Two Little Girls in Blue (2006), a Novel by Mary Higgins Clark: summary

The 390-page novel published by Pocket Books in 2006, a mystery book that is delivered in simple and comprehensive one. Mary Higgins Clark is American suspense writer. The story follows the kidnapping of identical twins. 

“There is no greater sorrow than losing a child.”

Two Little Girls in Blue, a Novel by Mary Higgins Clark: summary

It was the third birthday of the Frawleys identical twins girls. Hours after the excitement party, Kathy and Kelly were kidnapped and a ransom note demanding eight million dollars left in their bed. On the next morning the kidnapping of the Frawley twins was headline news all along and by early afternoon had become a national media event. The birthday picture of beautiful little girls with their angelic faces, and long blond hair and dressed, was shown on television news channels and printed in newspapers all over the country. Steve and Margaret Frawley appeared on television in front of their home. Margaret said to the kidnappers she only could promise two hundred thousand dollars in cash from her friends were taking up collection. Kathy was sick.

Steve Frawley was a new employee at the global investment firm. He had got an MBA and law degree. He was smart and solid. Gregg Standford, the chief financial officer and Norman Bond, the next director to offer an opinion had the same decision. Bond was the one hired Steve and voted for offering to put up the ransom money. The kidnapper’s leader called the media. Angie Ames aka Mona and her boyfriend Clint Downes aka Harry with his friend Lucas Wohl aka Bert kept the twins. A man on the phone set the kidnapping and arranged the transaction. The voice on the phone, whoever he was, had ordered Lucas to dump in the ocean anything they had that could be connected to the kidnapping. They used the typewriter to write the ransom note, any clothes or toys or blanket that might had their DNA on them. They put them on the box.

Lucas Wohl has been dead for twenty years, and his real name was Jimmy Nelson in prison and he was his cellmate. He now was a personal driver to Frankley Bailey, the chief officer of a family-owned grocery chain. Franklin Bailey’s neighbor just got the call from man who admitted as the kidnapper and had instructions for Bailey. He identified himself as Pied Piper. His instructions were brief and explicit; wiring seven million dollars to an overseas account and the remaining million dollars in ransom was to be ready for delivery. As the Pied Piper was giving instructions, Angie was shopping in drugstore for keeping Kathy from getting any sicker. Angie and Clint watched the interview on TV when the guy who was head of Steve Frawley’s company promised to pay ransom money.

Although neither the family not the FBI will confirm it, it is believed that the Pied Piper had communicated his demands for paying the ransom by calling Frawleys on the neighbor’s phone. Kidnapper chose Franklin Bailey to deliver the ransom money and Clint who pick up the money from the trash bin. Bailey ordered Lucas to drive him to deliver the money. In the case the feds happened to be at Bailey’s house, it would be one way showing that he was a conscientious limo driver, no more, no less.

Lila Jackson, a sales clerk at a clothes store had become something of celebrity to her family and friends. She had been the one to sell the twin’s blue velvet dresses to Margaret Frawley two days before kidnapping. She recognized both Margaret and the dresses the kidnapped twins were wearing in the picture she saw on television. It was the sixth day since Kathy and Kelly were taken from their bedroom. She remembered a woman who bought clothing for twins. 

She bought overalls and polo shirts, underwear, and socks. She didn’t buy shoes because she didn’t know the size. The receipt for the clothes had been signed by Mrs. Clint Downes, using a Visa card. She asked Jim Gilbert, a retired cop, was having dinner with her mother. Jim said he knew Clint Downes, the caretaker who lived in cottage at the club. The woman was Clint’s girlfriend and not Mrs. Downes. She did a fair amount of babysitting. Lila found Clint at his house but didn’t see Kathy and Angie.

The ransom drop had been completed, but agents had lost the people who picked up the money. Seventy- five-year-old Monsignor Joseph Romney got a call from someone claiming to be the Pied Piper. He asked the Reverend to pick up the twin behind an old restaurant and informed Kathy had a heavy cold. The twins were in a locked car and the priest went to Margaret and Steve said Kelly was safe but Kathy has been taken to Him. The news that one of the twins was dead triggered an avalanche of national sympathy.

Angie called the Pied Piper said that Lucas was dead and she had Kathy. It had been confirmed that Lucas Wohl had flown his plane out of airport, carrying a heavy box, and returned shortly after without the box. That box was believed to have held the body of little Kathy Frawley. According to the suicide note, Lucas Wohl buried Kathy at the sea. Angie had killed Lucas because she wanted Kathy.

The physical examination showed that Kelly had not been molested, but the bruises on her arms and legs suggested that she had been pinched viciously. The pediatrician Dr. Sylvia Harris said the pinching was a woman’s trick. There was a faint smell of Vick’s on Kelly’s pajamas. They found Kelly began to talk in her sleep. She said two names Mona and Harry. The loss of her twin made Kelly was very fragile emotions.

