Chapter 9
"Officer Findlay?" Pepper asked as they spotted the female police officer standing next to one of the nurses'stations on the 5th floor of the hospital. While Wallace had taken the elevator, Pepper had taken the stairs, meeting his partner outside the bank of elevators before proceeding further. The young woman turned to face them.
"I'm Tee Pepper and this is Rupert Wallace." Both detectives extended their hands. Pepper spotted a uniformed officer sitting in a chair in the hallway a short distance down the hall. He nodded in that direction. "How is she doing?"
"She had a good night's sleep, which probably helps more than anything else. She was pretty agitated yesterday when they were examining her, so they gave her a sedative to calm her down. She was better after that, and then they gave her something else last night to help her sleep." Pepper noticed once more the calm even tone of Findlay's voice, and was glad he'd asked her to be here this morning. "The doctors finished their rounds a few minutes ago. I had a chance to talk to the doctor afterwards. She said that damage to the vagina was minimal, and those bite marks and bruises were nothing serious. The doctor said that physically, she should be fine to go home in another day or two. Oh yes, they've scheduled one of the hospital psychologists to come and speak with her a little later."
"Great. That's good news." Pepper paused as he looked towards the room. "Are her parents here?"
"Yes, they got here yesterday afternoon. Her mother spent the night in her room."
Pepper nodded. "That's understandable. I'm sure Jennie was happy to see a face she knew when she woke up this morning."
"The father came back around breakfast time, and they've been in there ever since."
"When we talk to her, I think it's probably best if the parents aren't there. I want Jennie to feel free to tell us exactly what happened in that apartment. I don't want her feeling embarrassed to say anything in front of her parents."
"I can take care of that. It's best if that suggestion comes from a female."
"Thanks, Findlay, we appreciate it. Shall we?" Pepper said, gesturing towards the girl's room.
The officer on duty nodded to them and opened the door to the room, stepping aside as they entered. Pepper observed the couple next to the bed, the woman sat holding her daughter's hand. Her husband stood beside her, his body tense and radiating anger. They looked to be in their late 40's, and based on the way they were dressed, appeared fairly well off. They both appeared shaken and distressed, and totally out of their element. Pepper imagined they were the type of parents who were used to taking care of everything for their kids, from organizing play days when they were little, to scheduling their lessons for driver training when they were teenagers. And now the situation their daughter had found herself in was out of their wheelhouse, and they had no idea what to do. Pepper felt for them, knowing they wanted to help their daughter in any way they could, and he knew that just having them there was all she needed from them right now.
"Mr. Swindon, Mrs. Swindon," Pepper said, striding across the room with his hand extended. "I'm Detective Pepper, and this is Detective Wallace. I believe you've met Officer Findlay."
Both parents nodded their hellos to Wallace and Mrs. Swindon gave Findlay a thankful smile.
"Mom and Dad, this is the man that saved me," Jennie said, pointing at Pepper.
"Uh, no, I mean, um?we were both there," Pepper said, gesturing to Wallace next to him.
"We're very grateful," Mr. Swindon said. His voice was tight with controlled emotion. "Jennie told us what you did. We can't thank you enough."
"We're just glad that Jennie is fine now and doing better." Pepper turned to the young girl, who looked much better than she had twenty-four hours ago. "I hear you had a good night, Jennie."
"Yes. I'm just glad it's over." She squeezed her mother's hand tighter. As the older woman took her daughter's hand in both of hers, Pepper caught Findlay's eye and gave her a subtle nod.
"Mr. and Mrs. Swindon, we need to talk to Jennie for a little while about what happened. Would you mind giving us a few minutes?"
"Oh, well, would you like us to stay, sweetheart?" Mrs. Swindon said as she turned to her daughter. Pepper noticed Findlay look at Jennie as well, giving her a quiet nod that he noticed Jennie caught.
"It'll be fine, Mom. Emma will be right here with me. Right, Emma?" Jennie said, giving a Findlay an anxious look.
