Chapter 4
Pepper and Wallace talked to the janitor again, just to make sure his story was the same as the one he'd given before. His answers were bang on what the Inspector had told them he'd said, and they could see the old fellow was extremely upset. They talked calmly and comfortingly, knowing the old guy had nearly had a heart attack when he'd seen the dead body.
McTavish and Chin filled in the restaurant owners who'd arrived shortly thereafter, and then started going door to door to the other businesses, on the off chance that someone had seen something. They got nothing. Deadsville.
Pepper and Wallace tried both the Men's Mission on York Street and the Salvation Army hospice on Wellington, both of them within a stone's throw of The Roundhouse. They wondered if one of the homeless people might have been out scouring the nearby back alleys during the night, maybe even dumpster-diving looking for something to eat. They got nothing for their trouble at either place.
Pepper and Wallace grabbed a couple of hot Italian sandwiches at Mama's on York street and headed back to the police station, spotting some green-clad St. Patrick's Day revellers along the way. The luck of the Irish had run out on Yvonne Redmond.
On the way back, Pepper thought about what Inspector Caruso had said. In the city of London, they averaged about two homicides a year, usually a domestic issue with one irate spouse giving the other the business end of some kind of killing utensil-usually a knife. Guns were few and far between. Pepper had only had to pull his own gun twice in the line of duty, the last time winding down some overly aggressive gangbanger who was trying to go all gansta on Pepper and Wallace, high as a kite and brandishing some kind of nickel-plated revolver. Once he looked down the yawning muzzle of Pepper's Glock 40, the kid had pissed himself-literally.
Other than at the firing range, Pepper had only fired his gun once, that being into the air to scare some fleeing car thieves when he'd twisted his ankle when in pursuit. It had worked on one of the two punks, who stopped dead in his tracks with his hands in the air while his buddy kept running. Once Wallace slapped the cuffs on him and they took him to the station, he was quick to turn in his pal, whom they found hiding away in his mother's basement playing video games.
Homicides were rare in London, with most of the detectives' work revolving around the drug trade, low-level prostitution, a few ethnic gangs, domestic assaults, and in a town with a reputation as a medical and insurance centre, they investigated a lot of cases involving fraud and other types of white collar crime.
That scene they'd come across behind The Roundhouse had made them all snap to attention. The game had arrived in their quiet conservative little city-big time.
The sandwich shop was less than five minutes from the police station, and they arrived back in no time. As usual, Pepper took the two flights of stairs from the parking garage up to the squad room while Wallace took the elevator. They slid into their desk chairs, hungrier than they'd thought.
"What the heck do you think that note's all about?" Wallace asked, chomping into his meatball sandwich. Warm tomato sauce oozed out from the edge.
"I think Scottish John nailed it," Pepper replied. "Whoever it is, this guy is just playing with us right now. Let's hope Janssen and Singleton find something useful. It would be nice if we got some DNA, but I'd be surprised. The care he took with her was unreal. The way this guy placed her was fricking clinical." He shook his head and dug into his veal sandwich as Wallace slugged back some water.
"I was thinking about the rest of the lyrics for Poison Arrow," Wallace replied. He pointed to his computer screen. "I called them up to check if there was anything there. There are those lines that might make you think it was an old boyfriend: 'Who broke my heart, you did, you did,' -but like you said, I can't see our guy being that obvious."
"No, but we should check it out anyways. You still have that paper the Inspector gave you earlier with Yvonne's information and picture on it?"
Wallace tapped his jacket pocket.
"What was the name of Yvonne's friend who fingered Bartolucci?"
Wallace drew out the paper from his pocket. "Devers. Ashley Devers."
"Let's get ahold of Ashley Devers and see if we can get a line on Yvonne's recent boyfriends."
They turned as Inspector Caruso walked into the squad room, slumped, like Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. McTavish and Chin were right behind him. The three of them stopped next to Pepper and Wallace's desks. The Inspector took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"I just talked with Councillor Redmond and his wife." He paused as the others remained silent, knowing he'd done what none of them ever wanted to do. "It never gets easier, especially when they're that young." The four detectives nodded solemnly. He took his watch and rolled it back and forth on his wrist, a habit of his. It was almost like he was winding himself back up. "I suppose there's been no word from Janssen so far?"
