Page 66 of Nowhere to Hide
4:01 PM
Sandra was still reeling from Eric’s text and some additional ones he’d sent through. She wanted to bring it up to the team, but she couldn’t do that with Dale Kramer sitting around. Especially when he was possibly the one who had run Susan off the road. “Lieutenant,” she said, nudging her head at Neal, “a moment outside, please.”
“Sure.” Neal got up and led the way out.
Sandra made sure the door on the vehicle was fully shut and gestured for Neal to follow her a few feet away. “I received a text from Eric.” She shared all of it, including the involvement of a hit-and-run driver described as being a tall man with brown hair.
“The eyewitness statements were even tampered with. Dear God, how deep does this cover-up go?”
“I suspect as far as it had to in order to make it disappear.”
“Is Eric going to see what the vehicle rental place can tell him?”
“That’s the plan.” Eric told her as much in another text. “But what’s weighing on me is if I were Timothy Hanson and I wanted someone dead, I wouldn’t leave the job to just anyone.” She eyed the command vehicle, thinking about their latest arrival.
“You think that Dale Kramer was behind the wheel.”
“Well, he fits the description of the driver in the cargo van. We already know that he and Timothy Hanson were close. If Timothy was going to trust anyone with this…”
“It would be Kramer,” Neal finished, and Sandra nodded.
“We go back in there, we can’t let on that we suspect him. We’ll need to go at him from a roundabout way, see what we can get out of him.”
“Except Gibson would be prepared to do the questioning, and he’s not privy to what we just discussed?” Neal leaned forward, uncertain.
She shook her head. “I haven’t had a chance to tell anyone else.”
“Okay, we go back in, and I’m going to tell Gibson you’ll be handling the interview with Kramer. He might not like it, but it is what it is.”
Sandra could appreciate he might not be too thrilled. “We are all working on the same team, for the same goal.” She turned to go back into the vehicle when Edward Hanson came walking toward the front gate.
The doors opened just long enough for Edward to stagger through them and collapse to the ground. Paramedics ran toward him. Not long after that, Gibson sprung out of the MCV.
“Gibson,” Neal called out, halting the information officer’s steps.
“Ah, yeah?” Gibson tracked back a few feet.
“I’m not sure what you’re going to get out of the guy right now. Take it easy on him, all right,” Neal told him.
“I will.”
“And there’s something you need to hear.” Neal brought him up to speed on Eric’s findings and their strengthened suspicion about Dale Kramer.
“I will say this. He certainly wants to be involved. It could be from a place of loyalty, but I practically had to cuff the guy to something to get him to stay inside the vehicle.”
“There’s probably more to it than concern about Edward. If we’re right, he’d want to protect his own back,” Neal began. “It would be killing him not knowing what we’re talking about out here.”
“Could be. Listen, I can handle him when I get back from speaking to Edward. Like you said, I’m not even sure if I’ll get anything out of him right now. He looks to be in rough shape.”
Sandra’s fingertips grazed her St. Michael medallion.
“Don’t you worry about speaking with Kramer. Sandra has offered to do so,” Neal told him, and it had the information officer looking at her.
“Sure, that’s fine.”
Sandra felt Gibson’s disapproval but let it wash off her. “I need to go inside and call Ryan. He held up his end; it’s my turn. Only thing is I can’t get on with Ryan while Kramer’s in the vehicle.”
“We’ll get Officer Moore to take him around the back of the vehicle. When you’re finished with Ryan, you can pop out to talk to him, and you won’t be far if Ryan calls you.”
