Special Agent Ramirez is at his desk in his office when he gets an unexpected call from a friend at the NYPD in Brooklyn.
‘Ramirez, you got a minute?’
He recognizes the voice of Charlie Cousins. ‘Yeah, sure, what’s up?’ He’s buried deep in his current case, but he always has time for a friend, especially a friend who’s a detective in the NYPD.
‘I have something you might like to see.’
‘Okay.’
‘It’s about the Westcott case.’
Suddenly Ramirez is all ears. He’d shared his suspicions aboutthe Westcotts with Charlie one night over some beers, ages ago. He’d told him about their obvious fear when he mentioned the possibility of cameras on the boat, the strong financial motive, but he’d had no evidence of murder and had been told to move on. Now Ramirez says, his heart beating faster, ‘What about it?’
‘An envelope came in the mail from an anonymous source. It had a note and a thumb drive. I think you should come down and take a look.’
‘I’m on my way.’
At the station, Ramirez is met by Charlie, who introduces him to the commanding officer, Captain Ed Silva.
‘Have a seat,’ Silva tells him. ‘Charlie here says you’re with the CGIS and were investigating the incident at sea in which Greg Westcott died.’
‘Yes.’ Ramirez tries not to show his excitement. ‘I don’t think things happened on that boat the way they said they did.’
Silva hands him a note inside a clear plastic bag, saying, ‘Forensics has already had a look; no prints or anything. No way to know who our friend is.’
Ramirez takes the note and reads it.
Thumb drive contains camera footage of Ted and Jill Westcott clearly admitting they murdered Greg Westcott at sea.
Thought you might be interested.
Christ. He was right all along. He knew it. He looks up. ‘Have you reviewed the footage?’
‘We have. It was taken from inside their house. Of course,it’s inadmissible unless we get the two of them in here and one of them admits they knew they were being recorded.’ He snorts, showing what he thinks the likelihood of that is. Then he nudges the monitor on his desk around and leans away so that Ramirez can see it more easily. He puts in the thumb drive and cues it up. ‘There’s a lot here, but we’ve already noted the time stamps for the most interesting parts. This is the two of them, the same date as the memorial for Greg Westcott.’ He plays it, while Ramirez watches, holding his breath. Jill and Ted are in their front room having drinks, Ted in his leather chair, and Jill on the sofa.
[Jill] I’m worried about Ramirez.
[Ted] Don’t be.
[Jill] How can you be so relaxed about it? He thinks we murdered Greg.
[Ted] So what? He can’t prove it.
[Jill] Maybe he’s the one sending the texts.
[Ted] It’s possible, I suppose. But why would he?
[Jill] To freak us out. To be nasty. Who knows? He obviously suspects us.
[Ted] I think it’s because of how we reacted when he said there were cameras on the boat. I think we gave ourselves away.
[Jill] What are you not telling me, Ted?
[Ted] When I saw him, the day after, when he told me there were no cameras on the boat– he said to me, ‘I bet that’s a relief.’
[Jill] So he knows.
[Ted] He doesn’t know! He suspects, that’s all.