*
Fifteen minutes later, Chin and Pepper walked right past The Warden as they entered the sociology department and headed for Drummond's private office.
"Excuse me," the old woman said tersely, "you can't just waltz in there."
Chin stopped with her hand on the office door and looked back at the woman, giving her a pointed look. "Are you going to stop us?"
Without waiting for a response, Chin pushed opened the office door and strode in, Pepper right behind her. Drummond was at his desk working on his computer. He turned in his chair and calmly looked over the top of his black-framed glasses.
"Ah, Detective Chin, so nice of you to return," Drummond said as he got up from his chair and set his glasses on his desk. Like the last time, he was nattily-attired, wearing black pants and a pearl-grey shirt with fine lines of black thread crisscrossing through the fabric in a subtle check pattern. He wore a black and maroon tie, knotted loosely beneath the collar of his shirt, looking casually hip, just like the last time she and McTavish had dropped in on him. He looked at Chin with those big doe-like eyes and put a smile on his face as he turned to Pepper. "Oh, and I see you've brought a new friend." Drummond extended his hand.
Pepper left it hanging in the wind and produced his badge and identification. "Detective Pepper," he said, flipping open his leather case.
"Ah, the famous Detective Pepper," Drummond said as he adroitly drew his hand back, placing both of them on the edge of his desk as he looked across at them.
"What do you mean by that?" Pepper asked, wondering what the professor was getting at.
"My lawyer tells me you and your partner, Mr. Wallace, are the lead detectives on the investigation into the Redmond girl's death. He said you have quite a reputation for getting the job done. He mentioned how instrumental you were in breaking up a drug operation from Detroit that was trying to make a foothold here."
"That has nothing to do with the case we're currently investigating," Pepper replied.
The professor paused as he looked at Pepper, that creepy grin on his face. "Yes, of course it doesn't. For the sake of the Redmond girl and her family, I can only hope that stellar reputation you have as one of our top detectives results in a satisfactory conclusion, for everyone involved." He set his lips in a straight line and slowly shook his head from side to side. "That was a real tragedy-a pretty young girl like that, taken in the prime of her youth."
Pepper had had enough of the professor's feigned sincerity. "Where were you last night, professor?"
"I was home," Drummond said as he sat down on his desk chair. He held his hand out, motioning to the two leather chairs across from his desk. "Please, have a seat, make yourselves comfortable."
"No thanks," Pepper snapped out. "I prefer to stand." Chin took the lead from Pepper and stood next to him, her hands resting on the back of one of the guest chairs.
"Suit yourself," the professor said.
"Can anyone verify that you were home?" Chin asked.
"No, I was alone, as usual. End of term is a busy time of year-I had a lot of marking to do."
"What about Saturday night?"
"I had some friends over for a little get together. You've got to break up the boredom every once in a while."
"So when you had this party, did you go out at all? Maybe make a run to the beer store, or liquor store?"
"Nope. I had everything planned in advance."
"Are you sure you didn't borrow a friend's car and just pop out to the grocery store to pick up a few things?" Pepper intervened, just to see what the professor would say.
"No. I was there the whole time." He paused, his big brown eyes looking back and forth between Chin and Pepper before resting on Pepper. "But you wouldn't know that now, would you? After all, those nights of watching my house and keeping me under surveillance have ended, right?" The professor swivelled slowly in his chair, tapping his finger against his lips, the corners of his mouth now turned up in a wry smile. "You people should really work on your skills in that area. I thought it was kind of humourous at first, watching how your different teams tried to be so unobtrusive, but I tired of it after a while. That's when I asked Mr. Robertson to pay your boss a visit. I hope Inspector Caruso wasn't too put out after the little meeting we had. I must say, your police chief certainly didn't seem too happy with him."
Pepper wanted to reach across the desk and help the professor adjust his loosened tie-good and tight. He wondered if Drummond would still be so smug if he knew the surveillance was still happening. "Professor, we understand you were here at your office very early today. Apparently that's unusual for you."