"Of course, Jennie. I'll be right here the whole time." She made her intentions clear by stepping in front of Mrs. Swindon and taking Jennie's hand as she sat down on the edge of the bed, letting them know that she wasn't going anywhere.
"Well, all right," Mrs. Swindon replied, picking up her purse as her husband took her arm. "If you need us, we'll be right outside."
"Thank you," Findlay continued in her soothing voice. "We shouldn't be too long. We want to make sure this girl gets her rest." She turned to Jennie and smiled.
Mr. Swindon turned at the door and spoke to Pepper and Wallace. "Detectives, when you're done, I'd like a word or two with you outside?"
"Certainly," Pepper said, giving Mr. Swindon an understanding nod.
When the parents left, the officer on duty closed the door behind them, giving them the privacy they wanted.
"Jennie, do you think you can tell us what happened?" Pepper asked as Findlay calmly stroked the back of the girl's hand.
Jennie paused for a second, as if working up her courage. "I?I think so."
"If you want to stop anytime, just say so. Okay?" Jennie nodded, her teeth chewing on her bottom lip.
"Jennie," Wallace said, speaking for the first time, "do you mind if we record this? We want to make sure we don't miss anything." He held up his cell phone.
"Uh, no, that should be fine."
Wallace pressed the 'record' app on his cell phone and set it on the food tray sitting next to the bed. They had already discussed that since Pepper was the one who'd connected with her in Bartolucci's apartment, he would do most of the questioning. Wallace would only pipe up if he thought of something Pepper missed.
Pepper started. "So Jennie, why don't we start with how you came to be in that apartment on Richmond Street?"
"That night, I went to a party with some friends just off campus."
"Was that on Broughdale Ave?"
The girl shook her head, as if that detail was unimportant. "I don't know the names of the street, but I think it was one just south of the main entrance to the university off Richmond."
"Sorry, go on." The girl had just confirmed Broughdale by her description.
"We had already had a couple of drinks in our dorm before we left, so we weren't in the best condition to start with. The place was already packed when we got there. I don't know what time it started, but you could barely move in there." As she paused, Findlay nodded to her, letting her know she should continue. "Anyways, my friends and I started mingling around. I'd been to parties like that before and recognized a number of people. Somebody passed me a drink, and then another. I got bumped into from behind and when I turned, it was?" She stopped talking, her tone and the frightened look on her face letting them know who she was talking about.
"Rico Bartolucci?"
"Is that his name? I never knew his last name. He just told me Rico." Pepper nodded. "Apparently somebody had pushed him and he bumped into me. When I turned around, he apologized right away, and made sure I was all right. He introduced himself as Rico. He was kind of sweet actually, at that moment anyways." She stopped, as if lost in her thoughts about what had happened later.
"It's all right, Jennie," Findlay said. "Can you tell us what happened after that?"
"When he'd bumped into me, my drink went everywhere, so he offered to get me another one. When he brought it back to me, we just started talking, and he was very nice. After a little while, somebody else came up to him and started talking, and my friends came over and talked to me and we kind of drifted apart. I saw him around the party though. He's pretty hard to miss."
/> Pepper and Wallace both nodded, being very familiar with Rico Bartolucci's size.
"A little later he came up to me again and handed me another drink. I have to admit, I was well past my limit at that point. Anyways, one thing led to another, and he asked if I wanted to go back to his place. He said he lived in an apartment just up the street. I thought he was nice, you know, and I said yes." She looked up, her eyes pleading for understanding. "You're not going to tell my parents, are you?" She looked first at Pepper and Wallace, and then turned to Findlay for help.
Findlay answered without hesitation. "Don't worry about that, Jennie. Your parents don't need to know what we talk about here. You're of legal age, so what we talk about is just between us." Findlay paused, and gave Jennie a knowing look, as if she'd been in a similar situation herself. "I'll leave it up to you if you want to tell them the truth, but rest assured, they won't hear it from us."
