The Broken Window

Wayne Gillespie, Director of Technical Operations

No alibi

Samuel Brockton, Director, Compliance Department

Alibi-hotel records confirm presence in Washington

Peter Arlonzo-Kemper, Director of Human Resources

Alibi-with wife, to be verified

Steven Shraeder, Technical Service and Support Manager, day shift

To be interviewed

Faruk Mameda, Technical Service and Support Manager, night shift

To be interviewed

Client of SSD (?)

Awaiting list from Sterling

“Mel?” Rhyme called. “Check NCIC and the department.”

Cooper ran the names through the National Crime Information Center and the NYPD equivalent, as well as the Justice Department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program.

“Wait…may have a hit here.”

“What is it?” Sachs asked, moving forward.

“Arlonzo Kemper. Juvie in Pennsylvania. Assault twenty-five years ago. The record’s still sealed.”

“The age would be right. He’s about thirty-five. And he’s light-skinned.” Sachs nodded at the 522 profile chart.

“Well, get the record unsealed. Or at least find out if it’s the same guy.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Cooper typed some more.

“Any references to the others?” Rhyme nodded toward the suspect list.

“Nope. Just him.”

Cooper ran various state and federal database searches and checked some professional organizations. The tech shrugged. “Went to UC-Hastings. No connection with Pennsylvania that I can find. Seems like a loner: Aside from college credentials, his only organization is the National Association of Human Resource Professionals. He was on the technology task force two years ago but hasn’t done much since.

“Okay, here’s what they have on the juvie. He attacked another kid in a detention home… Oh.”

“Oh what?”

“It’s not him. No hyphen. The name’s different. The juvenile was first name Arlonzo, last name Kemper.” He glanced at the chart. “He’s ‘Peter,’ last name ‘Arlonzo-Kemper.’ I typed it in wrong. If I’d included the hyphen, it wouldn’t have shown up at all. Sorry.”

“Not the worst of sins.” Rhyme shrugged. This was a sobering lesson about the nature of data, he reflected. They seemingly had found a suspect and even Cooper’s characterization of him suggested he might be the one-He seems to be a loner-yet the lead was completely wrong, due to the minuscule error of missing a single keystroke. They might have come down hard on the man-and misdirected resources-if Cooper hadn’t realized his mistake.

Sachs sat down beside Rhyme, who, seeing her eyes, asked, “What is it?”

“Funny, but now that I’m back, I feel like some kind of spell’s been broken. I think I want an outside opinion. About SSD. I lost perspective when I was there… It’s a disorienting place.”

“How so?” Sellitto asked.

“You ever been to Vegas?”

Sellitto and his ex had. Rhyme gave a brief laugh. “Las Vegas, where the only question is how much disadvantage you have. And why would I want to give money away?”

Sachs continued, “Well, it was like a casino. The outside doesn’t exist. Small-or no-windows. No watercooler conversation, nobody laughing. Everybody’s completely focused on their jobs. It’s like you’re in a different world.”

“And you want somebody else’s opinion on the place,” Sellitto said.

“Right.”

Rhyme suggested, “Journalist?” Thom’s partner, Peter Hoddins, was a former reporter for The New York Times and was now writing nonfiction books about politics and society. He’d probably know people from the business desk who covered the data-mining industry.

But she shook her head. “No, somebody who’s had firsthand contact with them. A former employee maybe.”

“Good. Lon, can you call somebody at Unemployment?”

“Sure.” Sellitto called the New York State unemployment department. After ten minutes or so of bouncing around from office to office he found the name of a former SSD assistant technical director. He’d worked for the data miner for a number of years but had been fired a year and a half ago. Calvin Geddes was his name and he was in Manhattan. Sellitto got the details and handed the note to Sachs. She called Geddes and arranged to see him in about an hour.

Rhyme had no particular opinion about her mission. In any investigation you need to cover all bases. But leads like Geddes and Pulaski’s checking on alibis were, to Rhyme, like images seen in an opaque window’s reflection-suggestions of the truth but not the truth itself. It was only the hard evidence, scant though it was, that held the real answer to who their killer was. And so he turned back to the clues.

Move…