"No sir," Wallace replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"I hear these guys didn't get any leads canvassing the other businesses," he said, gesturing to McTavish and Chin before facing Pepper and Wallace. "You get anything?"
"Nothing. We went to the Men's Mission and the Sally Ann, but nobody saw anything," Pepper said, making a dismissive motion with his hand. "We want to talk to Yvonne Redmond's friend that gave us the information on the missing person's report. Find out about Yvonne's recent boyfriends, or if she can think of anything else that can help us."
"Leave that to McTavish and Chin. You two have to complete your report on what happened with that university kid and that girl he had tied up this morning. Let's get that done before you move on to anything else. I want you to get that paperwork taken care of as soon as possible." He paused for a second, remembering something. "Wallace, I heard what happened in that kid's apartment. While Pepper gets started on the paperwork, I want you to go see the doc. I want you cleared before you do anything more. Understand?"
"Yes sir." Wallace nodded.
"Good. We're meeting with Janssen later this afternoon. Chin and McTavish, make sure you're back for that." The Inspector subconsciously rolled his watch back and forth on his wrist again. "I've got to go see the Chief and the mayor now. What a St. Patrick's Day this has turned out to be."
Wallace gave McTavish and Chin the contact information for Ashley Devers. As the two detectives left the office, Wallace turned to Pepper as he got up from his chair. "Sorry to do this to you, buddy," he said, holding his hands up innocently. When it came to doing paperwork, both of them knew they'd rather stick needles in their eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, get the hell out of here," Pepper said, the corners of his mouth turning up in a wry smile as he shooed Wallace away.
As soon as Wallace went out the office door, Pepper turned to his computer and started in on the paperwork for the Rico Bartolucci case. He checked his notes to make sure of the girl's name: Jennie Swindon. He smiled, remembering that even in her rattled condition, she made sure he made note that her name was Jennie and not Jennifer, the look on her face letting him know she definitely didn't care to be associated with that name, whatever that was all about.
His phone rang, Gary Numan's song 'Cars' being Pepper's ringtone of choice. "Pepper," he said.
"Detective Pepper, it's Officer Findlay," a female voice said.
Pepper recognized the name of one of the department's female officers, the number of women on the force growing quickly over the last few years. He couldn't remember her first name, seeming to remember it was something that started with a D-Donna or Dawn, something like that. His mind was also trying to put a face to the name, but no luck there. "What can I help you with, Officer?"
"I'm at University Hospital. I've been asked to talk to Jennie Swindon and see if I can take a statement from her. The other officers here gave me your name to contact."
"Yes, that's great. Thank you." Pepper grabbed a notepad and pen. "What can you tell me, uh???" The tone of his voice implied that he was asking her first name, but he left
his question hanging there, not wanting to make a mistake.
"It's Emma, Officer Emma Findlay."
"Of course, Emma. I just drew a blank there for a second. Sorry about that." So much for the letter D, thought Pepper, at least he was only one letter in the alphabet away. "Is Jennie doing okay?"
"Yes, overall, yes, she's fine. But that's kind of the problem."
"What?"
"They treated her for the bite marks, minor cuts and bruising, and fortunately, those wounds are all superficial. But she got so agitated again that they gave her a sedative to calm her down, and she's sleeping, and likely will be for a number of hours."
Just listening to Findlay talk, whoever had assigned her to the case knew what they were doing. Her voice was as smooth and calming as silk on glass, and even in the few words he'd exchanged with her, her soothing tone and manner of speaking made Pepper understand how that could ease someone's anxiety in a hurry.
Pepper was disappointed they hadn't been able to get a statement from the girl, but he was more concerned about her long-term wellbeing-the statement could wait. "Thanks, Findlay. Could I speak to one of her nurses, please?"
"Yes, just a second." Pepper could hear talking in the background and then a few seconds later a different voice came to him over the phone.
"Nurse Leavey. How can I help you?"
"Nurse Leavey, this is Detective Pepper. I understand from Officer Findlay that Jennie Swindon is sleeping right now?"
"That's right. She had a bit of a panic attack when we were treating her wounds. It started when we started wrapping bandages around her wrists. We've given her something to relax her. She's sleeping at this time."
"Her wounds-the bite marks, the bruising, where her wrists were bound-does any of it look serious?"
"No, the doctors who looked at her said they are minor in nature. She should recover from those in no time."
