cooper’s cell phone rang and he took the call. “Hello? . . . Go ahead.” He took some notes, thanked the caller then hung up. “That was Traffic. They finally tracked down outstanding permits for carnivals or fairs big enough to close streets in the past few days. Two in Queens—one neighborhood association and one Greek fraternal order. A Columbus Day festival in Brooklyn and another one in Little Italy. That was the big one. Mulberry Street.”
    “We should get some teams out to all four neighborhoods,” Rhyme said. “Canvass all the discount variety store and drugstores that use smiley-face bags, that sell condoms, duct tape and box cutters and use a cheap cash register or adding machine. Give the teams a description of the unsub and see if any clerks can remember him.”
    Rhyme was watching Sellitto stare at a small dark dot on his suit coat sleeve. Another bloodstain from the shooting that morning, he assumed. The big detectivedidn’t move. Since he was the senior cop here, he was the one to call ESU and Patrol and arrange for the search teams. It seemed that he hadn’t heard the criminalist, though.
    Rhyme glanced at Sachs, who nodded and called downtown to arrange for the officers to set up the teams. When she hung up, she noticed Rhyme was staring at the evidence board, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
    He didn’t answer right away, mulling over what exactly was wrong. Then he realized. Fish out of water . . .
    “Think we need some help here.”
    One of the most difficult problems criminalists face is not knowing their territory. A crime scene analyst is only as good