Chapter 22

ONCE IN A WHILE there are moments in this job when everything works out for you. Finding the Lightower baby at McDonald's was one of those times. The entire Hall seemed to breathe a deep, grateful sigh of relief.

I got Cindy on the line and asked a favor. She said she'd be delighted to put a little pressure on X/L.

I hung up with Cindy, and Charlie Clapper was knocking on my door. "Nice bust¹, Boxer²."

"That's a little sexist, even from you," I said with a smile.

Clapper laughed. His Crime Scene team had spent the better part of the past day and a half picking through the bomb site. Charlie looked exhausted³.

"FYEF, darlin'," he said, motioning with his head for me to follow. "For your eyes first. They're a whole lot cuter than Tracchio's."

"Knew I earned this gold shield for something."

Charlie took me to his office down the hall. Niko was in there, from the Bomb Squad⁴, leaning back in Charlie's old hardwood recliner and picking something out of a Chinese food container.

"Okay, we've pieced together an idea of the explosive device." Charlie threw out a chair for me. On a poster board, someone had drawn⁵ a floor plan of the Lightowers' town house. "Traces of C-4 were all over the place. Half a pound's enough to blow a jet from the sky, so from the size of the blast, I figure this was about five times that. Whoever did it put it inside something like this" - he took out a black Nike sport bag - "and placed it in one of the rooms."

"How do we know that?" I asked.

"Easy." Clapper grinned. He pulled out a fragment of black nylon with a Nike swoosh on it. "We found this plas-tered against the wall."

"Any luck you could scrape a few prints off the bag?" I asked hopefully.

"Sorry, honey," Clapper snickered, "this is the bag."

"It was triggered by a fairly sophisticated device," Niko explained. "Remote detonation⁶. Blasting cap was hooked up to a cell phone."

"There's a market for C-4, Lindsay. We could look into any construction-site thefts, missing military inventory," said Charlie Clapper.

"How are you with babies, Charlie?"

"If they're eighteen or over," the CSU man said, grinning. "Why? You finally getting the itch⁷?"

If Clapper were a foot taller, fifty pounds lighter⁸, and hadn't been married for thirty years, I just might take him up on his little flirtations one day. "Sorry, this one's a little younger."

"You mean the Lightower baby?" Charlie scrunched⁹ his face.

I nodded. "I want her dusted, Charlie. The kid, blanket, bassinet, anything you can find."

"Been thirty years since I changed a diaper." Clapper let out a breath, looking a little squeamish. "Hey, I almost for-got...." He pulled out a coded evidence bag from under-neath a pile of papers on the desk. "There was a room down the hall from the nursery. Someone spent the night there. Someone who isn't accounted for now."

The au pair, I was thinking.

"Don't get excited," Charlie said, shrugging. "Everything was cinders¹⁰. But we picked up this by the bed."

He tossed me the plastic bag. Inside was a small, twisted canister about three inches long.

I held it up. Didn't have the slightest idea what it was.

"Everything must've melted." Clapper shrugged¹¹. He fumbled¹² behind him through his jacket draped over the chair. He came out with something that looked similar.

"Proventil, Lindsay." He took the cap off his own device and fit it neatly¹³ onto the one from the evidence bag. He pressed the mouthpiece twice. Two puffs¹⁴ shot out into the air.

"Whoever slept in that bed had asthma¹⁵."

1 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

2 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

3 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

4 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 detonation   

n.爆炸；巨响

参考例句：

• A fearful detonation burst forth on the barricade.街垒传来一阵骇人的爆炸声。
• Within a few hundreds of microseconds,detonation is complete.在几百微秒之内，爆炸便完成了。

7 itch   

n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望

参考例句：

• Shylock has an itch for money.夏洛克渴望发财。
• He had an itch on his back.他背部发痒。

8 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

9 scrunched   

v.发出喀嚓声( scrunch的过去式和过去分词 )；蜷缩；压；挤压

参考例句：

• The snow scrunched underfoot. 雪在脚下发出嘎吱嘎吱的声音。
• He scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it at me. 他把那张纸揉成一个小团，朝我扔过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 cinders   

n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道

参考例句：

• This material is variously termed ash, clinker, cinders or slag. 这种材料有不同的名称，如灰、炉渣、煤渣或矿渣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rake out the cinders before you start a new fire. 在重新点火前先把煤渣耙出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。

13 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

14 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

15 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。