"And what about the question of sexual assault?"
"She did tell us he raped her, a number of times. There is a fair degree of vaginal bruising, but there's been no tearing. At this point, it doesn't seem to be physically critical. The bruising should go away with time."
Pepper tweaked to the nurse's words, 'it doesn't seem to be physically critical', knowing that for Jennie, the physical scarring would heal long before the emotional scarring ever did. "Nurse Leavey, do we know if the assailant used a condom?" Pepper asked, hoping he'd hear that he did.
"No sir, he did not."
Pepper cringed and rubbed his fingers between his eyes, hoping Jennie Swindon had dodged a bullet. "Has evidence of that been collected then?"
"Yes, it has. Your department should have no trouble doing any kind of DNA test."
"Nurse, when do you think Ms. Swindon will be able to talk to us?"
"After what she's been through, detective, my opinion is that you should give her until at least tomorrow morning. In all likelihood, she'll probably need something to help her sleep through the night." The nurse paused, but Pepper could tell she wasn't finished. "She's been through quite an ordeal, and her body needs to recover. I suggest you give her that time."
"Yes, of course. I really appreciate all you and the rest of the people there have done for her. Can you hand me back to Officer Findlay, please?"
"Of course."
There was a brief pause before the officer came back on the line. "Findlay."
"Findlay, we've got an officer on duty outside her room, right?
"Yes sir, Officer McHugh is there right now."
"You probably overheard that the nurse thinks we should let Ms. Swindon rest until tomorrow before we get a statement."
"Yes sir."
"Detective Wallace and I will come there tomorrow to do that. I assume you'll be available to be there?"
"Yes sir. Just to let you know, her parents have been contacted and they're on their way from Toronto."
"Good. That's good to hear. So Findlay, I'll contact you in the morning. In the meantime, make sure arrangements are made to have an officer stay with her through the night. I want that girl to know we're there and she's safe. All right?"
"Yes sir. Got it."
"Good, I'll talk to you tomorrow morning."
"Yes sir."
"And Findlay, thanks for your help. I appreciate it."
"Thank you, sir."
Pepper paused to gather his thoughts. He was glad to hear that Jennie Swindon hadn't suffered serious physical injuries, but the fact that Bartolucci hadn't used a condom scared the crap out of him. He also knew the emotional recovery from the traumatic experience would be a long slow process. He hoped Jennie would come out okay on the other side.
He turned back to his computer and let out a huge sigh as he faced the required paperwork before him. Even if it was all online nowadays, they still called it paperwork. "Just do it, asshole," he said to himself as he started typing. He'd barely gotten started when the phone on his desk rang.
"Pepper."
"Detective Pepper, Anthony Fragakos, Channel 10 News," the familiar voice came over the line. It was the same reporter Pepper had spotted at The Roundhouse. Just the sound of the reporter's voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard as far as Pepper was concerned. They'd had a few go-rounds already in the few years Pepper had been a detective, and none of them positive. Fragakos was far too zealous for Pepper's liking, like a pitbull refusing to let go once he latched onto a story. He made no bones about having his eyes on the prize, hoping to catch something big enough to attract one of the national networks so he could move into the big leagues.
About a year ago when Pepper and Wallace had been investigating a fraud case involving one of the top executives at the London Life Insurance Company, Fragakos had even gone so far as to visit Pepper at his house in order to get a statement. Incensed by the reporter's continuous pestering, Pepper had called Fragakos' supervisor and complained about the reporter not following correct procedure when dealing with police matters. He'd heard from a reliable source that Fragakos had been taken out to the woodshed by his boss for that misguided stunt.
"What can I do for you, Fragakos?" Pepper found it hard to keep the chill out of his voice.
"I saw you at The Roundhouse this morning. What can you tell me, Detective?"
"I believe the Inspector already spoke to you about that."
"Yeah, yeah, you know how that goes. What can you tell me about the body?"
"What body?"
"Haha. Very funny. Was the victim male or female?"
"The Inspector's speaking for the department regarding this matter."
There was a noticeable pause on the other end. "Look detective, we both know this is going to be the lead story on the news tonight. You wouldn't want me to have to portray the police in any way other than intelligent and professional protectors of the community, would you?"
"Is that a threat, Fragakos?"
