Chapter 48
FORTY-EIGHT
Sometimes in negotiation, silence was advantageous.
It could unsettle the hostage taker and make them want to move things forward.
This could make them more flexible. But in this situation, Sandra didn’t see silence as the way to go.
Fifteen minutes later, she was telling the team she was calling again. She hit the digits.
“Just leave us alone, Vos,” Finley said, answering after the second ring.
“You know I can’t do that. And if you don’t want to talk, let me.
” She paused, allowing Finley time to protest. When he didn’t, she continued.
“There was a car accident thirty-three years ago in which a woman named Susan Crawford died.” It was time to be straightforward, to start building trust. No lies, no deceit, no pretending to be in the dark on why they were here.
An approach any career cop could appreciate.
“What of it? What does that have to do with me?” His voice was heated and raised more with each word.
She countered his hysterics with a calm energy and nonchalance. “Maybe nothing at all. But this woman had her young son in the car. His name was Ryan. He didn’t die in the crash but sustained critical injuries.”
“A sob story.”
His flippant remark suggested there was some underlying remorse. Making light of a tragic situation was a defensive mechanism to block it out. “A sob story, for sure. So you remember it? Todd Levine was the responding officer, and you were his sergeant at the time.”
“We’re talking over three decades ago. How could you expect I’d remember?”
Is he really choosing to play dumb? “I think you know where I’m going with this, Dean.”
“No, no I don’t.”
“This accident is the past that Todd is dredging up, isn’t it? The one you just want him to leave alone?”
“We did nothing wrong.”
Sandra wondered how many times he’d told himself that over the years. Had he tried to convince himself because he hadn’t killed her with his bare hands he was innocent? “You did nothing wrong?” she asked lightly, free of any judgment or accusation.
“We did our jobs, what we were paid to do.”
Sandra gave Donny a side glance. Finley was smooth and had wordplay down to a fine art. He was paid to do a job all right, but the one he was talking about wasn’t for the MPD. “I hear you, but Todd doesn’t think that, does he?”
“No, he does not. I’m trying to set him straight.”
“Why don’t you both come out here and continue that conversation?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Why is that?” She’d often tell hostage takers during the early stages they hadn’t done anything they couldn’t walk away from. A retired cop who was guilty of such a criminal wrongdoing wouldn’t buy that line for a second.
“We’re fine in here.”
“Are there some things you would have done differently?” If she could get him to talk, to open up, there was the stronger chance something would slip that she could use.
“No.”
Sandra let that response percolate. Was the man so cold-hearted that he could turn his back on his vow to the badge and the people of DC? Or had he justified it to himself so many times over the years that he believed himself not only to be innocent but in the right?
“Did you hear me? I said no. There’s nothing I would change.” A brief pause, then, “What do you think you know?”
Everyone in the vehicle looked at each other.
Sandra took a few seconds before responding.
“You strike me as the kind of man who likes things straightforward, so I’ll get right to the point.
It appears that you and Todd Levine were paid to bury evidence in Susan Crawford’s murder.
There was also a forensic photographer, Roger Simms, who died of a mysterious cause.
” She skillfully made it sound like he might have a way out of this. It appears that…
“He died in a hiking accident,” Finley spat. “Not exactly mysterious.”
Another delusion Finley must have accepted as fact over the years to cushion his conscience.
“Let’s talk about you and Todd. Both of you were much younger then, vulnerable, probably barely scraping by.
” Sandra exaggerated things to make her seem sympathetic, but no one was getting rich off a cop’s salary.
“So when Timothy Hanson came around, I bet he made it easy to see things his way, do as he asked. I bet most people did.” She paused to let Finley talk, but he remained silent.
She continued. “You feared for your own safety. But the result was Susan Crawford was run off the road, and the people who did that to her never paid for the crime.”
“So you want me and Todd to pay. Is that it?”
“No, but you can help us get the person behind this.” If she could convince Finley that he and Todd could turn on Kramer to get a deal, she might be able to talk Finley down.
“Timothy Hanson is dead. That makes him untouchable.”
“But why should you live with this hanging over your head? Clear your conscience. You’re not the one who killed her.”
“No, but we might as well have!” After that, the line went dead.
“That’s the first thing Finley’s said that even hints to the guy having any remorse,” Donny said.
Second, if I count my earlier impression… Now there were no doubts. “Agreed.” Sandra was smiling. Finley just gave her something she could work with.