What is the Wire?

I was struck recently in the book I was reading, PLAY DEAD by Richard Montanari by the concept of "the wire".

For all the homicides that had ever been committed, from the moment Cain raised his hand to Abel, there had been a wire. A time, a place, a weapon, a motive, a killer. It wasn't always obvious - indeed all too often it was never discovered - but it was always there.

As detectives Jessica Baldano and Kevin Byrne stood in the duty room of the homicide unit, the wire revealed itself. Jessica held one end. She spoke first.

..........................

Byrne listened. He did not judge her. He held the other end of the wire.

The concept conjures up all sorts of ideas doesn't it? The links between the perpetrator and the victim. The links that lead the investigators to uncover the crime.