They could tell that Jennie took Findlay at her word. She turned back to Pepper and Wallace. "I can barely remember walking to his apartment. It was kind of cold, but we were both pretty drunk, and kind of holding each other up as we walked. When we got to his apartment, he asked me if I wanted a drink. I said okay, and he put on some music. While he went into the kitchen, I went to the bathroom and kind of straightened myself up a bit." Jennie paused for a second, gathering herself. "When I came back, he was sitting on the couch and handed me a drink. I sat down beside him and we kept talking, about school and movies and just stuff like that. A few minutes later, I started to feel pretty woozy. At first I figured I'd just had too much to drink and I was gonna be sick, but it wasn't like that. I just started to feel super-tired. I think I must have just blacked out or dropped off to sleep or something, because the next thing I knew, I was on his bed and he was taking my clothes off. I tried to stop him, but something was wrong-I couldn't even move."
Pepper felt his heart start to race as he looked over at Wallace. "Jennie," Pepper said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Let's just take a small step back for a second. You said you were drinking at the party. Do you remember what you were drinking? Was it beer? Some other kind of mixed drink?"
"I don't really like the taste of beer. I think what I had at the party was some kind of pop mixed with vodka."
"And when you went to Rico's apartment, that drink he brought you, what was that?"
"I think it was some kind of fruit cooler. It tasted like it anyways."
"You didn't see what it was? He didn't give it to you in a bottle?"
"No, it was in a glass with ice. I was actually impressed that he'd done that, rather than just handing me a bottle. I thought it was kind of cute because when he brought it to me, he clinked his beer bottle against my glass and said "Cheers", and then took a big drink of his beer."
Pepper and Wallace exchanged a look again. "And so, at the same time, you took a drink of yours?"
"Yeah, I guess I did. It seemed kind of weird to just take a little sip when the other person is taking a big gulp."
"Did he encourage you to keep drinking what he'd given you?"
Jennie paused, remembering. "Now that you mention it, he kept toasting to different things-like the end of midterms, to St. Patrick's Day, stupid stuff."
"And that's when you started to feel woozy."
"Yeah, not too long after I'd finished." Jennie looked from Pepper to Wallace, and then back to Pepper again, the gears going like crazy. Her eyes opened wide and her chest puffed out. "He put something in my drink, didn't he?"
"We think that might have been quite possible," Pepper said as Findlay stroked Jennie's hand, trying to calm her down. "We'll talk about that in a minute. You're doing great, Jennie. This is a great help. Now, what happened after you found yourself in his bed? You said you couldn't move?"
"No. It was horrible. I could see everything he was doing, but I couldn't stop him." A tear slid down her cheek.
"It's all right, Jennie," Findlay said in her soft lulling voice. "We need to know what happened so we can make sure we put this guy away. It's okay, it's just us."
"He took my clothes off, and then tied my hands to the bedposts. Then he took his own clothes off and he?and he got on top of me." She paused again, another single tear trickling down her cheek. "I'll never forget that look on his face as he looked at me. He was smiling-smiling as he raped me." She stopped talking, and the others sat quietly, letting her remember and feel what they couldn't even start to understand.
After a minute or so, Findlay spoke, "Was it just the one time, Jennie?"
The girl's eyes dropped and she slowly shook her head. She was silent for a few moments, gathering herself. Then whispered, "No, he did it again and again-and I couldn't even look away."
Pepper and Wallace sat stone-faced, and waited while Jennie cried silently. Office Findlay had moved to cradle the young girl in her arms, rocking her back and forth in comfort. After a while, they could see Jennie take a deep determined breath, as if steeling herself against the memories. She looked up at the two detectives, continuing where she left off. "He'd even go and watch TV between times he was on top of me. I could hear the TV, but I still couldn't move. I could see from the light coming in around the curtains that it was morning, and then he came back and did it again. It wasn't until a couple of hours later that I finally started to be able to feel my fingers and toes again. When he noticed I was starting to be able to move a little bit, he put a gag in my mouth. He untied me and let me use the bathroom, but he told me he'd break every bone in my body if I tried anything. When I was done, he tied me up again, only this time he tied my feet up as well. He took the gag off long enough to feed me some soup, and then put the gag back on as soon as I was done."