Lucas Wohl had been connected with the kidnapping and killed himself. Agent Realto was suspicious on Franklin Bailey. He admitted he met Margaret was on line at the post office. She and Steve attended the same mass at the same church where he was a parishioner. Since then they had chatted several times after the mass. Bailey was mayor of the town for twenty years. Bailey has lost considerable amount money in a scam ten years ago. Richard Mason as slippery a con artist and Steve Frawley’s half brother.

Norman Bond was not surprised when two FBI agents arrived at his office. Gregg Stanford was chief financial officer because his wife’s family owned ten percent of the voting stock. Bond hired Steve Frawly something about corporate politics. The other candidates wanted his job. Steve Frawley appeared to be a loyal man, a very smart, a truly ethical man and a rarity these days. A combination of brains and personality. Bond’s wife did not give birth to twin boys who died at birth and she a left him shortly after that. She remarried fairly quickly. Theresa disappeared several years after she remarried. Bond insisted he had noting to do with his late wife’s disappearance, as well as with the kidnapping of the Frawley twins. He called his former wife as a late wife.

FBI Agent Walter Carlson set the lie detector test to Margaret and Steve Farwley, not only them but their family member too. Richard Mason was Steve’s half brother. Richard’s father died when he was only two. His mother married Tom Frawley three years later, and no human being could have been a better father to a child than Tom has been to Richard. When he was a teenager, he got in with the wrong crowd and never got back on track again. He was always been jealous of Steve. Richie was really smart, but dropped out in his freshman year and took off for Las Vegas. He even tried to date Margaret before she met Steve. Richie was financially sophisticated, which is why he was able to deceive many people with that phony investment.

FBI agents Angus Sommers and Ruthanne Scaturro investigated Amy Lindcroft, the first wife of Gregg Standford. She was the college roommate of Tina Olsen, the pharmaceutical heiress. Looking back, she realized that Gregg married her so he could worm his way in Tina’s world. Gregg was smart and he was working for a small investment firm. He kept ingratiating himself to Mr. Olsen, who finally asked him to join his staff. After ten years marriage, she finally had become pregnant. The cheating of her husband and her best friend Tina caused a miscarriage. It lasted six years, until

Tina found Gregg was cheating with someone else and got rid of him. Tina apologized to Amy. She said it wasn’t only his womanizing that got to her; her father had learned that he’d been milking the company with phony expenses. Mr. Olsen covered the expenses himself to avoid the scandal. Gregg’s new wife was tough lady and she made a sign prenup that said that if the marriage didn’t last seven years, he got zip, noting, not a dollar. The prenup expired in a few weeks and the doorman of their apartment told him he wasn’t allowed in the building.

The fed found Jimmy Nelson, who at some time took on the name of his deceased cousin, Lucas Wohl drove Gregg frequently during his marriage to Tina Olsen. Amy Lindcroft believed Lucas continued to drive him long after the breakup of the marriage. Margaret believed Kathy was a live, Kelly was communicating with Kathy – the telepathy. Kelly even said her sister was asleep and tied to bed. Kelly was probably getting her sister’s cold. She was experiencing Kathy’s pain. Kathy whispered to Kelly she was in a place named Old Cape Cod. Elsie Stone, an old waitress at McDonald held a local newspaper and telephoned the police. She almost certain she saw Kathy with a woman in her town Cape Cod. Every cop on the Cape was on the lookout for Angie’s van and Clint was under arrest for possession of stolen motor vehicle.

After studying Clint’s face, the cop compared him with the description the police undoubtedly had of him. The Pied Piper had watched as the squad cars cut of Clint’s stolen vehicle. Clint didn’t know his real name, but as soon as he described him, the fed would be on his doorstep. It was only Lucas knew who he was. He had got seven million dollars, less the bank cut, waiting for him in Switzerland. The passport was in his pocket. Clint admitted to Margaret that Kathy was with Angie. He and Angie wanted a family. The feds found Kathy was in the van – on the floor in the back and Angie was not moving. Grace Frawley informed his son Richie Mason that Kathy was found alive, but Richie was under arrest by FBI for using phony document – under his brother’s name.

Before Norman Bond killed his wife, Theresa had begged for life of the twins she expecting the way Margaret Frawley had begged for the safe return of her children. Bond saw the FBI agent who had come to his office and who had become hostile and suspicious when his slip about “my late wife”. Theresa‘s wedding ring given her by second husband was on a chain around his neck. Theresa was wearing it the night she disappeared. In a sudden panic he did not see the vehicle that was making a U-turn. The impact of the truck hitting him was explosion that seemed to rip him apart. He was gone. At least now her second husband could get on with his life. For seventeen years he had held on to the hope that she was still alive.

Angie was dead. Clint did not recognize the Pied Piper and he never saw his face clearly. He tried giving the descriptions, but he realized he was from the company that paid the ransom. He was on the TV saying that he shouldn’t have paid it. Gregg Standford was in airport for catching a plane in late night. Stanford hadn’t got much bargain with. He plotted the kidnapping because he was panicking. He was afraid his wife had found out about his philandering and was going to divorce him. He had to have a backup fund. Stanford hatched the scheme after Steve showed him pictures of the twins. Clint Downes was a kidnapper and murderer. He still denied he killed Angie.

