Page 100 of The Midnight Lock (Lincoln Rhyme 14)

“Never mind.” Rhyme noted Sachs was looking at him. He gave her a brief it’s-okay nod. “So the mayor’s press comment about me was based on my email on the brag board.”

“That’s right,” Potter said, a bit imperiously, Rhyme thought. “You didn’t think it’d make the news, did you?”

“And he sent you here to … arrest me?”

“At this point, a public statement of contrition.”

“Mea culpa and I promise I won’t do it again.”

“We need to make an example of flouting the rules.”

Rhyme looked over Beaufort’s photo once more. He was studying the brag board carefully.

When it appeared that the two men realized his interest was bordering on analytical, Beaufort tucked the mobile away.

Rhyme was thinking there were a few things he wanted to mention to Detectives Tye Kelly and Crystal Wilson, the shields from the 112, about the collar. But the pair in front of him were the last people on earth to bring the topic up with.

“Lincoln,” Beaufort said, “you don’t seem to appreciate the trouble you’re in.”

“Time stamp,” was the criminalist’s response.

“What?” Potter asked.

“You saw the date of the email, but not the time. Detective Kelly has the original. If you’d thought to look at it, you’d see that that email was sent several hours before the fiat—which by the way means alegaland definitive declaration. And I’m not sure that’s what the mayor and the commissioner issued. But that’d be a matter for a different day.”

“Time stamp.” Potter’s face tightened and he would undoubtedly be thinking of the conversation he would be having with the mayor, who would likely blame his aide and Beaufort for not checking something as simple as the timing of Rhyme’s memo.

Beaufort tried, “Well, what are you doing here now?”

“I’m here—”

A voice boomed. “He’s here to see me.”

The three men turned to Commanding Officer Brett Evans. The tall, distinguished man, with a military bearing, nodded a greeting to Rhyme, then turned and looked coolly at the other men. “I was going to meet Lincoln and his wife downtown for lunch. Then this call came in.” He looked at the flaming building. “Their colleague was in danger. They both came down here to see about him. I did too.”

Evans continued, “I’m hooking Lincoln up with my friends atNew Jersey State Police. The OFS. They’re interested in hiring him.” Evans added some heft to the word as he said, “Consulting.”

Potter looked at Beaufort.

Without a word, the two men returned to their car, Potter dropping into the driver’s seat. They didn’t depart, though. They’d be watching to make sure Rhyme didn’t prowl the scene.

Rhyme nodded his appreciation to Evans, who grinned. “How’d I do?”

“Oscar quality.”

“How’s Ron Pulaski?”

“He’ll be fine. Whittaker’s security man saved him.”

“Really? No one was hurt?”

“No.”

The two men watched several more floors collapse in explosions of dancing embers and shrouds of orange flame. Evans asked, “The Locksmith was behind this?”

“I’m sure.”

“I do have some names, Lincoln. New Jersey State Police.”