“They aren’t him. There are similarities, sure. Enough to pass the computer software match threshold. But they aren’t the same.”
“You’re sure?”
He was still staring at the screen. “Much as I wish I weren’t. Besides, none of these guys comes close to matching your description. This one’s a woman. The next is a guy in his seventies.”
“But we were sure that print came from the man who abducted Fara Spencer.”
He pushed back away from the computer, rubbing his eyes. “So now we know that our guy has never been arrested. Never run for political office. Never taken the bar exam. He’s managed to get through life without being fingerprinted. He’s never done anything like this before.” He slid out of his chair and switched the power off his monitor. “Or if he has, he’s never been caught.”
He ambled up the sidewalk outside Central Division headquarters trying to concoct a suitable conversation starter. As it happened, the young man sitting on the front steps eliminated the need.
“Are you a grown-up person?”
“Ye-es…”
“You must be kind of a short person. Are you kind of a short person?”
“I am as God made me.”
“I’m six foot one. Do you know how tall the Sears Tower is?”
He tugged at his collar. All his initial impressions were correct. There was something strange and more than a little disconcerting about this man’s demeanor. The way he struck up a conversation, albeit a nonsensical one, with a total stranger on a Vegas street. His voice was simple, almost childlike. And yet he was an adult, somewhere in his mid-twenties by appearances.
“No, I’m afraid I don’t.”
“It’s one thousand four hundred fifty-four feet tall. One hundred and three floors. It used to be the tallest building in the world. Not anymore.”
“Fascinating.”
“Do you know how tall the Empire State Building is?”
“Not exactly.”
“It’s one thousand four hundred fifty-three feet. One foot shorter than the Sears Tower. One hundred and two floors. Have you ever talked to a midget?”
He stiffened. “I’m not sure what-”
“I saw a midget once and I talked to her. I got in trouble for talking to her but I don’t know why because I didn’t do anything to hurt her.”
There was something wrong with this man, a discernible… vacancy. He didn’t lack intelligence or language. His syntax was skewed, but there was a distinct legerity to his responses. At the same time, there was a profound oddness about him: the way he held his head when he talked, the curious inflection, the unvaryingly excessive volume.
“I’m Darcy O’Bannon the second. My dad named me for my uncle, he’s dead. My uncle, not my dad.”
“Please to meet you, Darcy.” He extended his hand, but Darcy did not take it. Instead he stared at it, as if hesitant to make contact. “My name is Ethan.”
“Are you a jockey?”
“Uh… no…”
“Because I read that jockeys have to be short and they like jockeys to be short so you should be a jockey.”
“No, I’m… I’m an accountant.”
“How tall do you have to be to be an accountant?”
“I’m not aware of a height requirement.”
“I think I’d like to be a jockey. I rode a horse once and I liked that. It went really fast and I like to go really fast. Do you think I could be a jockey?”
“Uh… probably not, given your height. But I’m no expert.”
“Willie Shoemaker won eight thousand eight hundred thirty-three races, did you know that? He was four foot eleven. But he got rich. I think my dad would like me better if I were rich.”
“Darcy… I’m looking for Lieutenant Pulaski. Do you know where she might be?”
Darcy cocked his head to one side. “Do you know Susan?”
“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her, yes.”
“You’re not going to take her away from me, are you?”
“I’m… not sure what you mean.”
“Whenever I really like someone somebody else takes them away or tells me I can’t play with them anymore. I’ll be sad if Susan goes away. I like her a lot. Do you think she’s pretty?”
“Most striking.”
“I think so, too. But she’s not the prettiest woman ever. Some people say Cleopatra was the prettiest woman ever but did you know archeologists dug up a coin with her face on it and she wasn’t pretty atall?”
“I didn’t know that.” He suppressed a smile. And he had worried that this harmless meshuggener might be a threat, a rival, that he might come between himself and Susan. Obviously, that was not going to happen. What was she doing with this boy? Was he some sort of charity work, a Good Samaritan exercise? Was this Susan’s plan for worming her way back onto the force? Earning Chief O’Bannon’s favor by babysitting his brain-addled son?
“Do you know what the tallest building in the world is?”
“Uh… the Sears Tower?”
“Wrong!” He made a honking noise and pointed. “Faked you out. It used to be the Sears Tower, but now it’s the Petronas Tower in Malaysia. It’s one hundred and ten stories tall. That would be two hundred and sixty-four of me stacked on top of each other.”
“Imagine.”
“Would you like to see the Sears Tower and the Empire State Building stacked on top of the Petronas Tower? I would. Do you know how many stories that would be?”
“Rather a lot.”
“One hundred and two plus one hundred and three plus one hundred and ten. Know what that is?”
“Sorry, I’ve never been good with numbers.”
Darcy’s head tilted. “But I thought you said you were an accountant.”
“I… I rely heavily on my calculator.”
“Accountants are good adders. I read that in a book. My dad took me to an accountant once and he could add five-digit numbers in his head. So can I but he was the only other person I ever saw who could. Why can’t you add three-digit numbers?”
“Well… of course… I wasn’t really listening.”
“Are short accountants not as good at adding as tall ones?”
He stepped onto the sidewalk. “I really must be going.”
“Goodbye,” Darcy said. “You might think about seeing if you could become a jockey. ’Cause I’m not sure how good you’re going to be as an accountant.”