******

A time in Yamaguchi University, Japan

Sekapur Sirih

Mary Higgins Clark adalah novelis laris berkebangsaan Amerika kelahiran tahun 1927. Penulis telah menorehkan sejumlah karya suspens dan telah menyentuh angka lima puluhan. Ini pertama kali saya membaca karyanya.  Two Little Girl in Blue yang diterbitkan oleh Pocket Books pada tahun 2006 bergenre misteri.  

Kisah penculikan si kembar yang disampaikan dalam narasi dan percakapan yang mudah dimengerti sehingga bagi pembaca pemula, buku setebal 390 halaman ini akan cocok. Plot ceritanya bagus dan membuat pembaca penasaran siapa penculik sesungguhnya. Agak sedikit rancu karena memasukkan  percakapan telepati dalam penyelesaian walau memang fakta bukti pendukung tetap acuan utama para penyidik.

Bagi peminat hiburan bertema thriller atau misteri dengan gaya ringan dan tulisan bagus maka buku ini cocok. Setelah membaca novel ini, mungkin para orang tua yang memiliki anak kecil akan tergubah dan menjaga anaknya seaman-amannya. Novel ini turut menemani perjalanan saya ketika berkunjung ke Universitas Yamaguchi Jepang.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia: Two Little Girl in Blue Karya Mary Higgins Clark

Malam itu menjadi malam bahagia bagi keluarga Frawley. Beberapa jam lalu si kembar Kelly dan Kathy baru saja merayakan ulang tahunnya yang ke tiga. Setelah acara ulang tahun kedua putrinya suami istri Steve dan Margaret Frawley menghadiri acara makan malam. Trish Logan, gadis pengasuh putri mereka dikejutkan dengan hilangnya si kembar dan menemukan catatan permintaan uang tebusan pada secari kertas. Keesokan paginya berita penculikan si kembar menjadi berita utama di media televisi dari pagi hingga malam. Dua gadis kecil berparas malaikat dalam balutan baju biru velvet pada foto ulang tahun mereka beberapa jam lalu.

Petugas FBI pun segera tanggap dan para awak media pun mengerumuni kediaman keluarga Frawley. Margaret mengatakan putrinya Kahty saat ini sedang sakit dan memohon pada penculik bahwa dia tidak memiliki uang tebusan 8 juta dolar. Sekalipun teman-temannya sudah mengumpulkan dana namun hanya dua ratus lima puluh ribu dolar saja. Dia janji akan memberi semua uang itu asal kedua putrinya dibebaskan. Sang penculik pun tiada takutnya malah menghubungi media secara langsung.

Akhirnya perusahaan dimana Steve bekerja tergerak ingin memberikan uang tebusan itu. Steve Frawley baru saja bekerja pada perusahaan firma penanaman modal. Dia seorang lulusan MBA dan lulusan hukum, di samping dia cerdas dia juga pegawai yang solid dan setia. Setelah rundingan para pejabat perusahaan akhirnya ransom 8 juta pun diberikan. Kembali si penculik yang menamakan dirinya the Pied Piper menelpon Franklin Bailey, seorang pengusaha dan mantan walikota di kota itu. Lewat telepon tetangganya sang pengusaha itu disuruh mentransfer 7 juta dolar ke bank Swiss dan selebihnya diantarkan tunai pada sebuah tempat yang ditunjuk.

Awalnya FBI dan keluarga Frawley kurang percaya dengan telepon itu namun setelah diyakinkan penculik transaksi pun dilakukan. Kini perusahaan di mana Steve bekerja menjadi terkenal dan mendapat pujian. Beberapa petinggi perusahaan mengadakan wawancara di televisi. Sesuai kesepakatan Bailey pun mengantarkan uang tebusan dan diantar oleh supir limo langganannya Lucas Wohl.  Disepakati uang akan dilempar ke dalam tempat sampah dan si kembar pun akan diserahkan. Dengan sigap Lucas pun memasukkan tebusan itu ke dalam limo yang dibawanya. Uang diambil, tapi pihak FBI tidak dapat mengidentifikasi si pengambil uang.

Tebusan diterima, the Pied Piper menghubungi pendeta tua, gembala gereja di mana Steve dan keluarganya mengikuti misa mingguan. Lewat pendeta itu diketahui keberadaan Kelly. Gadis kecil itu kedinginan ketika ditemukan namun Kathy tidak ada. Sebuah catatan bunuh diri dari Lucas Wohl ditemukan yang mengatakan Kathy telah tiada dan dikubur di laut. Dia tidak sengaja membunuhnya. Angie menginginkan Kathy dan mengingkari kesepakatan. Lucas pun dibunuhnya dan membuat pesan bunuh diri.

