“Will do.”
The living room was to the right off the entry, and Eric spotted the couch from the doorway. The soft leather suede material served as a magnet for any stray hairs. From the look of the fine black hair, he’d guess that Selma had a cat. A dog would have greeted him at the door. The cat would be watching him from a hidden cubbyhole.
Eric sat down, and several minutes later, checked his watch. He was eager to get talking with Selma. The only thing giving him patience was the instinct it would be rewarded. She clearly remembered the accident. Now whether any of those memories would help, he’d need to wait and see.
“Here you go. I forgot to ask how you like it, so I brought everything. No cream, though, if that’s your wish.” Selma was holding a tray, and along with two cups of coffee, there was a small milk carton and a bowl of sugar with a spoon.
“I just take it black, but thank you.”
“Uh-huh.” She held the tray for him to grab his cup and then set it on a long coffee table. After taking a seat, she sipped her coffee and looked at him over the top of her own cup. “What has you taking another look at that crash?”
“The boy from that accident is now an adult. He requested the file be reopened. His mother died on scene. Her name was Susan Crawford.”
“Well, I never knew her name, but it was no accident.”
A surge of adrenaline ran through Eric’s body, raising hairs in its wake. “And what makes you say that, ma’am?”
“I saw the whole thing, and I relived it many times over the years. I even had to see a therapist to help me through the trauma. I had expected a quick arrest to be made and was looking for it to hit the papers. It never came.”
A quick arrest…Eric inched forward on the cushion. “Would you tell me what you saw?”
Selma settled back into her chair. “Short and simple of it is that someone ran that poor woman and child off the road.”
Nothing in her statement on file mentioned another vehicle being involved. But if that were the case, it would have inflicted damage on Susan’s car that would need to be hidden. The missing photographs also would have shown evidence of another vehicle. “You told this to the officers at the scene?”
“I told them everything I just told you and more.”
Forget human error at play, there was intention, or Levine and Finley were the most incompetent police officers to ever wear the badge. “It sounds like you remember that day clearly. Would you be willing to share more of what you saw with me?” Eric set his coffee on the side table and took out a notepad and pen.
“Sure, if it helps, though it should all be part of the record.” She searched his eyes, but when he didn’t speak, she continued. “I still remember the sound of metal scraping together. It was the most horrifying racket until the poor woman slammed into the pole.” Selma pinched her eyes shut. “Just saying that, and I’m right back there. I’m going to need to make an appointment with my therapist to talk about this again.”
“I’m sorry to be bringing all of this back up for you.”
“If it finally brings someone to account, then it will have been worth it.”
“I’ll do my best.” Eric worked to transcribe all that she had told him into his memo book. “Did you see the person who ran her off the road?”
“I didn’t get a good look. I was across the street and saw him ram into the driver’s side of the car. That’s how I could see the driver, just briefly, mind you. Just enough to say that it was a man. Tall too. Brown hair. His head came close to brushing against the ceiling.”
Eric couldn’t scribble this down fast enough. But as he recorded it all, he didn’t miss that the description didn’t match Timothy Hanson. Though it was more likely a man like him would have paid someone to do his dirty work anyway. “After he ran her off the road, what did he do?”
“He drove away.”
“Just like that? Like nothing had happened?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And he had no problem with getting away? He didn’t get caught up in the slush or snow on the road?”
Selma’s eyes narrowed, and her forehead pinched. “There was some around, sure, but that didn’t cause that poor woman to crash.”
Eric grimaced.So much for poor road conditions… What have you done, Todd?
“I’m guessing by that face you just pulled, the record doesn’t say any of this?”
Despite all he was uncovering, Eric still felt some loyalty toward his brothers in blue. To his old mentor even. But his devotion to the badge and what it stood for trumped all. “I may have missed that part.”
Selma held eye contact for a few long seconds before shifting her gaze and sipping more of her coffee.
