Chapter 19
Both Pepper and Wallace cracked the windows on the way back to the police station, the sun and cool fresh air making them both feel better, even if the results of their talk with Bartolucci didn't.
"Jesus, I was really hoping he'd nail the car," Wallace said.
"Yeah, it would be nice if we could get a solid lead for a change."
When they got back to the station, McTavish and Chin were still out, talking to more of Yvonne Redmond's friends. They tapped on the Inspector's open door, his bald head facing them as he looked down at his desk.
"Guys, c'mon in," he said, sitting back in his desk chair as he motioned to them with his arm. "Please tell me you've got good news."
"Sorry, boss," Pepper said. "Forensics didn't find any prints on the book other that Bartolucci's. They did find traces of talc, which would indicate our guy wore gloves-which comes as no surprise."
"And Bartolucci couldn't positively identify Drummond's car," Wallace said, picking up the story. "We showed him four cars, and he got it down to the two silver ones, but he couldn't do any better than that. He said he was pretty drunk and could barely remember that it was a four-door sedan."
"I guess that's not enough to see if we can get a warrant to search Drummond's car?" Pepper said.
"Ha," Caruso snapped out. "Not even close-the Justice of the Peace would laugh my ass right out of there. There's no way he'll leave us open to a lawsuit without something more substantial than an inkling from a drunk kid-a kid that's up on a rape charge at that." He took his glasses off and pinched the bridge of his nose, his mouth turned down in a grimace. He slid his glasses back into place and moved his hand to his watch, turning the band back and forth. "We need more to go after this guy-and you know it. Keep at it."
They left the Inspector to wallow in his administrative misery as they went back to their desks. "Let's see if The Sandman responded to our message," Pepper said. Wallace looked over his shoulder as he logged into the Reaper website, entering under the Frank Booth account they'd set up. They went to their personal message section, seeing their message, but no response. Pepper quickly checked the Forum section to see if The Sandman had any new posts, thinking maybe he'd feel like bragging-but there was nothing there either.
"I'm just gonna check Bartolucci's phone," Wallace said, pulling out the phone that Round-head Rob had brought back to them. Wallace punched in the access code Rico had given them, and clicked on messages. There were a couple there from his fellow students that Wallace scanned quickly, and then spotted one from an 'UNKNOWN NUMBER'. He brought the message up on the screen. His heart starting to race as he read it, his eyes flicking to the time the message was sent once he was done.
"Tee, take a look at this. Bartolucci got an e-mail message from The Sandman just an hour ago." Wallace passed Pepper the phone, who looked at the message:
"Hulkster, sorry to be so long getting back to you. I was a little busy there for a few days with that wonderful gift you gave me, and then I had a few pressing matters to take care of. I've left a little gift of appreciation for you in the usual spot, only this time behind Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Enjoy."
"Let's go," Pepper said, grabbing the keys off his desk as Wallace pulled on his jacket.
Less than twenty minutes later they were in the stacks section of the library once again, this time making their own way there unescorted. The lights came on as they made their way deeper down the main aisle, turning down the aisle labelled with a capital D. The motion sensor lights tripped on, illuminating their path. Two sets of eyes scanned the shelves until Pepper spotted the old book filed on the shelf second from the bottom. He and Wallace kneeled down, Wallace holding the flashlight this time as Pepper donned the blue latex gloves. He carefully slid the thick book out of the row, slipping it into the evidence bag Wallace held open. As Wallace trained the flashlight towards the back of the opening, they both looked into the gap.
"What the hell is that?" Wallace said, the light reflecting back at them.
"It looks like a bottle of some kind," Pepper said, pulling out the adjacent books to make the opening wider. They looked in again. "It is a bottle." Pepper reached in carefully with his gloved hand and gently drew a small bottle out. It was tiny and delicate, like some kind of antique perfume bottle. It had a squarish bottom and tapered in on all sides to a circular top with a protruding brim. A cork stopper filled the hole at the top.
"There's a note inside," Wallace said as they stood up, training the flashlight closely on the tiny bottle, the brilliant white light glowing off the amber glass. They could see a small piece of paper inside, rolled like a scroll that reached up to the narrow neck. Pepper carefully removed the cork stopper, setting it down on one of the shelves before tipping the bottle sideways as he shook the piece of paper out into his gloved hand. He set the bottle down and carefully unrolled the furled piece of paper, holding it gently by the edges as Wallace pointed the flashlight down on it. The piece of paper was the same size as the one they'd found inside Yvonne Redmond's mouth. There were six lines of text that Pepper read aloud.
"ANOTHER LONELY DAY
NO ONE HERE BUT ME, OH
MORE LONELINESS
ANY MAN COULD BEAR
RESCUE ME BEFORE I FALL INTO DESPAIR
I'LL SEND AN SOS TO THE WORLD."
"That's the 'Police'!" Pepper said as they looked at each other.
"Yeah, 'Message in a Bottle'," Wallace said. They both looked down at the bottom, spotting another series of paired numbers, just like the message with the Poison Arrow lyrics on it. "There's another coded message. Let me see what this one says."
"Rupe, just wait. Let's get the note and the bottle back to the station first and have Janssen check it over. Also, that Jablonski woman said their security cameras are cleared every twenty-four hours."
"That's right. We might get lucky if our guy dropped this in here today. Who knows, we might have just missed him when we were here earlier."
"Exactly. Let's go see her. We need to get our hands on that tape-even if it is just the main security gates near the entrance."