Kesedihan atas kematian Kathy sangat memukul keluarga Frawley, apalagi Kelly. Rupanya gadis itu bisa merasakan apa yang sedang dirasa saudari kembarnya. Walau sudah dirawat oleh dokternya, dia merasa sakit seperti yang dirasa Kathy. Gadis itu mengigau dalam tidurnya dan sering menyebut Kathy masih hidup. Walau tanpa jasad upacara pemakaman Kathy telah dilakukan, tapi Kelly yakin saudarinya masih hidup. Dia bahkan bertanya di mana Kathy dan memberitahu nama sebuah tempat. Penculiknya Angie membawa Kathy ke restaurant McDonald dan wanita tua pelayan tidak mengenal anak itu karena didandani seperti lelaki. Ketika ditanya gadis kecil itu menjawab namanya Kathy.

Pelayan tadi membaca Koran lokal dan melihat berita penculikan di televisi dan ia pun tersadar bahwa anak itu adalah Kathy. Nenek itu pun segara melaporkan pada polisi. Tempat yang diberitahu Kelly dan laporan nenek itu mengacu pada nama kota Cape Cod. Tim FBI pun bergegas dan memblokir jalan raya dan telah mendapati identitas lengkap para penculik. Angie Ames dengan samaran Mona, Lucas Wohl dengan nama samara Bert, dan Clint Downes, kekasih Angie dengan samara Harry. Kelly sering menyebut nama Mona dan Harry.

Lila Jackson gadis penjual di toko pakaian di mana Margaret membeli baju ulang tahun si kembar mengaku menjual baju kembar pada seorang wanita dengan menggunakan kartu kredit atas nama Clint Downes, dia mengira wanita itu pasti istri Clint Downes. Wanita itu tidak tahu persis ukuran sepatu si kembar dan Lila pun menanyakan teman lelaki ibunya yang juga mantan polisi. Lelaki itu mengenal Clint Downes seorang penjaga dan pembersih sebuah klub yang hidup tak jauh dari rumah Lila. Angie nama wanita itu, dia seorang babysitter dan dia hanya kekasih Clint, bukan istri. Lila Jackson pun penasaran dan mencari Angie dengan berpura-pura mengganti baju cacat. Downes agak berkeringat ketika dia bertanya tentang Angie dan si kembar.

Sepanjang jalan Cape Cod, operasi razia membuat Clint tertangkap atas kepemilikan mobil curian. Polisi pun mengamati wajah itu dan membandingkan dengan deskripsi foto buronan Clint, dan persis. Clint pun akhirnya mengakui di mana Kathy dan Angie. Dia dan Angie tidak bermaksud menyakiti Kathy, mereka hanya ingin membangun sebuah keluarga. Di dalam sebuah van, Kathy ditemukan dalam kondisi sakit keras dan Angie ditemukan tewas tak bergerak.

The Pied Piper boleh senang karena pada faktanya Angie dan Clint tidak mengenalinya secara jelas hanya lewat suara dari telepon. Namun terakhir Clint memantau gestur tubuhnya dari kejauhan ketika mengikuti Angie dan Kathy. Dari gambaran yang diberi Clint, FBI semakin yakin otak penculikan itu adalah Gregg Stanford. Lelaki itu telah terancam miskin karena somasi istrinya dalam perjanjian sebelum menikah bahwa dia tidak akan mendapatkan satu dolar pun apabila perkawinan mereka gagal sebelum usia tujuh tahun.

Dia sangat panik dan merencanakan penculikan itu. Ide pun muncul ketika Steve Frawley menunjukkan padanya foto putri kembarnya. Lucas dahulu supir mantan istrinya Gregg tapi masih tetap berhubungan dengannya. Mantan napi itu sebenarnya mengambil nama teman selnya Lucas Wohl, nama aslinya Jimmy Nelson. Jimmy handal dalam mencuri, dia mengenal Clint dalam  dalam penjara. Gregg menjalani hidup di penjara atas rencana penculikan dan penculikan si kembar. Angie mati dibunuh Clint walau lelaki itu tidak pernah mau mengakuinya.

******

The Cold Moon (2006), a Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver: summary

Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by the little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.  William Faulkner

Time is a great teacher but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.   Louis – Hector Berlioz

This book features a psychological thriller that hooks reader from the start. The criminologist Lincoln Rhyme with his trusted partner, Amelia Sachs, tracked the Watchmaker, a genius serial killer. The 629-page book was published by Pocket Books in 2006. Jeffrey Deaver is an American crime writer. He was a former journalist, folk singer and lawyer.

The Cold Moon (2006), a Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver: summary

From his squeaky chair in the warm office and squinted through the bright morning light toward the far end of the pier. Lincoln Rhyme had his own ‘Before and After’ and he understood this concept very well. One moment he was as healthy as everyone else, searching a crime scene, and a minute later a beam had snapped his neck, almost completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. Rhyme had become to believe that he himself really was not much different in the After.

His physical condition, his skyline, had changed. But he was essentially the same person as in the Before : a cop and a scientist who was impatient, temperamental, relentless and intolerant of incompetence and laziness. The criminologist studied the victims. They found a note that was signed by a name Watchmaker: “The full moon in the sky, shining on the corpse of earth, signifying to die and end the journey begun at birth.”