"Not at all, Detective Pepper. I'd never do that to one of our fine upstanding police officers, especially yourself. After all, we do get along so well." Pepper could hear the smugness in the reporter's tone and wanted to reach right through the phone and slap his face. "I just report what I see and know. The more I know, the more I have to work with when letting the public know what our police department is doing to serve and protect them. If I've got no information to provide them with, well, who knows?"
"You'll have to talk to Inspector Caruso. We're done here." Before the reporter could even respond, Pepper slammed down the phone. He sat there fuming, trying to calm himself. He knew better than to let the reporter get under his skin. He turned back to the report he was writing, putting the call from Fragakos out of his mind.
Just over an hour later, Wallace returned, setting a cup of steaming fresh Tim Horton's coffee in front of Pepper-the cops' beverage of choice-at least while on duty. Pepper looked at the cup of coffee, the warm fragrant vapors drifting lazily above the lid, and then looked up at his partner. He knew why he loved Wallace as a partner. "Thanks, buddy. Perfect
timing," Pepper said, bumping his cup against Wallace's in a time-honored gesture. "I've been at this paperwork for over an hour now and this couldn't have come at a better time. So, what'd the doc say?" Pepper took a sip of his coffee.
"I'm good to go. Must be due to that steel plate in my head," Wallace said, sliding into his chair opposite Pepper. "It's a pain in the ass going through airport security though."
"I've told you a million times what a hard-headed prick you are. The doc could have saved us all time and just asked me."
"He must have forgotten about that medical degree you got from Whatsa-matta U," Wallace replied, quoting Rocky and Bullwinkle. "How's the report going?"
"It's getting there."
"Do you know how the girl's doing?" Wallace knew what Pepper was like, and he had no doubt that even with what had happened to Yvonne Redmond, Pepper would have still found the time to check in to see how Jennie Swindon was doing.
"She's doing about as well as expected. She's still a little anxious so they've given her something to help her sleep. Officer Findlay called to let me know she couldn't get a full statement from her."
Wallace nodded. "Findlay, she's good."
"Yeah, she seems to know what she's doing. Anyways, I spoke to the nurse as well. Most of Jennie's physical injuries are fairly minor and they expect to her recover fairly quickly."
"Sexual assault?" Wallace asked.
Pepper nodded, chewing on his bottom lip. "Yes, apparently a number of times."
"Condom?" Pepper shook his head, causing Wallace to mutter under his breath, "Shit."
"At least we've got him dead to rights with evidence. We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that our good friend Bartolucci isn't carrying anything." Pepper could see Wallace thinking as he tapped his finger against the side of his coffee cup. "The nurse wants us to wait until tomorrow to get a statement from Jennie. She's not in any condition to do it right now." He paused as he looked over at Wallace, both of them thinking the same thing. "I guess it could have been worse."
Wallace nodded, knowing it could have been a lot worse if they hadn't gotten there when they did. "We've got people covering her?"
"Yes, McHugh is there now, and Findlay's going to make sure someone is on duty through the night. Apparently the girl's parents are on their way from Toronto right now. That should help to calm her down."
"It makes you wonder if there's some kind of connection between what happened in that apartment and the Yvonne Redmond murder."
"I know, that's starting to nag at me too. You saw the Redmond crime scene, I can't see that being Bartolucci."
"Yeah, it just doesn't fit. I can't see him being so careful and precise with her like that. He would have just tossed her in and ran."
"But I also know what you're saying about it being too much of a coincidence. The two girls were supposedly at the same party, Bartolucci was at the same party-something just doesn't add up."
They each took a slug of their coffee as they thought, hoping the caffeine would spark something they'd missed. "Yeah, it's not sitting quite right. Maybe there's something we missed and it'll come to us once we start to write stuff down," Wallace said, pulling his chair closer and turning on his computer. "Okay, where are you on the report?"
The two of them set to it, the work not seeming nearly as drudge-like when they were both on it. They'd just finished when McTavish and Chin returned. The Inspector had returned from his meeting with the mayor and the police chief a short time before that, tugging at his tie as he made his way to his office. When he saw McTavish and Chin come in, he came out of his office, jacket off, shirt sleeves pushed up, his bald head shining in the harsh office light.
"What've we got?" he asked, the three of them standing next to Pepper and Wallace's desks.
