“Nothing?” Rhyme asked. He shook his head.

Locard’s principle . . .

Ron Pulaski arrived, pulling off his coat and hanging it up. Rhyme noticed that Sachs’s eyes turned at once to the rookie.

The Other Case . . .

Sachs asked, “Any luck with the Maryland connection?”

The rookie replied, “Three ongoing federal investigations into corruption at the Baltimore waterfront. One of them has a link to the New York metro area but it was only the Jersey docks. And it’s not about drugs. They’re looking into kickbacks and falsified shipping documents. I’m waiting to hear back from Baltimore PD about state investigations. Neither Creeley or Sarkowski had any property in Maryland and neither of them ever went there on business that I could find. The closest Creeley got was regular business meetings in Pennsylvania to meet some client. And Sarkowski didn’t travel at all. Oh, and still no client list from Jordan Kessler. I left a message again but he hasn’t returned the call.”

He continued. “I found a couple of people assigned to the One One Eight who were born in Maryland but they don’t have any connection there now. I ran a roster of names of everybody who’s assigned to the house against property tax databases in Maryland—”

“Wait,” Sachs said. “You did that?”

“Was that wrong?”

“Uhm, no, Ron. It was right. Good thinking.” Sachs shared a smile with Rhyme. He lifted an eyebrow, impressed.

“Maybe. But nothing panned out.”

“Well, keep digging.”

“Sure thing.”

Sachs then walked over to Sellitto and asked, “Got a question. You know Halston Jefferies?”

“Dep inspector at the One Five Eight?”

“Right. What’s with him? Got a real short fuse.”

Sellitto laughed. “Yeah, yeah, he’s a rageaholic.”

“So I’m not the only one he acts that way with?”

“Nup. Reams you out for no reason. How’d you cross paths?” He glanced at Rhyme.

“Nope,” the criminalist replied cheerfully. “That’d have to be her case. Not my case.”

Her exasperated look didn’t faze him. Pettiness could, in some circumstances, be quite exhilarating, Rhyme reflected.

“I needed a file and I went to the source. He thought I should’ve gotten his okay.”

“But you needed to keep the brass in the dark about what’s going on at the One One Eight.”

“Exactly.”

“It’s just the way he is. Had some problems in the past. His wife was a socialite—”

“That’s a great word,” Pulaski interrupted, “ ‘socialite,’ like ‘socialist.’ Only they’re opposites. In a way.”

When Sellitto shot him a cool look the rookie fell silent.

The detective continued. “I heard they lost some serious money, Jefferies and his wife. I mean big money. Money you and me, we can’t even find where the decimal point goes. Some business thing his wife was into. He was hoping to run for office—Albany, I think. But you can’t go there without big bucks. And she left him after the business fell through. Though with a temper like that, he had to’ve had issues beforehand.”