The watchmaker

chapter four

"Clocks huh", Describe them.The clocks."

"looked old fashioned that's all I know"

"Not a bomb"

"Nope didn't go bang, but the squad sent them to Rodman's Neck to check for bio or chemical agents.same brand of clock looks like Spooky one of the responders said. Has this face of a moon on it.Oh and just in case we were slow the perp left a note under the clocks. computer printout no handwriting".

"And they said....?"

Sellito glanced down at his notebook, not relying on memory. Rhyme appreciated this in the detective. He wasn't brilliant but he was a bulldog and did everything slowly and with perfection.He read "THE Full Cold Moon is in the sky shining on the corpse of earth signifying the hour to die and end the journey begun at birth" He looked up at Adam"it was signed the watchmaker"

"we've got two vics and a lunar motif". Often an astronomical reference meant that the killer was planning to strike multiple times. "He's got more on the agenda"

"Hey why do you think I'm here Adam?"

A small sound from outside the window.A crunch of snow.

Amelia Sachs stopped moving. She glanced out at the quiet white backyard she saw no one. She was a half hour north of the city alone in a suburban house that was still as death. An appropriate thought she reflected since the owner of the house was no longer among the living.

The sound again. Was it's source a footstep?

The tall red-haired detective wearing a black leather jacket navy blue sweater and black jeans listened carefully for a moment absently scratching her scalp. she heard another crunch unzipped her jacket so her Glock was easily accessible. Crouching she looked outside fast saw nothing and returned to her task. she sat down on the luxurious leather office chair and begin to examine the contents of a huge desk. This was a frustrating mission the problem being that she didn't know exactly what she was looking for. In fact you'd be hard pressed to call this a crime scene at all it was unlikely that any perpetrators had ever been present nor had any bodies been discovered here any loot hidden. This was simply a little used residence of a man named Lucas Creed who died miles away and had not been to this house for a week before his death.

Still she had to search carefully because Amelia was not here in the role she usually worked:a crime scene cop. She was the lead in the first homicide case of her own.

Another snap outside. Ice, snow, branch, deer, squirrel.... she ignored it and continued the search that had started a few weeks earlier all thanks to a knot in a piece of cotton rope.

It was this length of clothesline that had ended the life of fifty-six years old Lucas Creed found dangling from the banister of his upper East side town house. A suicide note was on the table, mo evidence of foul play evident.

Just after the man's death, though Suzanne Creed, his widow went to the NYPD. She simply didn't believe that he'd killed himself. The wealthy business man and accountant had been moody lately yes. But she only believed because he'd been working very long hours on a particular project. His occasional foul moods were a far cry from suicidal depression.Creeds finances were solid, There'd been no changes to his will or insurance policy. His partner Jordan Kessler was on a business trip. But he and Sachs had spoken briefly and he confirmed that while Creed had seemed depressed lately he hadn't ever mentioned suicide.

Though Amelia at first could not find any evidence of foul play until she made a discovery. The medical examiner reported at the time of his death Creed had a broken thumb his entire right hand was in a cast. Which simply wouldn't have let him tie the knot or secure the rope to the balcony railing.

Sachs knew because she tried a dozen times Impossible without using the thumb unless he tied it a week before his death but it didn't seem likely that you'd tie a noose and keep it handy waiting for a future date to kill yourself.

She decided to declare the death suspicious and opened a homicide file.

But it was shaping up to be a tough case. What little evidence existed; the liquor bottle he had been drinking from before he died, the note and the rope had yielded nothing. There were no witnesses.

Sachs was frustrated now