Every Breath You Take
Page 27
*
Half an hour later Pepper and Wallace were back in the squad room with all their goods. They had the copy of Crime and Punishment in one evidence bag, with the small amber bottle and cork in another, with the note in a third. Wallace also carried a flash drive containing surveillance footage of the library's main entry/exit area. The young techie in the library's security office had copied it over for them from their monitoring system.
McTavish and Chin were back by the time they returned, and they gathered them and Inspector Caruso around the murder board, Wallace even rounded up the four new team members to sit in. Pepper started, and Wallace joined in as they told them about the message from The Sandman on Bartolucci's phone and the amber bottle with the note they'd found at the university library.
"So, it is the same kind of note," Caruso said, looking down at the clear plastic bag Pepper had laid out on the desk in front of them. "And you say those words are more song lyrics?"
"Yes. It's from 'Message in a Bottle' by 'The Police', the first single from the 'Regatta de Blanc' album," Wallace said. The Inspector gave Wallace a look that stopped him short, letting his detective know the precise cataloguing information wasn't required.
"It's pretty obvious our guy is on to us," the Inspector continued. "He wouldn't have left a note like that for Bartolucci."
"Or left it behind the book he did," Pepper nodded in agreement. "Crime and Punishment-I'm sure our guy thinks he's pretty clever. He's obviously enjoying this."
"Yeah," Caruso continued. "He's really starting to fuck with us now." He stabbed his index finger down at the line of paired numbers. "Have you had a chance to look at those coded numbers yet?"
"No," Pepper said. "We wanted to get back here right away so Janssen and Singleton could check everything for prints."
"Okay, good. Make copies and then get it over to Forensics. Maybe we'll catch a break this time."
Wallace walked over and slapped the evidence bag face down on the glass of the photocopier. He handed the original back to Pepper and passed the copies around to the others.
"Tee, I want to get on this message right away. Can you take the stuff over to Forensics?"
"I'm on it." Pepper left, evidence bags in hand. He filled in Janssen and Singleton on what had happened, and hurried back to the squad room, anxious to see if Wallace had figured out the coded message.
"Just a second," Wallace said, holding out his hand in a stop signal as Pepper stepped next to his desk. "Almost?almost?.GOT IT." As he spoke aloud, the other team members gathered around, including Inspector Caruso.
"What is it?" Chin said. "I've got 'boy' and 'stop'-that's about it so far."
"Unless somebody's got a better combination for those letters," Wallace said, sliding his pad of notepaper across his desk towards the rest of them. "This is what I've got."
They all looked down as the Inspector read the words out loud. "STUPID BOY STUPID COPS." He stopped and looked around at his team members, nods of agreement coming from most of them. "I don't think we need to look any further-that seems pretty clear. He obviously knows we have Bartolucci."
"On a campus like Western, it wouldn't take long for it to get around that a member of the football team had been arrested. I've already seen it mentioned on the Facebook pages of some of Yvonne Redmond's friends," Chin said.
"What do you think he's trying to say by picking that song by The Police?" DiCicco said.
"For one thing, I think he's trying to rub it in that he sent the message to the actual police," Pepper replied. "But the actual words, it's almost like he's asking us to catch him."
"What do you think, Johannson?" Caruso said, turning to one of the new team members. "You've got your degree in criminology-what do you make of that?"
"I think Tee's right. Look at the actual words: "another lonely day, no one here but me, more loneliness, any man could bear." She paused and looked at the others, all eyes fastened on her as she spoke. "That sounds pretty bleak, almost desperate. And then the last two lines: "rescue me before I fall into despair, I'll send an SOS to the world". It's like he's pleading with us to find him and put him out of whatever misery he's in."
"I'd gladly put the bastard away," McTavish said, "if only he'd come right out and tell us where he is."
"We should be so lucky," Caruso said. "I think Johannson's right. He picks these songs for a reason. It's obviously not just something random." He turned to Wallace. "You said this message came in just a short time ago?"
"Yes. I checked the phone after we got back from the jail and saw he'd sent the message about an hour before that."
"And he made it sound like the message was for the Bartolucci kid?"
"Yeah."
"So he's obviously fucking with us. I think we need to respond-see if we can get a conversation going with him so we can try and draw him out."
"Got it. Anything in particular you want the message to say."
The Inspector waved his hand in the air as he nodded to Wallace. "You're good at that kind of stuff, Rupert. See what you can come up with and go with it-I trust your judgement."
"Okay, boss. I'll see what I can do."
The Inspector turned to the group of them. "In the meantime, I want to start surveillance on Drummond. We'll work in shifts, but I want him covered from sunrise until at least past midnight, depending on what he does. Pepper and Wallace, you're taking the first shift tonight." They turned as Janssen walked into the room, the Flamingo Kid trailing behind her.
"Got anything for us, Tanya?" the Inspector said.
"Nothing good. I knew you'd want to hear as soon as possible, so we came right over. Not a single print on the book, the perfume bottle, or the note. But I can verify that the note came from the same paper stock as the last note. The bottle could have been purchased anywhere that sells perfume. Sorry Inspector, it's not much to go on."
"The way this guy has been operating so far, I wasn't expecting anything more than that. Thanks." He waited until the Forensics team left before turning to the group. "Like I said, I want a close eye on Drummond at this point-but let's not put all our eggs in one basket-he might not be our guy." He directed his gaze to McTavish and Chin. "You guys met with Drummond, so you're the most familiar with what he looks like and any mannerisms he may have. I want you to go over the security footage Pepper and Wallace got from the library. They said it's just the main entry and exit security points, but it's all we've got. See if you can spot Drummond going in or out."
"We're on it," McTavish said as Wallace handed him the flashdrive.
"All right, people, let's keep beating the bushes and see if we can drive this bastard out. I want this son-of-a-bitch caught."