The professor paused. "What can I tell you, I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come in, get some marking done and get an early start on the day. As you know, I live alone, so I can suit myself." He paused, looking at them with those innocent child-like eyes of his. "I know, you probably think that it's sad for someone of my age to live alone for so many years, but I've gotten used to it. You know, I don't even have a cat to keep me company." He paused for a second, looking at each of them in turn. "Yes, most nights, I'm the only living thing in that house."
Pepper's eyes narrowed. "Professor, does the name Alicia Skinner mean anything to you?"
"Alicia Skinner?Alicia Skinner?," Drummond said, swivelling back and forth in his chair as he continued to tap his forefinger against his lips. "No, can't say I recognize that name."
"She's a second year student here at Western, majoring in sociology."
"Wise choice on her part. But there are hundreds of sociology students, and probably more than a thousand that take it in first year. I just have a small portion of those students. If she'd been in one of my classes, I would have recognized her name-but I don't."
"Take a look, see if you recognize her," Pepper said, taking the photo of her they'd been given by her parents and slapping it down on the professor's desk.
Just like when Chin and McTavish had shown him the picture of Yvonne Redmond, Drummond sat forward and looked down at the picture intently, trailing his index finger slowly along her jawline. Pepper flicked his eyes questioningly over to Chin as he watched the professor, with the young detective giving Pepper a quick nod in return.
"A very pretty girl. She looks very much like that Redmond girl, don't you think?" Drummond said softly, still not taking his eyes off the girl's picture. Finally, as if broken out of a hypnotic spell, he turned the picture around and slid it across the desk to Pepper before sitting back in his chair. "No, I don't recognize her. Too bad, really-she is quite lovely. Why should I know her?"
"She was murdered last night," Pepper said, picking up the picture and putting it back in the folder he'd brought with him.
His statement didn't seem to phase the professor. He looked up, "Oh dear. That's horrible. I wonder what would possess someone to do something like that to such a sweet young thing."
Pepper looked over at Drummond, amazed at the arrogance of the man as he leaned on the arm of his chair, swivelling slowly back and forth, disingenuous empathy oozing out of him. Pepper decided to try a more direct approach. "Professor, with you being a recognized authority in the field of sociology, I wonder if you can tell me historically what people mean by the name 'The Sandman'."
Drummond's chair stopped swivelling and he looked at Pepper intently for a few seconds. "Interesting," he said as he sat forward and rested his elbows on the desk. "The Sandman is a mythological term from northern European folklore. The Sandman was said to put people to sleep and bring on pleasant dreams."
"And how would he do that?"
"Supposedly he watched people while they slept, and then sprinkled magical sand in their eyes to help them sleep and dream even more." He leaned back in his chair. "Are you having trouble sleeping, Detective Pepper? Are you hoping for a visit from The Sandman?"
"Yes I am, actually," Pepper said, his eyes burning a hole right through Drummond. "I'd love for The Sandman to pay me a visit."
"Well, you know w
hat they say, Detective, "be careful what you wish for". Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class starting in ten minutes." The professor got up from his chair and gestured towards the door.
Pepper and Chin turned and left, not speaking until they were back in the car. "Jesus, I see what you mean about that guy," Pepper said as he rolled his shoulders and tried to shake off the creepy vibes. "He's something else."
"I know. That's exactly what he was like the last time we were here. It's like he enjoys messing with people's heads."
"Let's get back to the station, see if anybody else has come up with anything." In his rattled state, Pepper pulled out of the parking lot a little too quickly, the tires giving a screech of protest as he hammered down on the accelerator.
"Hey Pepper, maybe you should let me drive," Chin said, tightening her seat belt.
"Not a chance," he said, letting up on the gas after taking a few more deep breaths.
Grinning now, Chin got on her phone and called Wilson and Johannson, who were still on campus. They'd already been informed about Pepper and Chin's visit in advance, now Chin asked them to keep an eye on Drummond to see if he did anything that might show that they'd spooked him. The two detectives said they'd keep their eye on him, and Chin ended the call as Pepper swung onto Western Road and headed back downtown.
Every Breath You Take Page 46
