Chapter Thirty-Two #2
“I guess we’ll tell Henderson we can prove he picked up Ivanov and drove off with him close to the time of death and encourage him to come clean on what happened next. Otherwise, we can charge him based on this video alone, which puts him with the deceased earlier on the morning he was found dead.”
“McDermott will say that’s not enough,” Malone said.
“We could lead Henderson to believe his prints were found on Ivanov’s body,” Green said.
“That’s a good idea,” Sam said.
Freddie returned, giving the thumbs-up. “I texted Hope, and she’s still in the building, so she’ll be back in a few.”
Sam checked her watch. She had an hour until she needed to be ready for a public event at the White House, which meant she had to leave no less than thirty minutes from now.
As she walked toward the door, she said, “If someone could hand off to Carlucci and Dominguez, I’d appreciate it.
I’ll see the rest of you in the morning. ”
While she and Freddie waited for Hope, Sam texted Lilia. Attending the VP announcement in an hour. Just FYI.
Got it, Lilia replied. You have outfits labeled for events in the closet. Let me know if you need anything.
Maybe very quick hair and makeup?
I’ll make sure they’re standing by.
You all are the best. Thanks.
The White House glam squad of Ginger and Davida could scrub the cop out of her and make her look like a first lady faster than she could ever do it on her own.
Hope came into the pit a few minutes later. “Sorry to keep you waiting. I was upstairs with IT on another case.”
“No worries,” Sam said. “Let’s get this done. I gotta go home for a thing.”
“‘Home for a thing,’” Hope said, laughing. “I can’t even begin to guess what that might be.”
“Announcing the new VP.”
“Eh, nothing special.”
“I’d rather be here, except the guy who invited me is hot, and he does it for me, so…”
“You’re too funny.”
“So I’m told.”
Malone came down the hallway in time to accompany Hope into observation while Sam and Freddie entered the interrogation room to find Curtis still sweating profusely. At what point would he become dehydrated, she wondered.
“Gentlemen,” Sam said. “I’ve got to be out of here shortly, so let’s get this done.
We left off with you on video, leaving your apartment at two thirty in the morning.
The video we received from the Observatory shows you picking up Sergei and driving off.
Then Sergei turns up dead, so we’d like for you to fill in the blanks between those events. ”
“Curtis would like to assist with that, but he’s interested in discussing what arrangements might be made for him if he helps with your investigation,” Devon said.
“That’ll depend on what he gives us and how helpful it turns out to be.”
“What you have so far is him picking up a man and giving him a ride, which is hardly a crime,” Devon said.
Sam was oddly proud of the young man who’d become a sharp, effective defense attorney.
“We have a man who, by his own admission, was bitter about his wife describing Ivanov as the one who got away and who was under the impression that he and the ex-wife were on their way to reconciliation until the one who got away came back into the picture. We have him leaving his children sleeping at his house at two thirty in the morning to stake out the ex-wife’s residence, waiting for the one who got away to leave so he could waylay him. Do you see how this looks to us?”
The sweat dripped off Curtis’s face and splashed onto the table.
Freddie handed him some tissues.
Did he sweat like that all the time or only when he was in the hot seat with cops making a possible murder case against him?
“If I don’t tell you what happened next,” Curtis said, “you’ll never find out.”
“Let us talk to the AUSA to see what she has to say about offering you a deal.”
Sam and Freddie left the room to meet Hope and Malone in the hallway.
“What’re you thinking?” Hope asked.
“In a way, he’s got a point,” Sam said. “We need him to fill in the blanks for us, or we’re apt to spend weeks chasing our tails, running down video, trying to put the pieces together.
Ivanov’s autopsy showed no sign of trauma to the body other than that sustained when he was pushed out of a moving car with diplomatic plates.
We’re waiting for the tox screen to see if he was poisoned, and even that could be inconclusive. ”
“With the Russians possibly involved, I wouldn’t rule out poison,” Malone said. “They’re kind of known for that.”
“Which most likely puts Curtis in the clear on the murder,” Hope said.
“Here’s a wrinkle, though,” Sam said. “It’s possible that he intended to harm Ivanov when he picked him up at the observatory.”
“Or maybe he just planned to ask him to back off with Gretchen,” Freddie said. “Curtis wanted her back. He wanted his family together again. Ivanov’s arrival came at the worst-possible time for him. Maybe he wanted to talk to him man-to-man about getting lost.”
“That’s possible,” Sam said, still not convinced that Curtis didn’t intend to harm Sergei.
“Henderson has no criminal record,” Freddie said. “He wanted his wife back. What would he gain by killing Ivanov and possibly getting tossed in prison?”
“Detective Cruz makes good points,” Hope said. “I’m inclined to offer immunity for information that leads to Ivanov’s murderer.”
“Even if we don’t get to prosecute them,” Malone said with a bitter edge to his voice.
“Make it conditional,” Hope said. “If the investigation leads to Curtis, he will be charged.”
“Got it.” Sam could almost hear the minutes ticking away as she tried to wrap up this workday so she could tend to her other job. “Let’s see what he has to say.”
They returned to the room, where Curtis was still mopping up sweat, and turned on the recording device.
“The AUSA is prepared to offer you conditional immunity, meaning you won’t be charged with a crime unless the evidence points to you as the one who killed Sergei.”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“What was your plan when you picked him up at the observatory?”
“I wanted to talk to him, to tell him things between me and Gretchen had been good lately, and we were working toward a reconciliation. And then along comes the one guy in the world who could screw that up.”
“The one who got away,” Sam said.