Chapter 35
"Rupe, what's up? What time is it?" Pepper said, putting his phone to his ear as he looked at his alarm clock.
"It's four thirty-five. We just got a message from The Sandman."
"What's it say?" Pepper said, swinging his legs over and sitting up on the side of his bed. Shauna had been over and they'd had dinner together Sunday night, but she'd gone home early, both of them having to work Monday morning, so he was alone.
"It says, "Watch out, Sting, you're about to get burned"."
"About to get burned?" Pepper said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "What the hell does that mean?"
"I don't know, but I've already called Caruso and he's sending two units over to your house. I'm on my way too."
"All right, all right. I'll put on some coffee."
Pepper quickly pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt, leaving the lights off as he made his way around the house, checking the windows and doors as he carefully peered outside. Nothing seemed amiss and within two minutes, a cruiser pulled up in front of the house, lights going but the siren quiet. Another one pulled in within another minute, the officers coming up to his door.
"Hi guys. I got the call from Detective Wallace about what's going on, but everything seems fine."
"Okay, we'll just be out here in case you need us," one of the cops said. "I'll take a walk around, check the yard and windows on the outside, make sure everything's okay."
"Thanks." Pepper closed the door, moving to the kitchen and putting on a pot of coffee, making enough to give some to the two cops outside. Wallace arrived in his minivan shortly thereafter, rushing into the house to check on his partner.
"Everything okay, buddy?" he said, looking Pepper up and down.
"Yeah," Pepper said, shaking his head as he handed Wallace a coffee. "Nothing's going on. The guys outside said everything looks fine, so I don't know what The Sandman is getting-"
He was interrupted as Wallace's personal phone rang. He'd changed the ringtone again, this time the pulsing sound of Bronski Beat's 'Smalltown Boy' echoing throughout the kitchen.
"It's Caruso," Wallace said, putting their boss on speaker.
"What's up, Inspector?" Wallace said as he answered the call. "I'm at Pepper's and I've put you on speaker phone."
"Good, then you can both hear this. We've got another body, and this one you're not gonna believe."
Wallace and Pepper looked at each other, wondering what The Sandman had done now.
Every Breath You Take Page 58