"Did he say anything to you during that time when you were?when you were more awake?" Pepper asked.
Jennie shook her head once more. "No. When he took the gag off, I tried to tell him to let me go, but I barely had a word out before he yelled at me to shut up, or I'd be sorry."
"Okay, Jennie. What happened after that?"
"After he'd let me use the bathroom and fed me, he went out for quite a while. I was so scared. I thought-what if he never comes back? I'm gonna die here, and nobody's gonna know. But he came back in the afternoon. He untied me so I could use the bathroom again, and then he gave me some more soup. A little while after that, I started to get that woozy feeling again, and then he smiled as he took off the gag. I tried to open my mouth to yell for help, but nothing would come out. My lips felt like when they give you that stuff at the dentist than numbs your mouth."
"Novocaine?"
"Yeah, novocaine. It kind of felt like that. He took his clothes off and started again. It was the same, over and over, all through the night. I started to be able to move again once morning came, so he gagged me again. After that, he got on his cell. He was getting pretty angry about something, walking back and forth and texting all the time. I have no idea what he was doing, but he wasn't happy. Whenever he'd go out of the room, I was trying to get the gag off, but I'd stop whenever he came back. When I heard you talking to him in the living room, I managed to finally push the gag down, and that's when I screamed for help."
"Did he ever say what his plan was? When he was going to let you go?anything like that?"
"No, that was the scary part. The way he was acting, I thought he was never going to let me go."
Pepper paused, giving all of them time to recover from what they'd just heard. After a minute or so, he looked over to Wallace and nodded to the folder his partner had in his hand. Wallace took out the picture of Yvonne Redmond and handed it to Jennie.
"Jennie, can you tell us if you remember seeing this girl at that party?" Pepper continued.
"Yes, I remember seeing her-a very pretty blonde girl. I remember because I started to feel kind of jealous when I saw Rico talking to her."
Wallace quickly looked at Pepper, remembering Rico's steadfast denial that he'd ever seen Yvonne Redmond before.
"Rico was talking t
o her?"
"Yes. I remember they were over by the kitchen table at one point talking. Shortly after that is when he came back and started talking to me again."
"Jennie, take a look at the picture again, please. I want to make absolutely sure that is the girl you saw Rico talking to."
Jennie looked carefully at the picture again. "Yeah, that's the girl." She paused for a second, and then looked alarmed. "He didn't do this to her too, did he?"
"We don't think so, but we're just checking into all possibilities."
"Then why did you show me her picture?"
"Jennie, do you remember when I untied you from that bed, I called you Yvonne?"
"Yes. I thought that was kind of strange." She pointed to the picture. "Is this Yvonne?"
"Yes, that's Yvonne Redmond."
"So why are you showing me her picture?"
Pepper thought about it, and decided it was best for Jennie to know the truth. "After we found you, Yvonne was found murdered in another part of town."
"Oh my God. That could've been me." Jennie started sobbing again. Findlay wrapped her arm around the girl again and pulled her close.
"You're safe now, Jennie. Rico is behind bars and isn't likely to see the light of day for a long long time. You don't need to worry," Pepper said. He waited until Jennie calmed down. She sat back up in bed, wiping away the tears.
"Is there anything more I can do to help?"
Pepper was amazed at how strong this young girl was. "When we came looking for Yvonne yesterday, Rico told us he'd never seen or heard of her before-even after we showed him that picture."
"Then he's lying. I saw him talking with her at that party, standing closer than I am to you right now."
