Rhymes With Prey Read Online Free PDF

beige slacks. “Tempt you? Beer? Anything else?”
    â€œLater, thanks.”
    Lincoln said, “Whiskey for me.”
    â€œYou’ve had two already,” Thom countered.
    â€œI’m so pleased at your sterling memory. Could I have a whiskey? Please and thank you?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œGet me—” But he was speaking to an empty doorway. He grimaced. “All right. Let’s get to work. Mel, what’s in the haul?”
    Mel Cooper looked like a geek, which he probably was since he was the Mr. Wizard of forensic science on the East Coast, if not the country. The man was pale and trim and had thin hair and Harry Potter glasses that invariably slid down his nose.
    Pulling on gloves, a surgeon’s cap, and a disposable jacket, Cooper took the bag and set the contents out on an examination pad—large sheets of sterile newsprint.
    â€œGood job,” he mused, looking at the carefully sealed bags. “You worked crime scene before?”
    â€œNaw,” Lucas said. “But I lost a rape-murder conviction once ’cause some rookie tripped and dropped the perp’s shoe into Medicine Lake. It was the only evidence we had that would’ve nailed the prick and I had a very uncircumstantial-minded jury. The prick walked.”
    â€œThat hurts,” Lincoln said.
    â€œCourse, he went after another vic a month later. He didn’t pick well. She kept a five-five Redhawk under her mattress. Just a three fifty-seven, not a forty-four. But it did the trick.”
    â€œWas there anything left of the guy?”
    â€œNot much above the neck. Justice got done, but it would’ve been a whole lot cleaner if the CS kid had held on to the evidence. Taught me to treat it like gold.”
    First, Cooper and Lincoln did a visual of the splinters and curlicues of bronze and other metals.
    Using an optical microscope on low power, Lincoln compared them with the scraps found in the backs of the women victims. He was looking at the shape of the scraps, along with the indentations from the tools that had trimmed them off a large piece of metal—presumably one of the sculptures. “Tool marks look real close to me,” Lincoln said.
    Lucas walked over to the high-def monitor plugged into the microscope via an HDMI cable. “Yeah, I agree.”
    They next had to compare the chemical composition of the metal from the crime scenes with that of the scraps Lucas had found at the studio. Cooper went to work analyzing each one, using the glow discharge spectrometer, the gas chromatograph, and the scanning electron microscope.
    â€œWhile we’re waiting,” Lucas said, pointing to a bag. “Possible blood stains. From the floor near his bedroom.”
    Cooper tested with luminol and alternative light sources.
    â€œYep, we’ve got blood.”
    A reagent test confirmed it was human, and the tech typed it. The sample, however, didn’t match the types of the women victims from the earlier scenes.
    They tested concrete samples that Lucas had collected, too, and compared them with the concrete particles found in the women’s backs. “Close,” Cooper assessed. “No cigar.”
    â€œHell.” Lincoln then glanced at the doorway; he’d heard the nearly undetectable sound of the key in the lock. A moment later the female detectives walked into the parlor.
    â€œHow’d it go?” Lily asked Lucas.
    He shrugged. “Some evidence fell off the truck.” He nodded to the equipment, merrily analyzing away. He glanced at Amelia’s outfit. “Damn, you need to go undercover more often.”
    Lily hit him on the arm. “Behave.”
    Lucas then asked the women, “What was Verlaine like?”
    â€œDangerous,” Amelia said.
    Lily filled in, “He looks at you like you’re naked and he can’t decide what to lick first.”
    â€œAnd then what to whip.”
    â€œSo the S&M hunch paid