this time."
"You have a good crew," Graham said.
"They are. But this kind of thing is out of our usual line, thank God. Let me get it straight, do you fellows work together all the time - you and Jack and Dr. Bloom - or do you just get together for one of these?"
"Just for these," Graham said.
"Some reunion. The commissioner was saying you were the one who nailed Lecter three years ago."
"We were all there with theMarylandpolice," Graham said. "TheMarylandstate troopers arrested him."
Springfieldwas bluff, not stupid. He could see that Graham was uncomfortable. He swiveled in his chair and picked up some notes.
"You asked about the dog. Here's the sheet on it. Last night a vet here calledLeeds's brother. He had the dog.Leedsand his oldest boy brought it in to the vet the afternoon before they were killed. It had a puncture wound in the abdomen. The vet operated and it's all right. He thought it was shot at first, but he didn't find a bullet. He thinks it was stabbed with something like an ice pick or an awl. We're asking the neighbors if they saw anybody fooling with the dog, and we're working the phones today checking local vets for other animal mutilations."
"Was the dog wearing a collar with theLeedsname on it?"
"No."
"Did the Jacobis inBirminghamhave a dog?" Graham asked.
"We're supposed to be finding that out,"Springfieldsaid. "Hold on, let me see." He dialed an inside number. "Lieutenant Flatt is our liaison withBirmingham... yeah, Flatt. What about the Jacobis' dog? Uh-huh...uh-huh. Just a minute." He put his hand over the phone. "No dog. They found a litter box in the downstairs bathroom with cat droppings in it. They didn't find any cat. The neighbors are watching for it."
"Could you askBirminghamto check around in the yard and behind any outbuildings," Graham said. "If the cat was hurt, the children might not have found it in time and they might have buried it. You know how cats do. They hide to die. Dogs come home. And would you ask if it's wearing a collar?"
"Tell them if they need a methane probe, we'll send one," Crawford said. Save a lot of digging."
Springfieldrelayed the request. The telephone rang as soon as he hung it up. The call was for Jack Crawford. It was Jimmy Price at the Lombard Funeral Home. Crawford punched on from the other phone.
"Jack, I got a partial that's probably a thumb and a fragment of a palm."
"Jimmy, you're the light of my life."
"I know. The partial's a tented arch, but it's smudged. I'll have to see what I can do with it when I get back. Came off the oldest kid's left eye. I never did that before. Never would have seen it, but it stood out against an eight-ball hemorrhage from the gunshot wound."
"Can you make an identification off it?"
"It's a very long shot, Jack. If he's in the single-print index, maybe, but that's like the Irish Sweepstakes, you know that. The palm came off the nail of Mrs. Leeds's left big toe. It's only good for comparison. We'll be lucky to get six points off it. The assistant SAC witnessed, and so didLombard. He's a notary. I've got pictures in situ. Will that do it?"
"What about elimination prints on the funeral-home employees?"
"I inked up Lombard and all his Merry Men, major case prints whether they said they had touched her or not. They're scrubbing their hands and bitching now. Let me go home, Jack. I want to work these up in my own darkroom. Who knows what's in the water here - turtles - who knows?
"I can catch a plane toWashingtonin an hour and fax the prints down to you by early afternoon."
Crawford thought a moment. "Okay, Jimmy, but step on it. Copies toAtlantaand Birmingham PD's and Bureau offices."
"You got it. Now, something else we've got to get straight on your end."
Crawford rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Gonna piss in my ear about the per diem, aren't you?"
"Right."
"Today, Jimmy my lad, nothing's too good for you."
Graham stared out the window while Crawford told them about the prints.
"That's by God remarkable," was allSpringfieldsaid.
Graham's face was blank; closed like a lifer's face,Springfieldthough.
He watched Graham all the way to the door.
* * *
The public-safety commissioner's news conference was breaking up in the foyer as Crawford and Graham leftSpringfield's office. The print reporters headed for the phones. Television reporters were doing "cutaways," standing alone before their cameras asking the best questions they had heard at the news conference and extending their