Chapter 38
Wallace had just finished putting the kids to bed. For Michelle and him, this was the best time of the day. The ongoing chaos of the kid's waking hours gave way to the temporary peace of this little sliver of solitude. Michelle was sprawled out on the couch, watching TV, one hand resting on her big belly. He sat at his desk in one corner of the living room, going over the files for the case.
"Would you like some tea, honey?" Michelle asked, waddling into the kitchen and putting on the kettle.
"Tea would be perfect. Thanks."
As he turned back to his computer, Bartolucci's phone in his pocket chirped, signalling a text from The Sandman. It had been so long since they'd heard anything from him, the sound of the phone caught him by surprise. He pulled it out of his pocket and opened the message:
"I have your precious Sting."
"Jesus," Wallace muttered as he pulled out his own phone and dialled Pepper's number. "Come on?come on," he said, willing his friend to answer. After a number of rings, it went to voicemail. "Tee, it's Rupert. Call me right away when you get this. Right away, got it?"
He ended the call and looked at the other phone again, re-reading the message: "I have your precious Sting." Something wasn't right. This message was meant for him, not Pepper. How did the Sandman know he was carrying the phone? The Sandman always thought that he was talking to Pepper directly, but this message was directed to him, Wallace, personally. Why? Why would he have done that? The only people who knew he had the phone were the members of the team. The phone chirped in his hand-another message had arrived.
"I think I'll take his stinger first. Then the famous Sting will just be regular old Gordon Summers again."
Gordon Summers, Wallace said to himself, shaking his head. The Sandman had made the same mistake with Sting's real name that McTavish had when he and Pepper had been playing their little trivia game in the office.
Like he'd been struck by lightning, Wallace felt his heart jump, his hands starting to shake. He re-read the message, and then read it a third time, his eyes riveted on the incorrect spelling of Sting's last name. He thought about the message that had come in just before this one, the message specifically for him, on the phone that only the team members would have known he had.
McTavish?McTavish knew that he was the one carrying the phone, not Pepper, and McTavish had screwed up Sting's real last name before. He thought back on the various times when the messages had come in from The Sandman, and realized that McTavish hadn't been present in the room when any of them had come in. And the car. Mrs. Hooper had talked about a suspicious dark-coloured car-McTavish's car was black. Wallace turned to his computer and linked into the DMV files, searching under the name: McTavish, Ian. The licence plate number popped up: BKN 112. Mrs. Hooper had told them the first three letters were the same as her daughter's initials: BKH. She'd been off on the last letter, misreading the 'N' for an 'H'.
Wallace thought about the shoe imprint and called up the file Singleton had created. He selected the picture of the casting and zoomed in on the sole of the shoe. He raced to his closet and grabbed one of his new shoes. He turned it over and held it next to the picture on the computer screen. The shape of the toe and the treading of the heel were identical. He looked at the size 44 in the middle of the sole, clearly visible on the casting. He looked at his own shoe, the number 40 in the identical spot.
It hadn't been Drummond at all.
"Oh shit," Wallace said out loud, quickly scrolling through the contacts list on his phone. He spotted Chin's name and punched it in. "Come on, girl?come on," he muttered, pacing back and forth. She answered on the second ring.
"Hello."
"Chin, it's McTavish. He's got Tee."
"Wallace?"
"Yes, yes. Listen, I don't have time to explain, but it's McTavish-McTavish is The Sandman, and he's got Tee."
"What?" He could hear the disbelief in her voice.
"I've just gotten two messages from him, and I can't get into it right now, but it's McTavish-it has been all along."
"Oh fuck. You'd better be sure Wallace?"
"I need you to get to McTavish's house as fast as you can. I'm leaving now but you're a lot closer than me. I don't want to call the regular cops and have them just barge in there. Who knows what he'll do. We need to try and get Tee out of there." There was silence on the other end of the phone. "Elizabeth, did you hear me?"
"Yes. I...I'll go right now."
"Good. Just remember your training. I'll be there as soon as I can."
Wallace grabbed his coat and keys and hurried to the front door, jamming both phones into his pockets.
"Honey, what's going on?" Michelle said, seeing the determined look on her husband's face.
"It's Tee-he's in trouble."
Every Breath You Take Page 69
