The NYPD’s chief psychologist, Terry Dobyns. He was the one who’d formulated the theory that the Bone Collector’s obsession with bones was rooted in their permanence and reflected some loss in the perp’s past.

Dobyns was also the doctor who’d been a pit bull after Rhyme’s accident some years ago. He’d refused to accept Rhyme’s withdrawal from life and his flirtation with suicide. He’d helped the criminalist adjust to the world of the disabled. And no ‘How does that make you feel’ crap. Dobyns knew how you felt and he guided the conversation in directions that took the hard edges off what you were going through while not shying from the truth that, yeah, sometimes life fucks with you.

The doctor was smart, no question. And a talented shrink. But Sachs’s suggestion for enlisting him now was another matter altogether; she wanted a psychological profile of Unsub 11-5 and profiling was an art – not a science, mind you – that Rhyme found dubious at best.

‘Why bother?’ he asked.

‘Cross our t’s and—’

‘No clichés, please, Sachs.’

‘—dot our j’s.’

Sellitto took sides. ‘What can it hurt, Linc?’

‘It’ll take time away from doing something valuable – analyzing the evidence. It’ll be distracting. That’s what will hurt, Lon.’

‘You analyze away,’ Sellitto shot back. ‘Amelia and I’ll give Terry a call. You don’t even have to listen. Look, our unsub went to a lot of trouble to get his hands on a book that’s about the Bone Collector. I want to know why.’

‘All right,’ Rhyme said, surrendering.

Sellitto placed a call and when Dobyns answered, the detective hit a button on his mobile.

‘You’re on speaker, Terry. ’S Lon Sellitto. I’m here with Lincoln and a couple of others. We’ve got a case we’d like to ask you about.’

‘Been awhile,’ the doctor said in his smooth baritone. ‘How are you doing, Lon?’

‘Okay, okay.’

‘And Lincoln?’

‘Fine,’ Rhyme muttered and began looking over the evidence chart once more. Inwood marble. Being blown up. That, he was far more interested in than spongy psychological guesswork.

Alchemy …

‘It’s Amelia too,’ she said. ‘And Ron Pulaski and Mel Cooper.’

‘I’m deducing this’s about the tattoo case. I saw it on the wire.’

Though the press hadn’t been informed about the nuances of the Unsub 11-5 case, all law enforcement agencies in the area had been contacted, with a request for matching MOs (none had answered in the affirmative).

‘That’s right. There’s a development and we’d like your thoughts.’

‘I’m all ears.’

Rhyme had to admit that he found the man’s intonation calming. He could picture the sinewy, gray-haired doctor, whose smile was as easy as his voice. When he was listening to you, he truly listened. You were the center of the universe.