The phone beeped. Mae Won answered it. 'Sir, it's for you,' she said to Hood. 'It's Bugs.'
'Tell him I'll be back in a minute,' Hood said. 'Matt, we still need to ID the woman in the photographs. Is there any way to construct a face from what we have? Bone structure from the chin, a jawline, anything?'
Stoll shook his head. 'Not with any software I have.'
'What about mug shots?' Viens asked. 'The FBI has a file online. It might be worth comparing the chin we have with those.'
'We might as well, though I don't think our assassin is a contract killer,' Hood said.
'Why not?' Viens asked.
'Because they were too smart to end up on a camera,' Hood said. 'I doubt they have ever been inside a police station.'
'This is weak,' said a voice from behind.
Hood turned. Bob Herbert was in the doorway.
'What is weak, Bob?' Hood asked amiably. This was not the time to get defensive. Herbert was still in a volatile mode, and they had a case to solve.
'I've been sitting here listening to you guys play Junior Crimestoppers.' Herbert rolled his wheelchair into the office. 'You should have folded your intelligence chief into this, people. I've known hookers who were too smart to get caught on security cameras.
That doesn't de facto make them potential assassins.'
'Our intelligence chief removed himself from circulation yesterday,'
Hood remarked. 'I thought it was best to let him return on his own.
I'm glad he has. What's your take, then?'
'I talked to Darrell a few minutes ago, and my take is simple,' Herbert said. 'The killer has to fit two criteria. Otherwise, he isn't the killer. First, who stands to gain by Wilson's death? Second, who has the chops to pull it off? The only guy we have on that short list is Link. That leaves us two options. One: we waste resources looking for people who may also fit the criteria. Or two: we lean on Link with everything we can muster. Squeeze him like a lemon and see if we get juice. If not, then we move on.'
'How would you squeeze him?' Hood asked.
'Thanks for asking,' Herbert said. 'We have to do what we used to do with suspected moles or double agents. We go right up and say, 'We think you're a rat. We're gonna be all over you until you crack.'
Invariably, they look to get the heat off themselves. I believe these guys did that once by killing Robert Lawless. If we lean on Link, he'll either do that again or shut his operation down. In any case, he'll have to contact his cohorts to do that. When he does, we'll be all over them.'
The room was emphatically silent.
'Who would make that call?' Hood asked.
'Darrell just did,' Herbert replied. 'That's why Bugs was calling you.
To tell you that Darrell was on the line.'
'It was the right decision,' Hood remarked.
'He knew you'd think so,' Herbert said.
'What did Link say?'
'He thinks you're desperate, and this proves it,' Herbert replied.
'Darrell told Link he was wrong. It was all the usual back-and-forth up-front bluster. Just like the United Nations. The real work is going to take place behind the scenes.
