the sample of Atriana paper.
'Do you recognize this?' Byrne asked.
Novak took the evidence bag from Byrne, held it up to the fluorescent light. The edge of the distinctive watermark was clear.
'I do.'
'Where do you recognize it from?'
'I'm familiar with the line. It's called Atriana.'
'What is Marcato LLC?'
Pause. 'It's a publishing company.'
'Books? Magazines?'
'Music.'
Byrne nodded. 'And you use this paper?'
'Yes,' Novak said. 'I use the paper to bind special editions.'
'Where would I find a copy of one of these editions?'
'They are all over the world.'
'When was the last time you purchased this paper?' Byrne asked.
'I don't recall.'
'If we search your apartment will we find this paper? Maybe cut into five-inch-wide strips?'
'No,' Novak said. 'All the paper I had was stolen. Someone broke into my house.'
'Oh yeah? When was this?'
'Six months ago.'
'Did you report it to the police?'
'Yes.'
Novak was certainly smart enough to know that they would look this up. He probably would not have said this if it weren't true. 'What else was taken?'
'A watch, an MP3 player.'
'And paper,' Byrne added.
No reply.
Byrne stared at the man for a few moments, as if commiserating with him over the strange state of the world. 'Well, I was at your place this morning, and I have to say that if I had broken in I would've found a few more items of value than just a wristwatch, a Nano, and some paper. Some of your audio equipment would go for more than a few bucks on the corner, don't you think? Pioneer Elite, Mcintosh. This is serious jelly.'
'I didn't have all that equipment then.'
'Ah, okay,' Byrne said. 'I'm sure you still have the receipts from when you purchased the equipment, yes? We may want to look at them.'
Novak remained stone-faced. 'I could probably find them.'
'Great,' Byrne said. 'That would help a lot.'
Jessica excused herself, stepped out of the interview room. She got on the phone to West Division detectives, made her request. A few minutes later she got a fax of the incident report. Novak was telling the truth. At least about the break-in. She stepped back into the interview room, handed the fax to Byrne. He read it, looked at Novak.
'It appears you were telling the truth,' Byrne said.
'Imagine that.'
Byrne put the fax into the binder, closed it. 'Yet you know what I find odd?'
'What is that?'
'With all your meticulous research into the Antoinette Chan case, you do not remember the name Kenneth Beckman. His name was in the papers — on television, too.'
Novak shrugged. 'I must have missed it.'
'Imagine that.'
'You can see why we might be interested here, Mr. Novak.' Byrne held up the bag with the paper sample. 'Here is an item belonging to you, and it was found at the scene of a homicide.'
'It was an item stolen from me,' Novak said. 'And while the injustice that was done to me pales in comparison to what was done to Mr. Beckman I am just as much a victim in this as he.'
Byrne took it all in, waited a few moments. 'Sounds positively operatic.'
For a few moments Novak said nothing. Then, almost on cue: 'I believe we have reached the point where I should contact my attorney.
Among other things, I'm sure he will be interested in the photographs you have of my personal and private property, and how they were obtained.'
Byrne looked at Jessica. She held up her iPhone so that Novak could see the screen. She tapped a few icons and a moment later they all watched the progress bar move left to right. The images had been deleted. Byrne looked back at Novak.
'What photographs?' Byrne asked.
The two men stared at each other for a few seconds.
'We're almost done here,' Byrne finally said. 'If you'll excuse us for a moment.'
Byrne stepped out of the room, closed the door, slid home the bolt. He bumped a fist with Jessica. They had, of course, printed the images from her iPhone before starting the interview. In addition, while holding up her iPhone in the interview room, she had also taken Joseph Novak's picture.
They met with Dana Westbrook in the coffee room. They watched Novak on the monitor.
'Unfortunately, this is not enough to hold him or get a search warrant,' Westbrook said.
'We have to consider his collage of murder stories, boss.'
'Not against the law last time I checked. If it was, I might be in jail myself. Last night I watched a double feature of Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs.'' Westbrook checked her watch. They had to be careful about how long they kept Novak. They would soon have to charge him or let him go. They'd all had a refresher course in this recently with the Eduardo Robles fiasco. 'Plus, none of the snapshots would be admissible. No probable cause, and how they were obtained would certainly be explored by any defense attorney.'
Jessica looked back into the room. Novak had not moved a muscle. He sat with his eyes closed, his long legs crossed in front of him.
'Can we put him under surveillance?' Jessica asked.
Westbrook walked back to her office, returned. She had looked at the duty roster. 'I don't have a single warm body available. There may be someone on last-out tonight. I'll talk to the watch commander and see what I can do.'
Anything could happen between now and then, Jessica thought. Still, it was what it was.
'Cut him loose,' Westbrook said.
A few minutes later Jessica and Byrne stood in the duty room, watching Novak saunter toward the hallway that led to the elevators.
Before Novak rounded the corner he stopped, as if he'd forgotten something. A few seconds later he spun on his heels, walked briskly back, heading directly for Jessica and Byrne.
What the hell is this? Jessica wondered.
Chapter 34
As Novak approached, Byrne watched the man's hands. It was a habit he'd acquired as a rookie and he'd never forgotten it. Watch the hands, watch the man.
Novak stopped in front of them. He did not look at Jessica, just at Byrne.
'I just wanted to say I harbor no hard feelings,' Novak said.
This isn't over, Byrne thought. You might change your mind about that.
Novak extended his hand.
