Every Breath You Take

by Jay Zendrowski

  Chapter 20

  Pepper checked the Reaper website as Wallace fiddled with Bartolucci's phone. Still no response to their Frank Booth message, and no further postings in the general forum section either.

  "Okay, here's what I've got," Wallace said, reading what he'd written. "Thanks for the perfume bottle, Sandman. I guess you think we stink as cops. Too bad the kid can't help you anymore. I have to give you two thumbs up for the Crime and Punishment reference. Pretty clever. I'm pretty clever too. The coded messages were challenging. Care to try another?"

  "I like it," Pepper said. "You've thrown a little praise in there for his ego, but then you challenge him too. I think it'll piss him off just enough to make him respond."

  "That's what I was thinking," Wallace said as he hit the send button. "Hopefully he takes the bait."

  While Wallace called his wife to let him know he was going to be working most of the night, Pepper pulled up all the pertinent data on Professor Robert Drummond. The professor lived in a house on Hampton Crescent, a nice older neighbourhood in the west side of the city off of Riverside Drive. Pepper pulled up Google street view and saw a single storey brick home that looked like it had been built in the 60's. It had a single car garage and was situated on a corner of the crescent, the back of the house perched on the edge of a sloping piece of land that overlooked the Thames River. A City-run golf course was right next door. Nice spot, Pepper said to himself. The house seemed quite secluded, with mature landscaping separating the houses from each other. The view from the back was desirable, with nothing but the river behind providing plenty of privacy. The corner lot was sheltered, and with the attached garage, Pepper thought it was the perfect place to hold someone hostage.

  "Okay, you ready to go?" Wallace said as he stood up from his desk.

  "Yep," Pepper replied, slipping on his coat. Dusk was falling as Pepper pulled the car out of the underground parking lot, the warmth of the day giving way to the cool of the night. They grabbed a couple of subs and drinks and made their way to the university, checking to see if the professor was still on campus. His car was gone from its spot, so as the evening darkness crept slowly in, they headed west on Riverside and took Hyde Park Road into the old well-to-do subdivision, driving past the professor's house before turning around and circling back.

  Pepper pulled to the curb beneath a big maple tree, the late winter branches still grey and leafless. A big blue spruce on a neighbouring property partially shielded them from view from the professor's house. Things were quiet as a tomb on the street. A light was on in one of the room's in the professor's house. As they sat and ate their sandwiches, another light came on in one of the end rooms, which they assumed was a bedroom. Minutes later, the light was turned off and they saw a flicker of movement near the room that had remained lit, and then the drapes were drawn, cutting off any view to the inside.

  "Looks like our boy is home," Pepper said.

  "Yep, could be a long night," Wallace replied, slurping his drink noisily as he popped a few sunflower seeds into his mouth.

  "Are you this much of a pig around Michelle?"

  "I've been married almost seven years now, we've got two kids and another on the way-of course I'm this much of a pig around her."

  "Aren't you afraid of losing that 'Husband of the Year' award?"

  "No problem, buddy-that one's permanently sewn up. It would take a jackhammer and twenty sticks of dynamite-not eighteen-not nineteen-twenty sticks of dynamite to pry that award from me."

  "Yes, of course, how silly of me to make such a mistake."

  "Well, you know, you single guys just don't understand what it takes to keep a woman happy. But hey, we didn't have much of chance to talk earlier. That Shauna now, I have to tell you, pal, you might have yourself a keeper there."

  "Yeah, you liked her?"

  "What's not to like? She's pretty, she can cook to beat the band, she's got a great sense of humour." Wallace paused, a troubled look coming over his face. "Which makes me think, what's she doing associating with a loser like you?"

  "Loser, eh?"

  "Yeah, as Ace Ventura would say?..lllaaa-ooooozzz-errrrr."

  "Of course, I forgot what a prince you are. Just keep slurping your drink buddy, and don't drop any more of those sunflower seeds in the car."

  "Sorry?.nasty habit."

  "Thanks, Ace."

  They watched the house for the next couple of hours as the darkness totally closed in and the temperature dropped. They saw the shadow of movement behind the blinds twice. A couple of cars drove by from other houses on the street, none of them paying any attention to their unmarked car. A light came on in the basement of the professor's house, shining out from a small window at the foundation level, most of the window partially obscured behind a window well.

  "Look at how white that window is," Pepper said as he took the binoculars and trained it on the window in question.

  "Yeah, that looks more like a fluorescent light than a standard bulb," Wallace said. "Let's take a look."

  They quietly closed the doors to the car and crept up to the house, hugging a row of cedars at the edge of the property. They moved silently across the front of the house, moving to either side of the window. They crouched down and peered down into the window well. They couldn't see anything. The inside of the window was covered with an opaque white film that made visibility impossible. They couldn't even make out any shadows or areas of dark and light behind the thick film. Pepper made a sound like the flicking tongue of a snake to get Wallace's attention. He circled his hand in the air and gestured with his head towards the back of the house. Wallace nodded and followed Pepper around the corner. As they approached the back corner of the house, they could hear the constant gurgling and lapping sounds of the river at the base of the slope below them. Around the corner, they spotted two similar windows with white light spilling out of them at the base of the back wall. They moved stealthily to the first, squatting down for a better look. It was the same as the window at the front, the white film covering the panes of glass from side to side, without a hair of clear glass visible anywhere. The second window at the back was the same, but they held their post here for about twenty minutes, to see if they could perceive any movement. There was nothing. Bartolucci's phone in Wallace's pocket pinged, signalling an e-mail message. The sound caught them both by surprise.

  "Shit," Wallace hissed under his breath as they scrambled from their positions and sped back towards the car. "I forgot to leave the phone in the car." He had the phone out and was hitting the appropriate button already.

