‘Oh. She was Chloe.’ Gordon said this softly. He touched his beard. Then scrolled once more. ‘Well, it’s weird for a client to make up a phrase or a passage for a modding. Sometimes I’ll ink a poem they’ve written. I’ll tell you, mostly they suck, big time. Usually, though, if somebody wants text, it’s a passage from something like their favorite book. The Bible. Or a famous quote. Or a saying, you know. “Live Free or Die.” “Born to Ride.” Things like that.’ Then he frowned. ‘Hm. Okay.’

‘What?’

‘Could be a splitter.’

‘And that is?’ Rhyme asked.

‘Some clients split their mods. They get half a word on one arm, the other half on another. Sometimes they’ll get part of the tat inked on their body, and their girlfriend or boyfriend get the other part on theirs.’

‘Why?’ Pulaski asked.

‘Why?’ Gordon seemed perplexed by the question. ‘Tats connect people. That’s one of the whole points of getting inked. Even if you’ve got unique works, you’re still part of the ink world. You got something in common, you know. That connects you, see, dude?’

Sachs said, ‘You seem to’ve done some thinking about all this.’

Gordon laughed. ‘Oh, I could be a shrink, I tell you.’

‘Freud,’ Sellitto said.

‘Dude,’ Gordon responded with a grin. That fist again. Sellitto didn’t take the offer.

Sachs asked, ‘And can you tell us anything concrete about him?’

Sellitto added, ‘We’re not going to quote you. Or get you on the witness stand. We just want to know who this guy is. Get into his head.’

Gordon was looking at the equipment, hesitating.

‘Well, okay. First, he’s a natural, a total talent as an artist, not just a technician. A lot of inkers are paint-by-numbers guys. They slap on a stencil somebody else did and fill it in. But’ – a nod at the picture – ‘there’s no evidence of a stencil there. He used a bloodline.’

‘Which is what?’ Rhyme asked.

‘If they’re not using a stencil, most artists draw an outline of the work on the skin first. Some draw freehand with a pen – water-soluble ink. But there’s no sign of that here. Your guy didn’t do that. He just turned on his tattoo machine and used a lining needle for the outline, so instead of ink you have a line of blood that’s the outer perimeter of your design. So, bloodline. Only the best tat artists do that.’

Pulaski asked, ‘A pro then?’