Page 26 of The Accomplice
Lake caught Bloch staring at him.
‘You’re weird,’ said Bloch.
‘Least I don’t disinfect my cutlery,’ he said. ‘Anyway, look, whatever Carrie Miller tells me will be confidential. I promise not to share it with the Bureau.’
‘Is that a pinkie promise ?’
‘Don’t be like that. I give you my word I won’t share anything,’ he said.
‘If you gave me a signed affidavit to that effect, I’d still tell you to get lost. You haven’t answered my question, why do you want to talk to Carrie anyway ?’
‘Because I’ve read the Sandman case. I looked over the files, unofficially, talked about it with Delaney. I know what happened. I don’t know Daniel Miller. Your client was married to him for a year, she’s got the kind of information I need if I’m going to catch him.’
‘Sorry, I can’t.’
He wiped at the stubble on his chin, ate some more muffin.
‘You know, it’s in your interests that I catch this guy,’ he said.
‘Delaney should be alive right now. I want that son of a bitch as bad as you do, but I’m guessing you’re talking about something else,’ I said.
‘There’s a case against Carrie Miller, but it’s not who they want. They’re gonna say she was an accomplice, but really, she’s the support act. They want the main event. If I catch him, you can make a deal. Her old lawyer, Peltier, was holding out for a deal. My courthouse contacts said he was always asking for meetings with the DA. Carrie Miller is much more valuable as a prosecution witness against her husband than a co-defendant, but that value is only realized if the Sandman is in custody.’
He was right. If the Sandman was put on trial, the DA’s attitude to Carrie Miller would change overnight. The city was under huge pressure from the media to get a result for the victims’ families. Putting Carrie Miller on trial helped alleviate that pressure, but they would do anything to nail Daniel. Even if it meant making a deal with Carrie for her to turn state’s evidence against her husband.
‘That might work, but there’s no time. Carrie Miller goes on trial tomorrow. The case might take a week at most. It took the FBI fourteen months to identify Daniel Miller as the Sandman, and now, a year later, they still haven’t caught him. What can you do in a week that they can’t ?’
Lake leaned back in his chair, rubbed his hands together.
‘For a start, he’s now active again. We don’t know where he’s been for a year, but we know now he’s back in New York. You see that letter to theTimestoday ?’
‘I saw it. He’s saying Carrie is innocent and he’s going to kill more people if they don’t drop the case. That’s not going to get Carrie much sympathy with a jury.’
‘Maybe not, but it’s helpful to me,’ said Lake.
‘How ?’ asked Bloch.
‘Well, now I know his motivation. He doesn’t want Carrie going to jail. It helps me get into his mindset.’
‘Why is he coming out of hiding now ?’ I asked.
‘It was all over the papers that there might be a deal in the case. Right up until Assistant District Attorney White eight-sixed it and said he was going after Carrie. That’s what triggered him.’
‘But why come out of hiding at all ?’
‘Isn’t it obvious ? He loves his wife. Serial killers have a complex psychological make-up. They might not give a shit about tearing a random stranger to pieces for their own gratification, but that doesn’t mean they can’t care about someone. There’s an inherent narcissism and self-loathing in a lot of serial killers. If they find someone who makes them feel good, even feel loved, that helps normalize them. They start to crave that feeling. It’s not exactly love, but it’s the closest thing they can get to it. Daniel Miller loves his wife. Or he at least thinks he does, and he’s going to take a lot of risks to help her. That’s our advantage, but I might need some help to do this, if you could spare Bloch ?’
She looked up from her plate, cocked an eyebrow at Lake, then went straight back to her eggs.
‘I can’t spare my investigator. I told you, I’ve got a major trial in the morning.’
‘If we catch him there won’t be a trial. The DA will be falling all over you to make a deal. Look, I don’t ask lightly. I could work a lot faster with another pair of hands. And I know Bloch by reputation. I …’ He trailed off, looked over my shoulder.
He took a sip of hot lemon, his eyebrows clenched, as if he was trying to say something that didn’t come easy.
‘Look, I have a problem trusting people …’
‘You have a problem ordering a muffin.’
