“Originally I did think it was Mason—only the three of us and Ben knew about the moonshiners’ cabin. I assumed he called Culbeau and sent him there. But I asked Lucy and it turned out that Mason called her and sent her to the cabin—just to make sure Amelia and Garrett didn’t get away again. Then I got to thinking and I realized that at the mill Mason tried to shoot Garrett. Anybody in on the conspiracy would want to keep him alive—like you did—so he could lead you to Mary Beth. I checked into Mason’s finances and found out he’s got a cheap house and is in serious hock to MasterCard and Visa. Nobody was paying him off. Unlike you and your brother-in-law, Bell. You’ve got a four-hundred-thousand-dollar house and plenty of cash in the bank. And Steve Farr’s got a house worth three ninety and a boat that cost a hundred eighty thousand. We’re getting court orders to take a peek in your safe-deposit boxes. Wonder how much we’ll find there.”

Rhyme continued. “I was a little curious why Mason was so eager to nail Garrett but he had a good reason for that. He told me he was pretty upset when you got the job of sheriff—couldn’t quite figure out why since he had a better record and more seniority. He thought that if he could collar the Insect Boy the Board of Supervisors’d be sure to appoint him sheriff when your term expired.”

“All your fucking playacting….” Bell muttered. “I thought you only believed in evidence.”

Rhyme rarely sparred verbally with his quarry. Banter was useless except as a balm for the soul and Lincoln Rhyme had yet to uncover any hard evidence on the whereabouts and nature of the soul. Still, he told Bell, “I would’ve preferred evidence. But sometimes you have to improvise. I’m really not the prima donna everybody thinks I am.”

The Storm Arrow wheelchair wouldn’t fit into Amelia Sachs’s cell.

“Not crip accessible?” Rhyme groused. “That’s an A.D.A. violation.”

She thought his bluster was for her benefit, letting her see his familiar moods. But she said nothing.

Because of the wheelchair problem Mason Germain suggested they try the interrogation room. Sachs shuffled in, wearing the hand and ankle shackles that the deputy insisted on (she had, after all, already managed one escape from the place).