Itwas Michael Drummond who had supplied the forged visitor's pass and clothing toLucas Anthony Thompson.

    Real-estatetax records traced back to Drummond led to a small commercial building in SouthPhilly. Police found his killing room full of recording equipment, as well as acache of nearly two hundred CDs and audiocassettes - all meticulously dated -of street and human sounds, some of them of people in their death throes. Itwould be months, maybe years, before police forensic audiologists would be ableto make sense of the recordings, if ever. Michael Drummond had been building tothis dark denouement for a long time.

    AtJosh Bontrager's direction K-9 officers from PPD found an unconsious DavidAlbrecht at the bottom of the ravine on Sawmill Road. Albrecht had lost a lotof blood, but paramedics reached him in time. Investigators were certain thathe had been attacked and left for dead by Michael Drummond, but Drummond wouldescape this charge posthumously.

    Noneof this explained the murder of George Archer.

    LucyDoucette, in her statement, told police about the man she had met. The man whocalled himself Adrian Costa. The Dreamweaver. Police checked with themanagement of the apartment building off Cherry Street. The landlord said thata man had rented Apartment 106 for six months, paying cash in advance. He gavepolice a vague description.

    Theyhad showed Lucy the video recordings made on Halloween Night at the hotel,recordings of the hallway on the twelfth floor. Jessica had freeze-framed theimage of the man in the wizard's costume and mask passing by the camera.

    Lucysaid she couldn't remember.

    Jessicahad also visited Garrett Corners again, researched the name Adrian Costa. Noone with that name had ever been registered as a voter or resident of the area.The people knew the reclusive van Tassels to be travelers, carny people. Theonly photograph of the family was nearly fifteen years old. When Jessicarevisited Peggy van Tassel's grave, she looked at the two plots next to it. Onewas the grave of a man named Ellis Adrian. The other was the last resting placeof an Evangeline Costa.

    Wasthe Dreamweaver Peggy van Tassel's father?

    Fromwhat the investigators could gather, it appeared that Florian van Tassel hadtracked Archer for years but had not known for sure that it was Archer who hadkidnapped both Peggy van Tassel and Lucy Doucette back in September 2001. Asthe Dreamweaver, van Tassel enticed Lucy to submit to hypnosis sessions duringwhich van Tassel determined that he had been right. George Archer had killedPeggy. It seemed that van Tassel also gave Lucy a post-hypnotic suggestion toleave a note for Archer in his room, drawing him up there at 9:30p.m., theninstructed her to open the door to Room 1208 at the right moment.

    Theenhanced video taken from the twelfth-floor hallway that night showed the mandressed as a wizard - believed to be Florian van Tassel - with an old-styleschool bell in his hand.

    Whileall of this was circumstantial, it wasn't until forensic results started tocome in that police issued an arrest warrant for Florian van Tassel, aka The Dreamweaver.Blood belonging to George Archer was found on the old photograph left behind inthe room where the Dreamweaver had met with Lucy Doucette.

    TheGeorge Archer file sat in a file cabinet at the Roundhouse.

    Thecase remains open.

Chapter 103

    Monday,November 8

    Byrnesat in the small lunch-room at the back of the Roundhouse. The four-to-twelveshift had already come and gone and were out on the street. Byrne, who had beenon administrative leave since the shooting, sat by himself, a cold cup ofuntouched coffee in front of him.

    WhenJessica entered the room and approached him she saw something else on thetable. It was Byrne's fifty-cent piece.

    'Hey,partner.'

    'Hey,'Byrne replied. 'You finish that FAS?'

    AFirearms Analysis System form was a trace request sent to the Bureau ofAlcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

    'Alldone.' Jessica slid into the booth across from Byrne. 'You heading home?'

    'In awhile.'

    They satin silence. Byrne looked tired, but not nearly as tired as he had lookedrecently. He'd gotten the results from all his follow-up tests. There was notumor, nothing serious. They said it was a combination of fatigue, poor diet,insomnia, with a Bushmills chaser. Jessica glanced at the menu displayed overthe counter in the corner, and thought about how eating in this place might bepart of the problem.

    Byrnelooked up, at the scarred booths, the plastic flowers, the line of vendingmachines against the wall, at the place to which he had come to work for morethan twenty years. 'I didn't do my job, Jess.'

    She'dknown this was coming, and here it was. Everything she planned to say vaporizedfrom her mind. She decided to just speak from her heart. 'It wasn't yourfault.'

    'Iwas so young,' Byrne said. 'So arrogant.'

    'Christa-Marieconfessed to the crime, Kevin. I wouldn't have handled it any differently. Idon't know any cop who would.'

    'Sheconfessed because she was ill,' Byrne said. 'I didn't dig any deeper. I shouldhave, but I didn't. I turned in my report, it went to the DA. Just like always.Boss says move on, you move on.'

    'Exactly.'

    Byrnespun the coffee cup a few times.

    'Iwonder what her life would have been like,' he said. 'I wonder where she wouldhave gone, what she would have done.'

    Jessicaknew there was no answer to this, none that would help. She waited awhile, thenslipped out of the booth.

    'Howabout I buy you a drink?' she said. 'It's fifty-cent Miller Lite night atFinnigan's Wake. We can get hammered, drive around, pull people over, do sometraffic stops. Be like old times.'

    Byrnesmiled, but there was sadness in it. 'Maybe tomorrow.'

    'Sure.'

    Jessicaput a hand on Byrne's shoulder. When she got to the door she turned, looked atthe big man sitting in the last booth, surrounded by all the whispering ghostsof his past. She wondered if they would ever be silent.

Chapter 104

    Hefound her behind the hotel. She was sitting alone on a stone bench, on herdinner break, an untouched salad next to her. When she saw Byrne she stood up,hugged him. He held on as long as she wanted.

    Shepulled away and turned, brushing off the bench for him. Ever considerate,Byrne thought. He sat down.

    Theywere silent for a few moments. Finally Byrne asked, 'You doing okay?'

    LucyDoucette shrugged. 'Just another day in the big city.'

    'Didyou have any problems giving your statement?' He had put out the word that shewas to be treated with kid gloves. The report back was that she had been. Byrnewanted to hear it from her.

    'Yeah,'she said. 'But if I never go back to a police station for the rest of my life,that will be okay with me.'

    'Aboutthat other matter,' Byrne said, referring back to Lucy's detainment forshoplifting. 'I talked to the DAs office, and to the owner of the store onSouth. It's all smoothed over. Just a big misunderstanding.' Because Byrne hadintervened before Lucy was charged there would not be a record.

    'Thanks,'she said. She looked at Byrne, at the bench, at the surrounding area. 'Where'syour man bag?'

    'I'mnot carrying it anymore.'

    Lucysmiled. 'Were you getting grief from your fellow officers?'

    Byrnelaughed. 'Something like that.'

    Awink of silver caught Byrne's eye. It was a small heart-shaped pendant aroundLucy's neck.