The tall, red-haired detective, Amelia Sachs, was permanently assigned to Lincoln Rhyme for crime scene work but she wanted to do more forensic exclusively. Sachs’s father was a patrolman. He had been given a number of commendations over the year. The medical examiner reported the first victim had indeed fallen into the Hudson River. It was the length of clothesline that had ended the life of fifty-six-year-old Benjamin Creeley, a businessman, found dangling from banister of his Upper East town house. Sachs was at the second scene, the alley way off Cedar Street, near Broadway.

Theodore Adams, mid-thirties, was lying on his back, duct tape gagging him and binding his ankles and wrists. The killer had looped a rope over a fire escape, ten feet above him, and tied one end to a heavy, six-foot-long metal bar with holes in the ends like the eye of a needle. Teddy was a bachelor, worked for himself, a freelance advertising copywriter. Both of the victims had quite similar evidence – clock, poem, no fingerprints, and minimal trace. Sachs now understood the woman who had reported his missing brother. A teenage girl stared at Sachs with frown, the pretty detective had blocked her view on her uncle. The sister, whose name Barbara Eackhart, had no idea the killer’s motive might be. The hysterical woman asked restroom when she emerged pale and shaken.

Vincent Reynolds had known The Watchmaker – whose real name was Gerald Duncan. He didn’t have a lot of friends and could put up a lot from Gerald Duncan. He liked a lot of things about Gerald Duncan. Vincent and Duncan were opposites in many ways but they had one thing in common – dark secret in their hearts. Hungry Vincent was thinking about Joanne. The Watchmaker had learned that Joanne spent a lot her time in her workshop, a few blocks away from her retail flower store.

The criminologist studied that the Cold Moon was in December, the month of hibernation and death. As Rhyme had noted earlier, killers referencing the moon of astrological themes tended to be serial perps. A search of the victims’s clothing found none of the fine-grained sand, blood or other trace to link to the killings. Like Sachs, Rhyme doubted this was the Watchmaker, but given the gravity of the crimes he wasn’t going to be careless.

Kathryn Dance was a special agent with the California Bureau of Investigation, based in Monterey. She was one of the nation’s preeminent expert in interrogation and kinesics- the science of observing and analyzing the body language and verbal behavior of witnesses and suspects. She’d been in New York for her kinesics seminar to local law enforcement agencies. Kinesics is a rare specialty in police work.

Dance was had been a reporter after college. Eventually bored with reporter’s life, Khatryn Dance decided on career change. She opened a jury consulting business, advising attorneys with jurors to choose and which to avoid during voir dire jury selection. But it was only in six years, she changed course once again. With the help of her tireless husband, she headed back to school- the California State Bureau of Investigating training academy. She became a cop. Dance had heard of Rhyme – many law enforcers knew of the brilliant quadriplegic forensic detective.

Dance was disappointed that it wasn’t a suspect but a witness be interviewing. She preferred the challenge of confronting criminals and the more deceitful the better. Kinesics traditionally was studying somebody’s physical behavior-body language- to understand their emotional state and whether they were being deceptive or not. It was not just body language but spoken comments and written statements too. Ari Cobb, though, was a classic extrovert and an arrogant one.

Sachs explained about the suicide of Benjamin Creeley, suspicious because of the broken thumb, as well as burned evidence at his house, traces of cocaine and the possible connection to some cops. But his wife said she never saw Creeley doing any drugs. The watchmaker probably bought the clocks at the same store. Detective Lon Sellito who also in investigation told Dance that they discovered a possible source for the clocks left at the Watchmaker’s crime scene. He wanted her to interview the man who might have solved them.

Dance interrogated the clock dealer and he said that a man had bought ten clocks from him. Electronic Facial Identification Technology, a computerized version of the old Identi-Kit, which reconstructed a suspect’s feature from witness prompts. The image of a white man in his late forties or early fifties, with a round face, and unusual light blue eyes. The dealer recalled dark clothes but couldn’t remember exactly what he was wearing.

Tony Parson was sitting across from Khatryn Dance in a coffee shop. He said he couldn’t remember anything about the murder in that place. The hunger raged through him now looked Dance only few feet from him. He loved to kill the policewoman. Dance was chatting like a friend. Lincoln found he wasn’t Tony Parson but Vincent Reynolds.He was  a twenty-eight-year-old word-processing operator who lived in New Jersey and work for half-dozen temp agencies. None of which he knew about him.

The officers found a letter he was writing to his sister in Detroit. Detective Mell Cooper had emailed a digital picture of Vincent to the florist shop’s owner, Joana Harper. The woman resembled he starred at the window glass of her shop. Though they suspected him of being the Watchmaker’s accomplice, the evidence linking him to the scene was sketchy. A shoe footprint was the same size as his shoes. At last Dance successfully made Vincent spoke about the Watchmaker.

Gerald Duncan was a businessman from Midwest. He was staying in old church in Manhattan. He lost her wife in hit-run car accident in one night on business travel in New York. His wife died and tried to kill all the people who handled his wife. He interested in clocks, time, and lunar calendar. He collected old clocks and watches—only a hobby. Vincent was shock to know Watchmaker’s wife was his sister. Vincent raped his own sister when their mother and stepfather were on their honeymoon. He was fifteen and she was thirteen.

