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Again, his eyes slid away. “No.”
I frowned. His pitch had gotten higher with that word, but he was telling the truth. I’d read the list of crew members who took the shuttle with the guns from the ship to the warehouse, and his name hadn’t been on it, but he was still hiding something. I just wasn’t sure yetwhathe was hiding.
“But you knew about the mission. What was being transported and all the details.” I hadn’t meant to speak, but it came out before I could stop it. Steel didn’t even blink at my interjection, though Bozeman did.
“Why would I know any of the details? I knew about the mission, obviously, but the crew weren’t told the details. I didn’t know any more than any of the rest of them.” His eyes didn’t stray this time, but he was qualifying again.Lie number three.
“Tell us what you do know.” Steel almost sounded diplomatic, which was a tactical change for him. For most of the interrogative process he had been hard and accusatory. The sudden switch surprised me a little, but I would follow his lead.
Bozeman’s shoulders tensed, but the rest of his body stopped moving, a sign that he was focusing intently, probably trying not to let something slip. “I knew we were picking up a shipment on Desoto. I knew the captain was talking about working with someone big, but I didn’t know it was Archuleta. No one told me when we were supposed to pick it up or drop it off or where the team was heading. I found out same as everyone else after the fact, when we got the news that the team had been attacked.”
There was that wording again, though it was more subtle this time. He was constantly comparing himself with the rest of the crew to try and make himself disappear into the crowd and not stand out as a suspect. Only it wasn’t working.
Steel asked him another question about if he knew anyone on the team closely. I ignored it and tried to formulate a strategy in my head to trip him up. It was going to be tricky since I wanted to talk as little as possible. I was supposed to be a tracker, not an interrogator.
Instead of focusing on the questions, I took the tablet from Steel’s hands and opened Bozeman’s personnel file. Emerson kept detailed files on all of the crew. I pursed my lips and partially listened to the interrogation as I read. Steel was still playing the gentle interrogator, asking Bozeman lots of open-ended questions, hoping to glean more information or trip him up. It was a good strategy.
“Do you do much outside of work? Go to bars or clubs or anything?”
“Not really, only sometimes. Everyone does.”
Another lie. Or maybe not so much a lie as a hedge. He was still hiding something. His file didn’t say too much more about the man than what I’d already guessed. I pressed my lips into a line and sat back in my chair, setting the tablet on the table. Steel glanced at me, but I didn’t acknowledge him. Not yet. There was still more we were missing.
Steel looked back at Bozeman. “We’re trying to figure out what happened with the stolen shipment. Is there anything you know about it that could be helpful?”
His voice was the perfect mix of gentleness and pleading, as though Bozeman was the only one who could help us in the whole universe. I almost snorted, but I refrained. His ploy was solid, and I wouldn’t mess it up. Bozeman might let something slip.
Bozeman looked a little bit like a spotlight had been shined on him while he was taking a leak. He blinked rapidly and shifted in his seat again. “I don’t know anything that can help you.” His words were blunt, and his eyes kept shifting to the door. He obviously wanted to escape the room and Steel’s line of questioning.
Steel tilted his head to the side. “Have you heard anything from any of the other crew members? Any suspicious behavior?”
Several seconds passed and Bozeman said nothing. I could see the exact moment he decided to lie. He swallowed hard and shrugged. “I mean, I heard Ezra talking about how nice it would be to have some extra cash. He said it would be nice if one of these paydays were actually just for him. But I don’t know if I’d say he’s guilty or anything.” One shoulder lifted slightly in another half-shrug.
There was no reason for him to lie unless he was trying to direct the attention away from himself. I crossed my legs and tapped a finger against my knee. I saw Steel glance at me, but I didn’t exchange looks with him. I decided to interject again. “You’re saying you had nothing to do with the missing shipment? But Ezra does?”
His eyes met mine and then slid away. “I don’t know if I would go so far as to blame Ezra. I mean, every guy talks about needing money. But I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
I speared him with the hardest look I could conjure. “I think you’re lying.”
His gulp was almost audible, and I could see his throat working up and down. His eyes went from me to Steel. “What? You have no proof. That’s ridiculous.”
I snorted. “It’s not ridiculous. I think you had something to do with the theft.” Taking this kind of strategy was a gamble, but I hoped Steel would back me up. If he was going soft, then I was going to go hard.
“No! I did not do anything wrong!” His fingers were moving around restlessly, a sign that he was stressed. I would have been too.
Steel spoke, putting his hand out in a placating gesture towards me. “Slow down, there, Carter. There’s no reason to doubt his story.”
“On the contrary. He’s trying to blame someone else. Someone on board already pointed us in his direction. Why should we believe him?” I said the lie boldly, hoping for a reaction. I wasn’t disappointed, though the reaction wasn’t the one I was expecting. All I got from Bozeman was a look of confusion.
“Who told you I had something to do with it?” He sounded genuinely puzzled. If he was responsible for the theft, he didn’t have a partner on the crew. That was interesting. There’s no way he could have pulled something like that off without help. He had to have partners somewhere.
Steel played along with my lies. “Just because someone put the blame on him doesn’t mean they’re telling the truth. I mean, Bozeman said he had no idea where the shipment was even being unloaded. If he had anything to do with it then he would have needed to know where the guns were going.”
I caught Bozeman’s neck squeezing inwardly only because I had my eyes on him instead of Steel. I blinked and suddenly realized what I’d been missing.
Steel had been trying to clue me in. I nodded faintly at him before looking back at Bozeman. “Maybe you’re right, Steel. Maybe Bozeman is innocent.”
Relief flashed in his eyes. He nodded. “See? I told you I didn’t have anything to do with that theft.”
