'Thisis printmaking paper?'

    'Amongother things.'

    Hellput the sample down, picked up a few pages of computer printouts.

    'It'sthe watermark that jumped out. Without it, we would have had to wait for Washingtonon this.' He pointed to one of the lines on the printout, highlighted in limegreen. 'The manufacturer of this paper is headquartered in Milan, Italy, andthe line is called Atriana. Really high-end stuff. Printmaking, mostly,but they make all kinds of multi-use paper - stationery, canvas, vellum, linen.But this stuff is top of the line. One sheet of this paper retails for aboutseventy dollars.'

    'Wow'

    'Yeah,'Hell said. 'And dig this. This company also supplies the paper for the Euro.'

    'Thecurrency?'

    'Theone.'

    'Theyhave two distributors in the US,' Hell said. 'As far as I can tell this paperis available at only twenty retail stores across the country. Mostly artsupplies and specialty paper shops. Unfortunately - for us, not our bad boy -the paper can be ordered from a dozen online retailers.'

    'Arethere any stores in Philly that carry it?' Jessica asked.

    'No,'Hell said. He smiled, held up a 3 x 5 card with an address on it. 'But there isa store in Doylestown.'

    Jessicatook the address.

    'Noapplause?'

    Jessicaclapped.

    'Thankyou. And now to the wax.' On the table sat a small covered glass dish. The waxseal was inside. 'This is standard candle wax, not sealing wax, which is why ithas begun to disintegrate.'

    'What'sthe difference?'

    'Well,about five hundred years ago, sealing wax was made primarily of beeswax andsomething called Venice turpentine, which is an extract of the larch tree. Thewax was uncolored in those days, but when the Renaissance hit, folks started tocolor it with vermilion, and do you really want to know any of this?'

    'Maybeone of these days,' Jessica said. 'Right now I'd love to know where our boybought this. I would like a clear video of him leaving the store, and a copy ofhis driver's license. Do you have that?'

    'No.And what's worse, this candle wax is available at every Rite- Aid, Wal-Mart andTarget in the country. But not in this color.'

    'Whatdo you mean?'

    'Well,what I was getting to, before I was so brusquely interrupted, was that thisparticular sample was not colored with any old vermilion.'

    Ittook Jessica a second to realize what Hell Rohmer was saying. One look at Byrnetold her he'd gotten it as well. She turned back to Hell.

    'No.'

    'I'mafraid so. The coloring is blood. This is a bad, bad pony, this guy.'

    Jessicalooked at Byrne just as someone entered the lab and stopped by the door. Hellcrossed the room, disappeared from Jessica's line of sight. In the reflectionfrom one of the glass cabinets she saw that the new arrival was Irina Kohl.Irina had with her a few folders, one of which she placed in Hell's hands. ThenJessica saw the diminutive Irina get on her tiptoes and kiss Hell Rohmer flushon the mouth. Hell turned and saw that Jessica could see them in the cabinet'sreflection.

    Thetwo of them, now red as raspberries, walked back to join Jessica and Byrne.

    'Urn,you didn't see that,' Hell whispered to Jessica.

    'Seewhat?'

    Hellwinked.

    'I'm gladyou're here,' Irina said, plowing forward. 'I think we may have something onthe murder weapon.'

    IrinaKohl worked in the lab's firearms ID unit, which also handled tool marks, andwas in her late twenties, a prototypical lab dweller - neat in appearance,precise in manner and speech, probably a little too smart for Mensa. Beneathher lab coat she wore a suit coat, white button-down shirt, and lavender knittie.

    Irinaopened a folder, removed some enlargements.

    'Thewire used as the ligature was made of woven multi-strand titanium.' She pointedto an extreme close-up of the ligature marks on the first two victims. Even tothe naked eye the woven characteristics were visible. The flesh bore an imprintof the three-strand weave. 'We found traces of the metal in the wound.'

    'Whatis something like this used for?' Jessica asked.

    'Thereare a lot of uses for it. In general, titanium wire is specified for medicaldevices, bone screws, orthodontic appliances. In different gauges it is all overthe aerospace, medical and marine manufacturing map. It is low-density and hasa high resistance to corrosion.'

    Irinathen picked up a blown-up photograph, as well as a pair of slides.

    'Ialso found hair samples in the ligature wound on the first two victims. Wehaven't gotten a crack at the third victim yet.' She pointed to the two slides.'These are from Sharon Beckman and Kenneth Beckman.'

    'Doyou think this is our killer's hair?' Jessica asked.

    'No,'Irina said. 'I'm afraid not. These samples are definitely not human.'

    Jessicalooked at Byrne, back. 'Not human as in ...'

    'Well,animal.' Irina pushed up her thick glasses. She scrunched her face, as ifsmelling something unpleasant. Jessica supposed this was her way of waiting forthe conversation to regenerate. She also noted that the woman was wearing twodifferent lipsticks. One shade on her upper lip, one on the lower.

    'Well,duh, Jess,' Jessica said, berating herself. 'I mean, what else, alien?'

    Irinacontinued, undaunted. 'Domestic animal specifically.'

    'We'retalking dog or cat?' Jessica asked.

    'Notdomesticated, necessarily. What I mean is domestic as in cow, sheep,horse.' Irina got a little more animated. 'See, if we're talking the hair of domesticanimals there are a number of variations in color and length. However, a lot ofthese identifiers are pretty general. In order to tell the difference between,say, a dog and a cat, or between a cow and a moose, you really need the root tobe present. Which, unfortunately, in this case, we do not have.'

    Sheslipped a slide onto the stage of a microscope, clipped it in.

    'Butwe're just getting started.' Irina smiled at Hell. Hell beamed.

    Irinathen peered into the microscope eyepiece, did a little fine focusing. 'If youtake a look here, you can see it.' She stepped back.

    Jessicastepped forward, looked through the microscope.

    'Yousee it is quite coarse. The medulla is unbroken,' Irina said. 'The pigment isfine and evenly distributed.'

    'Yeah,'Jessica said. 'I was just going to say that about the medulla.' The image shesaw looked like a long dark brown tube. She might just as well have beenlooking at a Tootsie Roll. Hell Rohmer watched Irina, sunny with admiration,seething with forensic lust. Jessica and Byrne had worked with the two of themmany times. Hell and Irina liked to have scientifically clueless detectives andother investigators look though microscopes. It validated them as criminalists.

    'Whattipped me was the ovoid structures,' Irina added.

    'Everytime,' Jessica said, stepping away from the microscope. 'So what are yousaying? I mean, I understand it. Tell us for Kevin's benefit.'

    Byrnesmiled.

    'Well,this is not exactly my field,' Irina said. 'So I'm going to send this out. Weshould know something by tomorrow at the latest.'

    Jessicahanded Irina a card with her cellphone number on it. 'Call me the second youhave it.'

    'Willdo,' Irina said. 'And our freaky killer better get some game.'

    'Why'sthat?'

    Irinasmiled. Jessica saw her hand covertly brush up against Hell Rohmer's hand.'We're about to make his life awfully uncomfortable.'

    Onthe way out to the car Jessica thought about the lab and the curious creatureswho toiled within. Physical evidence was, as they say, a silent witness toevery misdeed, always present at crime scenes due to the simple phenomenon oftransference. No individual can enter or leave any enclosed area withoutpicking up or leaving behind innumerable items of physical evidence. But theevidence alone has little value. Only after it has been detected, collected,analyzed, interpreted and presented will it yield meaning and context.