"No, not at all."
Cooper carefully looked over the side of the chair she indicated, using a magnifying glass. Rhyme couldn't see exactly what he found but the tech lifted away two items from bolts at joints in the upright pieces.
"What?"
"Fibers. One dark green and one brown." Cooper was examining them through the microscope, then turned to a computer database of similar fiber. "Cotton, heavy duty. Could be military, army surplus."
"Enough to test?"
"Plenty." The tech and Sachs ran a portion of each of the samples through the gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer.
Finally, as Rhyme waited impatiently, she called, "Got the results." A printout eased from the machine and Cooper looked it over.
"More aviation fuel on the green fiber. But something else. On the brown fiber there's diesel fuel. And more of those Chinese herbs."
"Diesel." Rhyme was considering this. "Maybe it's not an airport. Maybe it's a refinery he's after."
Cooper said, "That'd be one hell of a target, Lincoln."
It sure would. "Sachs, call Gary Nobel. Tell him to step up security in the ports. Refineries and tankers especially."
She grabbed the phone.
"Mel, add everything we've got so far to the chart."
CRIME SCENE: OFFICE BUILDING
AT 235 W. 54TH STREET
* * *
--Victims (deceased):
--Larry Fishbein, New York City, accountant.
--Robert Bodine, New York City, attorney.
--Franklin Tucker, Paramus, New Jersey, salesman.
--One friction ridge of Raymond Galt.
--Bennington cable and split bolts, same as at other scenes.
--Two handmade remote relay switches:
--One to shut off power to elevator.
--One to complete circuit and electrify elevator car.
--Bolts and smaller wires connecting panel to elevator, not traceable.
--Victims had water on shoes.
--Trace:
--Chinese herbs, ginseng and wolfberry.
--Hairspring (planning on using timer, rather than remote for future attacks?).