Dennis Baker came from a family of law enforcers. His father was a transit cop and his brother worked for Department of Correction and his uncle was a cop in a small town. Initially he had no interest in his job- the handsome, well-built young man wanted big bucks. He joined with other crooked cops. They target the children and rich businessman in Manhattan clubs and planted the drugs on them. But two businessmen Sarkowski and Creeley were two businessmen tough hides. They kidnapped Sarwoski and killed him and several weeks later they killed Creeley. The officers had no reason to arrest Duncan.

Baker heard about a professional killer, Gerald Duncan who could manipulate crime scenes and set up fake motives to steer suspicion completely away from the man hiring him to kill. Eliminating the motive could eliminating the suspicion too. Duncan had put the plan into operation. He killed two men randomly and sent Vincent to attack Dance. The Watchmaker would kill Amelia Sachs for her investigation.

Sarah Stanton was his last victim. The estimator of the flooring company. Detective Dennis Baker had appeared tried just attempted to kill Amelia Sachs and Detective Ron Pulaski. Criminologist Rhyme found Duncan never killed the victim, he stole the corpse from hospital. He had no wife killed in car accident. Dennis Baker dragged into jail. The Missouri State Police sent a car out to the address on the license. It owned by another Gerald Duncan.

Born in Chicago, Hale was the son of high school Latin teacher. The boy had been loner for much of his life. In doing his research into watchmaking, Charles Vespasian Hale had learned concept of the complications. Watch’s complication offer the owner some information as the time sunrise, perpetual calendar, the day, month, season, the season, month, lunar orbit. But complications were exactly he needed for his plan in New York to lead the distraction the police away from his main mission.

Charlotte Allerton was the stocky woman who pretended to be the sister of Theodore Adams, the first victim in the alley. Her husband, Bud Allerton, was the man masquerading as the lawyer who’d secured Gerald Duncan’ release from jail by promising that his client would be spectacular witness in the crooked cop scandal. Bud was really a lawyer, though he hadn’t practice for years. He pretended to be a big lawyer and the prestigious law firm. Charlotte sent Hale a warning message. The police was seizing him. Hale was presently in downtown Manhattan, made his way to New York office of the Department of Housing, and Urban Development (HUD). He appeared in an army uniform, a rank major.

In a short time a number of soldier and their families would attend a ceremony in their honor hosted by the city and the U.S Department of Defense and State. Officials would be greeting soldiers and their families, recently returned from foreign conflicts, giving them letters of commendation, and thanking them for reenlisting. These government officials, as well as the soldiers, their families, and any member of the press, were the real point of Charles Hale’s mission in New York. He had been hired for the simple purpose in killing as many of them as he could.

Hale was not completely apolitical. He had views on democracy versus communism versus fascism. Charlotte and Bud Allerton hired him for the job of sending message about wrong-minded American intervention in foreign nations. Charlotte and her second husband Bud were part of fringe militia group that had been attacking federal government buildings and UN facilities for years. He had come to New York, move into safe house in Brooklyn- finding unwitting associates: Dennis Baker and Vincent Reynolds. He learned everything he could about the Watchmaker’s supposed victims and surveyed the HUD building. Hale and Charlotte had played the fictional murder of Teddy Adams in purpose.

When Charlotte played Teddy’s sister–, the guards had let the hysterical woman to use though back door of HUD and allowed her to use the restroom down stairs without searching her. Hale had learned from Government Service Administration that florist Joana Harper had contract to supply flower arrangements and plants. He got the precise drawings every room and hallway in HUD from the estimator flooring Sarah Stanton. He had learned U.S Army Sergeant Lucy Richter from a newspaper. He had broken into Lucy’s picture, later forged, the special access passes that required soldier to attend the ceremony.

He created layers of motives for the breaks-in. His original plan was simply to pretend a serial killer who loved anything related to watch. An organization crime contacted him, a police named Dennis Baker needed a hit man to kill an NYPD detective. He eliminated the motive by eliminating the suspicion. The soldiers and their families had resembled in HUD building. High rank General had given his speech started the celebration honoring eighteen brave individuals. Charles Hale was in the men’s room of a small coffee shop not far from the HUD building. He stripped of his military uniform and looked at his digital wristwatch, which was synchronized to the timers into the bomb detonator.

Pedestrians were clustering on the sidewalk, staring. The explosion seemed bigger than he had anticipated. The fatalities would be greater than Charlotte and Bud hoped. It was hard to see anybody could have survived. Charles Hale was satisfied. He had earned some big money. Most important, he created a plot that had worked perfectly- like clockwork. The special news report the bomb story in HUD building, Bud and Charlotte were smiling it on their TV.

They expected Duncan to collect the rest of his money at the door, but plenty of policemen pointed their pistol on Charlotte. An automatic pistol was pulled from his suitcase, Bud Allerton was panic in the chamber with his step daughter. The girl screamed and he flung her onto bed. Her head hit the wall and lay stunned.