"Yvonne Redmond was found to have traces of a type of tranquilizer in her blood that sounds very similar to what it seems like Rico gave you. Would you have any objection to us asking for a blood sample so our forensics lab can compare it to what they found in Yvonne Redmond?"
"No, not at all. If it will help, you can have as much blood as you want." She started to push the sleeve of her hospital gown up, as if Pepper himself was going to collect the sample right there on the spot.
Pepper had to smile as he held his hand palm out, stopping her. "That's okay, Jennie. We're probably going to have to make a phone call first, and then one of the nurses will be in to take care of that. You can just relax. I think we've got everything we need at this time."
As Jennie nodded and pulled the covers up around her, the detectives and Findlay prepared to leave.
"You did great, Jennie," Findlay said. "I'll send your parents back in."
They were just at the door, when her voice stopped them. "Detective Pepper, can I speak to you for a minute?"
"Sure." Pepper turned to Findlay and Wallace. "I'll be right out. Rupe, you'll make the call?"
"Already on it," Wallace replied, his phone coming out of his pocket.
Pepper closed the door and walked back to the girl, stopping at her bedside.
"I can't begin to thank you for what you did for me." Her eyes were brimming with tears. "Do you?do you think I might have ended up like that other girl?"
"I don't know if we'll ever know that for sure, Jennie," he said as he reached down and smoothed a lock of her hair back off her forehead. "All I know is that you're safe now, and we're going to keep you that way."
"He lied about not knowing that girl-I saw him talking to her more than once."
"I know that now."
"If she had that same kind of drug in her body that I did, it sounds like too much of a coincidence when he was talking to both her, and me."
"I'm thinking the same thing."
"Talk to him, Detective. He lied about not knowing her for some reason. You've got to find out what that is."
"I will. You can be sure of that." Jennie squeezed his hand, giving him a smile that warmed his heart. He turned to go but stopped with his hand on the door-pull. "Hey Jennie, you seem to be pretty good at this stuff. When you're done school, how about coming to work on the police force?" That made her smile even more. Pepper left the room, spotting Mr. Swindon speaking to Wallace over to one side of the corridor, his face livid as he talked to the detective, his body looming over Wallace's.
"I understand, sir," Pepper heard Wallace say as he got closer. "The young man who did this is in custody. Your daughter is safe. We have a police officer on duty now and one will stay outside her room until she is released from the hospital."
"Is everything all right, Mr. Swindon?" Pepper said, trying to sway the man's attention from Wallace.
Mr. Swindon turned to Pepper, the veins in his neck pulsing. "Can I see the man who did this to my daughter? Can I speak with him in one of your interrogation rooms for just a minute? I promise-I just want to talk to him, that's it."
"Sir, the young man is currently in custody and being watched closely. It's probably best if you let us handle things from here." Pepper could see the anger welling in Mr. Swindon. "Sir, I understand how you must feel, but at this point, I think your daughter needs you with her more than anything right now. Trust me, the young man who did this isn't going anywhere, I can guarantee that."
The older man finally seemed to back down as his wife reached out and slipped her arm through his rigid one. "Glen, it'll be all right. These men know what they're doing." Saying nothing more, he nodded tight-lipped towards the two detectives.
As the couple turned and walked into their daughter's room, Pepper turned to Findlay. "I think I'd feel the same way," he said. Wallace took out his phone and stepped over to the nurse's station.
"Yeah, I'm sure that talk Mr. Swindon wanted to have wouldn't have been too cordial," Findlay said. "He likely would have tried to wring his neck."
Wallace came back to the two of them, slipping his phone into his pocket. "The Chief is signing off on the order for the sample. He's having Janssen send it over by e-mail right away."
"Good. It will be very interesting to see what it tells us."
"This seems like too much of a coincidence," Findlay said.
"That's what Jennie just said, and I think both of you are right," Pepper responded. Heaving a big sigh, he turned to Wallace. "I think it's time we paid a visit to our good friend Rico."