Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Sandra watched as Abram Duke got into the back of an MPD squad car. She could only imagine how relieved he was to put the day behind him.
“All right, so there’s one other thing everyone should know,” Gibson began. “Ryan had Duke bring him a laptop so he can watch the surveillance video from cameras around the property.”
“Giving him eyes everywhere,” Donny said.
That sounded like more incentive not to attempt a breach. “What’s the status on officers posing as reporters?” She directed this at Kreiger.
“I have two ERT officers willing to go undercover. We’re working on securing a camera, and one of them will pose as its operator. Have you got the HT to agree to doing this whole thing outside?”
“I haven’t even broached that subject yet,” she admitted. “It’s a delicate dance, and I need to wait until the timing is just right.”
Neal entered the vehicle, breaking up the conversation. He’d stepped out a few minutes ago. “I’ve got Officer Green on the phone with an update on one of those secretaries from the top floor,” he told everyone, then prompted his caller, “Go ahead.”
“So I spoke with Beatrice Sullivan.” A man’s voice came over the line. “She remembered Susan well. Said that she was a kind woman who took her job seriously. But she also shared that Susan was hugging the toilet and sensitive to smells not long before she left Hanson Property Development.”
“She was pregnant when she quit,” Monica said. “Morning sickness starts around week six.”
Everyone looked at her.
“My sister. I’ve never been pregnant.”
And that could answer my earlier curiosity. Is Monica’s sister a single parent?
“Thanks for the update.” Neal’s comment could have been directed sarcastically at Monica, but Sandra read it as him speaking to the officer. Green must have too because he said “No problem” and was gone.
Neal’s phone rang immediately afterward. One glance at his screen, followed by, “Here we go again. Officer Smith? I’ve got you on speaker with the negotiation team.”
“I just finished talking with Hilda Beal,” a man said, “and you’ll want to hear this.
According to her, Timothy Hanson cornered her in the lunchroom one day when no one was around.
He backed her against the wall and fondled her breasts.
At the time she was too terrified to move, even as his hands traveled down her thighs to the hem of her skirt. ”
Sandra inched forward on her chair. “Did he rape her?”
“Someone came into the lunchroom and interrupted things, but Hilda strongly feels that was Hanson’s intention.”
Whoa. “What happened next?”
“Hilda reported the incident to her boss.”
“Good on her,” Monica cheered.
“Sure, but standing up for herself ended up getting her fired. She said that all these years she’s thought of coming forward publicly against Timothy but was afraid of what else might happen to her.”
If they were right about why Susan Crawford died, Hilda had valid reason to fear the man.
“Anything else?” Neal asked the officer.
“That’s it.”
“Well, that’s a big it. Thanks.” Neal ended the call and looked over everyone in the vehicle. “Anyone else getting a bad feeling about all that Timothy Hanson might have done to Susan?” Before anyone could respond, his phone rang again. “It’s Officer Moore. Coleman,” he answered on speaker.
“You’re not going to believe this…” Moore filled them in on her conversation with Heather Wainscott. It mirrored what they’d just heard from Officer Smith about his conversation with Hilda. Both painted Timothy as a predator.
“We just heard something similar from another secretary.” Neal gave her a quick recap on Hilda Beal’s statement.
“Wow, okay. That’s good to know,” Moore said.
“This is the first mention of Rhonda Stein though. I want you to have a chat with her, and when you’re finished, swing by the corporate office and see if you can talk to Timothy’s last secretary, as well.”
“You got it.”
Neal pocketed his phone. “We considered that Susan and Timothy were having an affair, but it’s sounding far worse than that.”
“I’m just going to say it,” Kreiger interjected. “It’s possible that Timothy Hanson may have raped Susan Crawford based on what we’ve just heard.”
“Agreed,” Sandra admitted, and the rest of the team chorused in to that effect as well.
“If Susan got pregnant from the assault, it could explain why she’d leave her job without a safety net. She’d want to get away from her rapist,” Donny reasoned.
“And Timothy would want her dealt with. So he likely would have offered a payoff and made her sign an NDA,” Sandra put in. “So when she came back six years later, looking for more money, he thought he’d solve his problem for good.”
Neal bobbed his head. “And paid someone to fix it. Gibson, have you gotten anywhere tracking down people in Timothy’s circle from thirty-three years ago?”
“Not yet. I’ve been kind of busy…”
“Bump it to the top of the pile,” Neal told him.
“Sure thing.”
Sandra read defeat in Gibson’s voice. “Just an idea, but it might be advantageous to speak with the Carmichael family about Timothy Hanson. They may be able to give us names of Timothy’s friends or right-hand men.”
“And what makes you think they’ll tell us?” Kreiger raised his eyebrows.
“Their loyalty would be to Martha,” Sandra pointed out. “If the Carmichaels find out that Timothy betrayed her, I don’t think they’ll have any problem talking.”
“Huh. Possibly. But the Hansons are still a powerful family. And let’s assume they all walk away from today, there’s the future to consider,” Kreiger said.
Let’s… Sandra couldn’t consider a dark outcome for one second.
“Who is there we can talk to?” Neal directed this at Gibson, who spun and typed on his keyboard.
“Okay, so the Carmichaels are gone, that being the parents,” Gibson said. “They died in a plane crash fifteen years ago.”
“Any living relatives?” Neal asked.
“It looks like the closest living relative is Martha’s brother.
He lives here in DC,” Gibson told him. “Name’s Peter.
He’s seventy-one, and his address puts him in an affluent area.
He likely lives in a mansion. I can only imagine the size of his staff, and at that age, he might even have in-home nurses. ”
Gibson spoke as if that were something to be ashamed of. It was a privilege some could afford. Like Margo. Not that anyone in this vehicle knew Sandra’s background or connection to the Davenports.
Neal pulled out his phone. “I’ll get someone over to talk with him.”
Sandra met Kreiger’s eye. Their conversation about the reporter ruse had been interrupted, and it was time to pick it back up again.