Sekapur Sirih

Buku setebal 629 halaman terbitan Pocket Books tahun 2007 dan cetakan pertamanya tahun 2006 lalu. Jeffery Deaver dikenal sebagai penulis novel misteri dengan tokoh utamanya Lincoln Rhyme, seorang kriminolog dari Kepolisian New York. Ini adalah pertama kali bagi saya menikmati karya Deaver yang tergolong agak rumit dicerna. Walau demikian, tema misteri pembunuhan berantai yang meninggalkan pesan puisi the Cold Moon yang ditanda-tangani oleh the Watchmaker dan sebuah jam di TKP membuat buku ini penasaran untuk diselesaikan.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia : the Cold Moon  oleh Jeffery Deaver

Dua korban ditemukan di tempat yang berbeda. Benjamin Creeley seorang pengusaha kaya di temukan di sungai Hudson. Istrinya sangat tidak percaya bila suaminya bunuh diri dan pengguna narkoba. Tetapi barang bukti yang ditemukan mengarah pada tindakan bunuh diri. Ia baru saja berbinis dengan seorang teman bernama Kowaski. Tak lama kemudian Kowaski juga terbunuh, disusul dengan korban-korban lainnya.

Anak muda dengan jeratan pada leher ditemukan di tempat yang berbeda. Kakak Theodore Adams tidak percaya bahwa adiknya yang masih lajang telah dibunuh. Barbara Eackhart bersama putrinya yang masih remaja tidak percaya melihat jasad Adams. Motif apa yang mungkin membunuh seorang penulis teks iklan yang hampir tidak memiliki musuh. Detektif Amelia Sachs dan kriminolog Lincoln Ryme menemukan adanya kesamaan. Pembunuhan lain pun terjadi dan sebuah pesan dan jam duduk ditemukan di lokasi kejadian perkara.

Ilmuwan handal Lincoln Rhyme kini duduk di kursi roda tapi tidak menyurutkan semangat kerjanya. Ia dahulu sehat dan kuat sebelum sebuah kejadian membuatnya sepanjang hari duduk di kursi rodanya. Laboratorium penyidikan sangat membutuhkan ahli kriminal itu. Amelia Sachs wanita cantik dan muda didapuk menjadi partner kerja penyidik itu. Amelia adalah putri polisi patroli. Namun  gadis berambut merah itu tidak begitu bangga dengan ayahya yang kerap memukul ibunya dan dikenal sebagai polisi tidak baik.

Kali ini kemampuan analisanya dan tentu saja dengan bantuan timnya di lapangan, Rhyme menemui kesulitan menemukan motif pembunuhnya, the Watchmaker (pembuat jam), begitu tanda-tangan pembunuh pada pesan puisi tertulisnya yang selalu ditinggalkan pada korban.

Khatryn Dance seorang detektif piawai yang kebetulan memberi seminar di kota New York sempat mendengar kasus yang sudah meresahkan warga New York. Pembunuhan berantai yang selalu meninggalkan pesan namun sulit ditelusuri karena minimnya bukti fisik. Dance dikenal ahli interogasi, wanita itu berhasil mendalami informasi dari saksi yang tidak terlalu banyak memberi petunjuk berharga.

Bagi Vincent Reynolds, Gerald Duncan adalah teman dan guru yang baik. Tidak banyak teman dan keluarga yang dimilikinya. Ia merasa baru saja menemukan teman yang baik dan luar biasa. Hanya ia yang tahu jika the Watchmaker adalah Gerald Duncan. Sebenarnya ia bukan pembunuh tapi lebih kepada pemerkosa tapi Duncan berhasil memengaruhi pemuda aneh itu. Duncan, pria pengusaha yang datang dari Midwest, ingin membalaskan kematian istrinya. Ketika itu ia dan istrinya sedang berlibur ke New York namun istrinya tabrak lari dan meninggal.

Rencana mereka kali ini adalah membunuh tukang bunga Joana Harper dan penata gedung Sarah Stanton. Dan rencana besarnya membunuh polisi wanita Dance dan Amelia. Namun dalam uapaya ini polisi berhasil menangkap Vincent. Lewat pengakuan Vincent pula akhirnya didapat informasi tentang the Watchmaker. Gerald Duncan berhasil diinvestigasi namun tidak ada satupun bukti dan alasa menahan dia. Hasil otopsi juga membuktikan bahwa dua korban sudah mati sebelum ditemukan di TKP. Hanyalah jasad yang dicuri dari ruang mayat.

Berhasil mengelabui kriminolog Rhyme dan timnya, rupanya Duncan tengah merencanakan pemboman gedung militer yang akan digunakan pada acara penganugerahan tanda kehormatan bagi puluhan pahlawan militer yang bertugas di luar negeri membela bangsa dan menyebarkan demokrasi. Identitas Duncan akhirnya diketahui, ia bernama asli Charles Vespapian Hale. Anak tunggal dari seorang guru bahasa Latin.

