“What about Walt?” Resnick asked, ignoring the FBI agent.
“I was just about to suggest he help you with this.”
Resnick nodded, told Hadley he’d let him know if his theory developed into anything more substantive and left. Without Hadley mentioning it, he understood that the district attorney must be pressuring him to investigate other alternatives to the bank robbery.
If Spitzer hadn’t been sitting there, Resnick might have let on that he had Carmichael made as the shooter. Before going to Hadley’s office, he had stopped off at the evidence room and examined Carmichael’s sneakers. Sure enough, there were spots of green paint on the bottom of them. If he checked Carmichael’s apartment he’d probably find that one of the rooms had been painted the same shade of green.
The problem was he didn’t trust Spitzer. He had no doubt the guy would screw things up with Dan Wilson. There was more to it than that, though. He didn’t even have a circumstantial case yet against Wilson. No real evidence of any kind. He had to find something concrete first, something he could use to force Wilson to hand over the items that were stolen. He couldn’t risk Wilson’s name showing up in the papers before that. Resnick knew full well what Petrenko would do to Wilson’s family if that happened. He pictured the way Wilson’s wife looked at the cemetery. At the time he sensed that she suspected something, but that was about it. She wasn’t involved in this, and shit, they probably had kids. Petrenko would take care of all of them. No, he had to try to nail Petrenko first.
He thought over what his next steps were going to be. All he knew for sure was that tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.
28
Craig Brown called at nine fifteen to ask Dan whether he had made any progress.
“It’s only been a few days, but yeah, I was going to call you later. I have it figured out-”
“Can you be at the bank at ten thirty?”
“Sure.”
Brown hung up. Dan couldn’t help feeling taken aback by the bank manager’s abruptness. He sat for a moment wondering about it before giving up. His mind was just too fuzzy to think properly right then.
He hadn’t slept the night before. That made two nights now. Physically he felt like crap, almost as if his head were filled with sawdust. Even after four cups of coffee he could barely focus on anything.
Carol was still in bed. He had waited until three in the morning the other night to join her knowing she’d be too groggy and out of it to want to talk about anything, let alone Gordon being involved in a bank robbery.
From three until six thirty he lay wide awake. The whole time his mind raced with different images, some making sense, some completely crazy.
God, he just needed to get through this. A few more days maybe and he’d be able to put this mess behind him. Pretend the robbery had never happened and then just focus on starting over fresh. Just a few days…
He gathered up his papers and headed over to the bank. Traffic was lighter than normal, even for the summer. What normally would’ve been an hour’s drive took forty minutes. Still, it was a tough ride for him. He had trouble keeping his eyes open, both from being bone-tired and also the way the morning sun hit him. By the time he got to Lynn he felt wiped out. He used the extra twenty minutes to stop off for a couple of donuts and a fifth cup of coffee. All the liquid in him made him slosh when he moved, but the sugar and extra caffeine helped to clear his thinking. He had even been able to work out what he was going to say to Brown.
Craig Brown met him in the bank’s lobby and escorted him quickly back to his office. From the way the bank manager acted Dan knew something was up and it came as no surprise that the detective from the other day was waiting in the office. Next to him sat another cop, at least that was Dan’s guess based on the cheap suit the guy wore and his short, almost military-style haircut. He was younger than Resnick, bigger, but not in good shape. Kind of flabby. Dan nodded to Resnick and then held out his hand to the other cop.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Dan said.
That seemed to catch the cop by surprise. He glanced over at Resnick who sat stony-faced. “Detective Maguire, Lynn Police,” he murmured.
After shaking hands with Maguire, Dan spread out computer listings on Brown’s desk and explained why the security software had failed. As he talked, Resnick took out a sheet of paper from a folder he was carrying and held it up so he could look at Dan and the paper at the same time. He didn’t say anything, but kept looking back and forth between Dan and the paper. Maguire got up and stood behind Resnick so he could do the same. While Dan found it distracting, he was just too damned tired to think much of it.
“You’re right,” Maguire said to his partner, interrupting Dan’s explanation.
“Yeah, I thought so,” Resnick said. “Craig, why don’t you come over here. I’d like your opinion on this. Mr. Wilson, if you could, move your head a little to the right.”
Dan stood frozen while the bank manager got up and walked over to the two cops. “What do you think,” Resnick asked. “Is that Mr. Wilson or not?”
Brown gave Dan an icy stare. “I believe it is,” he said.
Resnick nodded. “Mr. Wilson, let me show you what we’ve been looking at.”
He turned the paper around so that Dan could see it was the same photograph from the newspaper. The one that was supposed to look like Raymond Lombardo after taking off his ski mask.
“That’s you under all that fake hair and makeup,” Resnick said.
“You’re kidding, right? This is some kind of joke?”
Resnick ignored him, turned to the bank manager and asked if he could give them some privacy.
“Craig, this is crazy. That’s not me,” Dan said.
Brown gave Dan one last icy stare before looking away and leaving the office.
Resnick stared dispassionately at Dan. “Before you say a word, we know your friend, Gordon Carmichael, was involved in the bank robbery. We have physical evidence identifying him as the man who shot Margaret Williams and Mary O’Donnell.”
“Gordon did what? Jesus Christ, I don’t believe-”
“Your act’s not going to work with me,” Resnick said. “You might as well skip it and just sit still and listen to what I have to say.”
“Go ahead, ’cause I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Resnick turned to Maguire and shook his head sadly. “He doesn’t listen, does he?” Then to Wilson, “If you insist on playing this game, go right ahead. It doesn’t change anything. We both know what happened. You came up with a way to sabotage the bank’s security software.”
“How could I have done that? I never had access to the software-”
Resnick turned again to Maguire. “There he goes again. He actually thinks he’s going to convince us we’re wrong.”
“Pathetic,” Maguire said.
This was the very moment Dan had been terrified of for months. The fear of this happening had been gnawing at him ever since he came up with the idea of robbing the bank. All the worry and stress he’d put himself under and now that the moment had arrived he felt none of the panic he would’ve expected. Instead only a calmness. He had a clarity of thought that he hadn’t had in a long time. None of the fuzziness he’d been suffering. Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe he just didn’t care any more. Whatever the reason, nothing the cops were saying affected him.
“Fine. I’ll just keep my mouth shut then,” he said.
“Probably a good idea,” Maguire agreed.
“I have to hand it to you,” Resnick said. “The robbery was clever. You’re obviously a bright guy. Just as you figured out how to rig that software, you also broke into the bank’s records and found out who owned the safety deposit boxes. Somehow you figured out who Petrenko was. It was pure genius ripping him off and framing Raymond Lombardo. But where you screwed up was shooting Carmichael and leaving his body at the scene. If you hadn’t done that I never would’ve suspected you.”