Page 90 of Nowhere to Hide
Eric shook his head. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet. He’s waiting on his lawyer to show up. But, on that point, there is enough to support an arrest for both Todd Levine and Dean Finley. I think Levine knew it was inevitable and tried to get ahead of it.” Eric pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Sandra. “It’s a copy of a letter from Levine, baring his soul. He has been racked with guilt for the last thirty-three years over what he and Finley did.”
Sandra read the letter and passed it along to Neal. He and Kreiger leaned in and read it at the same time.
Donny took the letter from Kreiger. “Ah, I see what you’re getting at. Levine’s intentions were good, but Finley wasn’t having anything to do with it.”
“Yes, and I fear Levine might have made it clear he was going to give them both up, leaving Finley with no say in the matter,” Eric clarified.
“Which means that Finley may or may not know aboutthat.” Sandra pointed at the letter, now in Monica’s hand.
“That’s right. Regardless, Finley’s clearly feeling desperate.”
“Levine’s had time to come to grips with his decision. He’s just thrown it at Finley,” Monica said.
“In some ways you can hardly blame Finley’s response. There’s a lot on the line. His pension and a prison sentence. All of us know prison isn’t a safe place for a cop. Finley might see it as he has nothing to lose. This could escalate quickly. He kills Levine, then himself,” Kreiger weighed in with a bitter possibility.
“Well, I’ll need to help him see there is an upside to surrendering.” Not that she saw how she was going to accomplish that yet. She was just determined to resolve things peacefully so that both men walked away. Eric was dealing with enough already when it came to his training officer. He didn’t need to grieve his death too.
“There is more I haven’t shared yet…” Eric told them about the contents of the safe deposit box, including the recording.
“Wow. Slam dunk.” Gibson reached for the letter from Monica.
“Yeah, there’s no turning back from that,” Neal said.
“Nope.”
Sandra caught chills on her arms. “It sounds like the photographer was killed to keep Susan Crawford’s murder quiet too.”How many people had to die because of Timothy Hanson?
“Is that what Levine was referring to when he saida further unspeakable thingor is there something else still?” Kreiger said.
The vehicle fell silent for a few beats, and Gibson gave the letter back to Eric.
He held up his hand. “Hold on to it. I’ll give you the numbers for both officers, then I’m headed back to the station to get started on arrest warrants for both men. Let’s hope I get a chance to serve them.”
After Eric was gone, true to his playbook, Kreiger said, “I’m going to consult with ERT.”
Sandra took the numbers Eric had provided and sat at her workstation. As she put on her headset, she watched Eric getting into an unmarked MPD sedan and was stabbed with empathy. But there wasn’t time to sink into despair. She had to be the strong one for him. “I’m calling Finley.”
The team put their headsets on, and she punched in the digits for Finley’s cell phone.
“I said, get lost!”
“Sergeant Finley, this is Special Agent Vos with the FBI. I understand you might need our help in there.” She used his title at retirement to remind him of the honorable position he had held at one time. By doing so, it would also acknowledge that he’d made sacrifices.
“I don’t need help. I have this under control.”
“You’re visiting with an old friend, Sergeant Levine, am I right?”
“That’s right.”
The gruff edge to his voice sent a sour bolt firing through her gut. “Just the two of you?”
“Yes.”
“Would I be able to talk to Todd for a minute?”
“Why would you need to do that?”
“Just to make sure he’s okay.”