Ia sangat dikenal handal dalam mengaburkan motif dalam sebuah kasus pembunuhan dan juga bergabung dalam organisasi pembunuh bayaran. Hale dikeluarkan dari penjara oleh pengacara Bud Allerton. Pengacara yang lama tidak praktek dan mengaku berasosiasi dengan pengacara hebat dari kota, Bud pun berhasil membebaskan Hale.

Dennis Baker, detektif muda berperawakan tampan dan menawan, berasal dari keluraga penegak hukum. Ayahnya polisi dan pamannya juga bekerja pada kantor kepolisian bidang pengoreksian. Baker ingin uang cepat dan bergabung dengan teman-teman detektif buruk lainnya merekayasa pengusaha kaya, anak-anak muda di pub. Korban direkayasa memilki narkoba, lalu diperas. Kelompok polisi korup ini juga menjual narkoba.

Benjamin Creely memberi perlawanan dan lelaki pengusaha itu dibunuh oleh tangan Dennis sendiri. Korban lainnya mengancam karir Dennis, ia pun dibunuh lewat pembunuh bayaran. Mendengar nama Duncan, seorang ahli dalam mengaburkan motif pembunuhan, Dennis pun memberi pekerjaan padanya. Dengan kelicikannya, Duncan menumpangkan rencana utamanya lewat pekerjaan Dennis. Kini polisi berbalik menangkap Dennis Baker dan komplotannya, Duncan terbebas dari tuduhan.

Duncan sangat kagum dengan kompleksitas cara kerja jam. Ketelitian dan pertautan setiap instrumen membentuk informasi waktu, musim, bulan, dan tahun. Ia pun lama mendalami dunia pembuatan jam dan memilih nama samaran the Watchmaker. Rencana dan targetnya dilapangan telah berhasil mengelabui motif dengan menghilangkan kecurigaan.

Detektif Amelia, Dance, dan timya berhasil menemukan kediaman Bud Allerton. Pengacara itu dan istrinya sangat berbahagia menonton ledakan bom dahsyat di televisi. Charlotte dan Bud Allerton adalah aktifis milisia yang menentang kebijakan Amerika yang kerap mengurusi konflik di berbagai negara. Keduanya mengeluarkan Hale dari penjara dan membayarnya untuk membuat plot bom yang akan menewaskan petinggi militer dan para pahlawan penerima piagam.

Detektif Amelia Sachs baru menyadari pernah bertemu Charlotte dan putrinya. Ia melaporkan kehilangan adiknya Adams sehari sebelum jasad Adams ditemukan. Wanita itu juga menangis histeris saat terbunuhnya Theodore Adams dan meminta beristirahat masuk ke gedung tanpa tahu ke mana wanita itu setelahnya. Polisi percaya begitu saja jikalau wanita itu adalah kakak Adams. Tetapi yang paling membuat detektif cantik itu menggeleng-geleng kepala, ketika ia baru sadar bahwa Charlotte adalah kasus pertamanya bekerjasama dengan detektif Rhyme beberapa tahun silam dalam sebuah kasus penculikan. Dari hasil laporan catatan kriminal, Charlotte pernah menyelipkan bom di kantor pusat PBB di Manhattan. Ledakan itu menewaskan enam orang, namun ia berhasil kabur dan tinggal di pedesaan.

Para detektif pun tidak menyangka bahwa pembunuhan berantai selama ini sengaja direkayasa Charles Hale untuk mengelabui tujuan utamanya yakni membom gedung militer. Acara resmi penganugerahan medali kehormatan para perwira yang dihadiri oleh jendaral berpangkat tinggi. Dari upaya mendekati pedagang bunga penyuplai gedung itu hingga dekorator gedung yang menyuplai karpet dan peralatan gedung. Hale berhasil memperoleh informasi detail gedung dari pemasok tanaman dan bunga serta dekorator gedung. Ia membaca kisah seorang perwira yang tengah terkenal di koran. Hale berhasil mencari rumah perwira itu dan memalsukan identitas militernya agar bisa memasuki gedung itu dan bergabung dengan hadirin lainnya pada acara tersebut.

Berita ledakan bom pun menjadi tajuk berita di layar kaca. Dalam kediamannya, Bud Allerton dan istrinya sangat senang dengan ledakan itu, rencana yang telah mereka susun selama bertahun-tahun akhirnya berhasil. Amelia dan rekannya berhasil menemukan Charlotte dan Bud Allerton. Satu regu polisi telah mengepung kediaman pasangan itu. Dalam aksi itu Bud tewas tetapi istri dan putri tirinya selamat. Berita terkini mengabarkan bahwa tidak ada korban yang terluka dalam peristiwa ledakan, hal ini membuat Hale dan Charlotte sangat kecewa. Demi masa depan putrinya, Charlotte Allerton pun akhirnya bersedia bekerjasama dan memberi informasi tentang Hale. Namun sayang, Charles Hale berhasil lolos dan malah mengejek sang kriminolog itu dengan meninggalkan sepucuk surat.