"Nothing that looks like it's going to be of any use," McTavish began, flipping open his notes. "We talked with Yvonne's friend, Ashley Devers, who had given us the original statement that had reported the Redmond girl missing. She was really broken up when we gave her the news."
"She was a real mess," Chin added. "It took a long time for her to even be able to talk to us. She told us that there'd been a group of five girlfriends who'd gone to the party together. At some point in the evening, Ashley hit it off with a guy who was there, who asked if he could give her a ride home. She said at first she didn't want to leave Yvonne, but Yvonne told her to go ahead, that she'd be fine with the other girls in the group they'd come with." Chin paused. "Ashley couldn't stop saying how guilty she felt about leaving Yvonne, as if her staying might have prevented this from happening."
"It's too bad any of this happened," Caruso said, shaking his head from side to side. "That poor Devers girl is probably going to carry that with her the rest of her life. I can understand how she'd feel that way." He paused. "What about the rest of those girls that went together. Did any of them see anything?"
Chin shook her head. "No. They all told me the place was just packed, and you could barely move. Two of them said they thought Yvonne had left with Ashley. All of them admitted to drinking more than they should have. One girl even ended up getting sick to her stomach, and the three of them went home in a cab together."
"All right. What else did the Devers girl have to say?"
"I asked her what she could tell us about Yvonne," McTavish continued. "How she generally gets along with people, did she take drugs of any kind, did she like to drink, was there anybody she could think of that would want to do this to Yvonne, how she got along with her parents, that kind of thing."
Like a well-oiled machine, Chin picked it up from there. "Ashley told us that she couldn't think of anyone who would want to harm Yvonne in any way. She said she got along very well with her parents, and everybody liked her. She said she never saw Yvonne ever do drugs, although she did say Yvonne liked to drink a little too much occasionally-but that seems to be par for the course for most university-aged girls nowadays."
"What about the boyfriend angle?" Inspector Caruso asked, hoping for something positive.
"Devers told us that Yvonne's only had two serious boyfriends. She said Yvonne and the first one, a?Robert James," McTavish said, referring to his notes, "broke up back before the last year of high school. She said it was a mutual breakup, a typical high school romance that had run its course kind of thing, according to her, anyways. She told us that Yvonne had a boyfriend she met at university this past fall, a Charles Henry, but it ended about two months ago. But get this-he broke up with her, which doesn't really weigh heavy when it comes to making him a suspect."
"Did this girl date anybody that doesn't have two first names?" Wallace spoke up.
"What?" Chin replied quizzically, the corners of her mouth turning down while her eyebrows tipped in.
"These boyfriends; Robert James, Charles Henry," Wallace said, looking back and forth between all of them, wondering why they hadn't seen what was obvious to him. "You could take all those names and drop them onto a Scrabble board. Put any of their names together, it would still work."
Pure Wallace, thought Pepper as the Inspector shook his head, like a parent who wants to smack his kid upside the head but knows his kid is smart enough to have a lawyer retained by sundown.
"What else have you got?" Caruso asked, ignoring Wallace's comment.
Chin picked up. "We tracked down and talked to both of the boyfriends. Both of them live at home with their parents. I think they were both in shock when we told them Yvonne had been killed. You could tell by the looks on their faces that neither one of them had anything to do with it-either that, or we give them the Academy Award right now."
"The older boyfriend, Robert James," McTavish said, "was at home all evening two nights ago working on an economics paper he had due. His parents confirmed that he'd been home all night and never left until he went to the university yesterday morning. He was doing the same thing last night, spending all night in his room. Apparently that paper is due the end of this week."
"And the H
enry kid?" the Inspector asked, turning to Chin.
"He's the one who broke up with the Redmond girl," she replied. "He said he dumped her because he'd met someone new, a Sue Jessen. He was out at the movies with her two nights ago, and ended up spending the night at her apartment. She confirmed that. She also said that last night, they were studying together at the university library until nine, and then he went straight home after dropping her off. His parents confirmed that he was home by nine-thirty and was in all night." Chin paused as the others digested what she and McTavish had just reported. "It looks like this old boyfriend idea is a dead end."
The Inspector's phone buzzed. He drew it out of his pocket and looked at the text. He lifted his eyes up. "It's Janssen. She's ready for us."
Every Breath You Take Page 6
