Regarding Mrs. Shire, you told your superior that you and Harcroft now viewed her as a strong person of interest in the murders of Morton Leringer, Nathan Eddington, and Deputy Williams. Correct?
WADE: I did.
MORSE: And this was your stated reason for releasing her picture and information about her to the media?
WADE: It wasn’t just a “stated” reason. It was the reason.
MORSE: And meanwhile, again, you did nothing with the video.
WADE: That’s not true. On the morning of the 25th, I turned the flash drive over to a tech in our department and asked him to view it. I’d also planned to show it to our lieutenant. But by then Deputy Williams had been killed, and Mrs. Shire and her mother had fled the scene. That situation required my immediate attention. The imminent importance of the flash drive was not apparent at the time.
MORSE: It would have been “apparent,” Sergeant Wade, if you’d looked more carefully at the video.
WADE: Chairman Morse, you are failing to understand. I had three homicide victims on my hands that day. And Hannah Shire had fled. My thinking was, if she was innocent, why would she flee? If someone had tried to harm her, why wouldn’t she call me? She had my number. And Harcroft’s.
MORSE: So you maintain to this day that your actions at the time were justified?
WADE: I do.
MORSE: And that you had no hidden agenda in failing to pursue further knowledge about the video.
WADE: As I told you, I turned the video over to a technician.
MORSE: How could you not put a priority on that video, Sergeant? Three men had already died because of it.
WADE: I could not be certain of that at the time! I couldn’t even be certain of Mrs. Shire’s claim that Leringer gave her the video. Or that two men posing as FBI agents had threatened her in her home. If she was responsible for Leringer’s death, and for Eddington’s and Williams’s death, everything she told us could be a lie. In fact, remember, when she first talked to Deputy Harcroft she did lie. She admitted as much to us.
MORSE: And so you ignored the video.
WADE: I did not ignore it. I placed my priority on finding the woman who had given it to me, perhaps as a way to cover up for killing three people.
MORSE: I’m just shaking my head, Sergeant, hearing your testimony. Seems to me you’ve used the last seven months to conjure up an explanation for your actions on that day.
WADE: On the contrary, Mr. Chairman, my testimony is true.
MORSE: Let me tell you what is true, Sergeant Wade. On that day of February 25, when our nation faced one of its greatest potential traumas of all time, you ignored a vital piece of information. And while you and your department ignored this information, a twenty-seven-year-old marketing video producer deciphered the hidden message on that video and took it upon herself to do something about it.
WADE: Hindsight again, Chairman Morse. I. Couldn’t. Have. Known.
MORSE: Neither could Emily Shire have known. But unlike you—and your entire department—she paid attention to the video.
Do you have a response to that, Sergeant?
WADE: No other response than what I’ve already told you again and again.
MORSE: And so, I assume, you refuse to take responsibility for the highly unfortunate events—and that’s putting it mildly—that occurred during the remainder of that day?
Chapter 25
Monday, February 25, 2013
Emily made a face at the incoming call on her cell. The laptop bag was getting heavy, hanging off her shoulder. And why wouldn’t work stop bugging her? She had to get going.
She ignored the call. Started to unlock her car.
At the last minute she relented and punched the icon to answer. “Hi.” If she sounded impatient, she didn’t care.
“Sorry to bother you. It’s Ronnie.” The receptionist at the front desk. “We just had an FBI agent here asking for you. Just wanted to warn you before he gets to you.”
Emily froze. “What?”
“He said he wanted to talk to you right away. Wouldn’t say about what.”
Emily’s head jerked up, her gaze fixed on the building’s back entrance. “Did he have a badge?”
“Yeah. And he had a picture of you. Showed it to me to make sure you were the right person.”
A picture of her? For one crazy second Emily hoped the man was for real. Maybe the San Mateo Sheriff’s Department had called them about the video. But how—? “What did he look like?”
“Young guy with a buzz cut. Sounds like my cousins from Texas.”
All air sucked out of Emily’s lungs.
She dropped her laptop bag onto the hood of the car. Scrabbled around inside for her keys. “What’d you tell him?”
“That you just left. And if he didn’t see your car, you’re already on the way home.”