  "Is it him?" Pepper asked.

  "Yeah. Listen to this: "Yes, the kid was useful for a while. After all, he did get me just what I asked him for, and she was very sweet, with Lips like Sugar-sugar kisses." Wallace paused and looked up at Pepper.

  "Lips like Sugar?" Pepper said, eyebrows knitted. "That's an 'Echo and the Bunnymen' song, right?"

  "Yeah, that's the Bunnymen all right." Wallace looked back down at the phone, the light from the screen illuminating his face in a spooky glow a he continued to read. "You know my name, so if you want to talk, give me your name. And I want a real name, I'll know if it's not." Wallace stopped and looked up at Pepper.

  "I think we better call the Inspector," Pepper said, pulling out his own phone. He made the call and the Inspector answered before the second ring, still busy at his desk. "Is everybody else still there, boss?"

  "Yeah, everybody's still here. You got something?"

  "Kind of. The Sandman responded to the message Wallace sent. I think everybody should hear this."

  "Okay, hang on." Pepper heard shuffling sounds and then the Inspector's voice as he summoned the team together. "Okay, I've got you guys on speaker phone, go ahead."

  "We got a reply from The Sandman to the message Rupert sent him before we left the office." Pepper held his phone out while Wallace read the message aloud for the others to hear. Pepper waited until he was done before speaking again, "He wants a name
, Inspector. What do you think?"

  "Johannson, your thoughts?" Caruso said, turning to the woman.

  "If you want to keep him talking, you better give him someone's name," Katrina said. "And don't even risk giving him a fake name-it's easy enough for anyone to do a search and find the whole staff directory through the internet. You'd probably lose him for sure if you did that. No-he wants to feel connected to someone."

  "Okay," Caruso said, adjusting his watch pensively. "Wallace, you're out. You've got a wife and kids and this guy is too much of a wildcard."

  "I'll do it," McTavish said. "I'm single."

  "No. You and Chin are the only two that have had any contact with Drummond. If he's our guy, I want to keep you two distanced from him on this end of things."

  "I'll do it," Pepper said, his words almost echoing through the squad room as they came over the phone.

  Caruso paused for a second, wondering if he was making the right decision. The possible consequences of identifying one of his team members to the killer went racing through his brain-all of them bleak, including the image of Pepper with an arrow slicing into his chest. But he knew this might be their only shot to keep this guy talking. "Okay, Tee, do it. We'll use your name. But don't get too cozy-keep it at Detective Pepper only. And Wallace, I want you to keep handling the phone and replying to these messages, even if we are using Pepper's name. You got him to take the bait, let's see if we can start reeling him in."

  "Yes sir. Got it."

  "What's going on out there at Drummond's?"

  "Not much," Pepper replied. "He's been in all night with very little movement inside the house. The one strange thing is that there are three windows to the basement. He's gone down there and the light in the basement is still on. It's a bright white light that's coming through, like from a fluorescent fixture."

  "Did you manage to get a look inside?"

  "That's the thing. We tried at each of the windows, but they're all covered with a white film that you can't see through. There's not even a sliver where you can see anything showing through at any of the edges. Somebody took a lot of care when they put that film on."

  "Okay. I'll leave it to you to decide when you pack it in."

  "Yes sir. Any news on the security tape from the library."

  "Nothing," Chin piped in. "Ian and I have been looking at it for hours, fast-forwarding through most of it. We're almost done, but we haven't spotted Drummond at all."

  "Does every male student at Western come with a backpack and ball cap?" McTavish said. "If I looked at one kid like that, I think I've looked at over a thousand in the past few hours."

  "All right," the Inspector said as he addressed the team. "It looks like everybody's getting a little punchy. The rest of you can knock it off for today. Chin and McTavish, finish up with that tape before you go. Let the rest of us know when you're done."

  "Yes sir."

  "Good, I'll see everyone here bright and early tomorrow morning, so go home and get some sleep. DiCicco and Harris, I want you two on the professor first thing in the morning. You guys should be able to blend in with the university crowd, so keep your eye on him around campus, especially if you see him go into the library." Caruso paused and turned towards the phone. "Pepper and Wallace, we'll see you tomorrow."

  "Yes sir." With the Inspector finished, Pepper ended the call and looked over at Wallace. "Okay Rupe, give the guy my name."

  "Are you sure?" Wallace looked torn by the fact that the Inspector had given him a free ride on this one because he had a wife and kids.

  "Yeah, it'll be fine. Just think about what you want to say." Pepper sat quietly and watched the house as Wallace pondered over the message. Wallace's fingers flicked over the phone for a few minutes, and then he shifted around in his seat.

  "Okay, I'm making this message short and sweet. This is what I've got: "Sandman, this is Detective Pepper. I like your choice of music references. Where does that come from? Did you used to play in a band?"

  "That's good. It's enough to get a response, but it leaves it up to him to set the tone of the conversation. I like it."

  "Well, let's give it a try," Wallace said, once again hitting the send button.

  They got a message half an hour later from McTavish-he and Chin had finished looking at the security tape and hadn't seen anything. The lights went out in the professor's house just after eleven. They stayed another half hour, and when nothing stirred, they called it a night. Pepper dropped Wallace at his home in Westmount with the promise to pick him up in the morning.

  Pepper took the unmarked car home for the night, taking a long hot shower before crashing into bed, cold and stiff from sitting in the car for hours. His last thoughts were of The Sandman, wondering what he was thinking. They had found out his name from the Bartolucci kid, putting it front and centre on their murder board. And now The Sandman had his name-Detective Pepper. A chill ran down Pepper's spine as he wondered what The Sandman was going to do with that.