Red Dragon - Thomas Harris [49]
“The tears at the end of the pieces wandered off the perforations,” Beverly Katz continued. “If we find the roll in somebody's possession and he hasn't torn it again, we can get a definite match. I recom?mend issuing an advisory now, so the arresting officers will be sure to search for the roll.”
Crawford nodded. “Bowman?”
“Sharon from my office went after the paper and got samples to match. It's toilet tissue for marine heads and motor homes. The tex?ture matches brand name Wedeker manufactured in Minneapolis. It has nationwide distribution.”
Bowman set up his photographs on an easel near the windows. His voice was surprisingly deep for his slight stature, and his bow tie moved slightly when he talked. "On the handwriting itself, this is a righthanded person using his left hand and printing in a deliberate block pattern. You can see the unsteadiness in the strokes and vary?ing letter sizes.
"The proportions make me think our man has a touch of uncor?rected astigmatism.
“The inks on both pieces of the note look like the same standard ballpoint royal blue in natural light, but a slight difference appears under colored filters. He used two pens, changing somewhere in the missing section of the note. You can see where the first one began to skip. The first pen is not used frequently - see the blob it starts with? It might have been stored pointdown and uncapped in a pencil jar or canister, which suggests a desk situation. Also the surface the paper lay on was soft enough to be a blotter. A blotter might retain impressions if you find it. I want to add the blotter to Beverly's ad?visory.”
Bowman flipped to a photograph of the back of the note. The ex?treme enlargement made the paper look fuzzy. It was grooved with shadowed impressions. "He folded the note to write the bottom part, including what was later torn out. In this enlargement of the back side, oblique light reveals a few impressions. We can make out '666 an.' Maybe that's where he had pen trouble and had to bear down and overwrite. I didn't spot it until I had this highcontrast print. There's no 666 in any ad so far.
"The sentence structure is orderly, and there's no rambling. The folds suggest it was delivered in a standard lettersize envelope. These two dark places are printingink smudges. The note was probably folded inside some innocuous printed matter in the envelope.
“That's about it,” Bowman said. “Unless you have questions, Jack, I'd better go to the courthouse. I'll check in after I testify.”
“Sink 'em deep,” Crawford said.
Graham studied the Tattler personals column. (“Attractive queen?-size lady, young 52, seeks Christian Leo nonsmoker 40 - 70. No chil?dren please. Artificial limb welcomed. No phonies. Send photo first letter.”)
Lost in the pain and desperation of the ads, he didn't notice that the others were leaving until Beverly Katz spoke to him.
“I'm sorry, Beverly. What did you say?” He looked at her bright eyes and kindly, wellworn face.
“I just said I'm glad to see you back, Champ. You're looking good.”
“Thanks, Beverly.”
“Saul's going to cooking school. He's still hitormiss, but when the dust settles come over and let him practice on you.”
“I'll do it.”
Zeller went away to prowl his laboratory. Only Crawford and Gra?ham were left, looking at the clock.
“Forty minutes to Tattler press time,” Crawford said. “I'm going after their mail. What do you say?”
“I think you have to.”
Crawford passed the word to Chicago on Zeller's telephone. “Will, we need to be ready with a substitute ad if Chicago bingoes.”
“I'll work on it.”
“I'll set up the drop.” Crawford called the Secret Service and talked at some length. Graham was still scribbling when he finished.
“Okay, the mail drop's a beauty,” Crawford said at last. “It's an outside message box on a fireextinguisherservice outfit in Annapolis. That's Lecter territory. The Tooth Fairy will see that it's something Lecter could know