Crash & Burn (Tessa Leoni, #3)(33)

“Maybe she held it.”

“Nicky?”

Kevin shrugged. “She’s half-drunk but the effects are magnified by the head injuries, someone sticks her behind the wheel of the car. Her husband says, hold the wheel . . . It’s not like she knows what’s going on. I could see her reflexively following orders. Of course, then the road turns and she doesn’t.”

“She might take her hands off, hold them in the air.”

According to Nicky’s medical records, she hadn’t sustained any damage to her thumbs, suggesting she hadn’t been holding on to the steering wheel when the airbag had deployed. Some drivers instinctively gripped tighter, as if that would save them. Others let go, a subconscious free fall. There was probably some Freudian interpretation in there somewhere; Wyatt only knew what he’d seen time and time again in auto accidents; a certain percentage of drivers let go, and a certain percentage of drivers didn’t.

“All right,” he picked back up. “It’s dark, it’s raining, the road’s deserted, Nicky’s incapacitated with scotch and an already twice-concussed brain. In this scenario, Thomas would have to physically move her from the passenger’s seat to the driver’s seat.”

Kevin shrugged. “Husband looks to be a strong guy. And his wife isn’t that big. Might not be the most graceful maneuver in the world, but I bet he could handle it. My question is, if Thomas Frank wants his wife dead, why fasten her seat belt? Odds are better if it’s off.”

“Force of habit? Doesn’t want the accident to appear too suspicious?”

“Woman’s got a fifth of scotch in the car. A drunk driver without a seat belt? Nothing suspicious there.”

Wyatt shrugged. “I don’t know. Clearly the guy isn’t a master criminal. I mean, if our theory is correct, this is the third accident he’s staged for his wife.”

“Assuming he was behind her first two falls.”

“Assuming he was behind her first two falls,” Wyatt agreed.

“We got a lot of assumptions here.”

“Which is why we’re walking through it. To see if some of these assumptions can lead us to some evidence. For example, now we know we should print the rear bumper to see if Thomas Frank’s fingerprints or, better yet, palm print is on it. While we’re at it, we should examine the seat-belt clasp and gear shift as well.”

“None of which proves anything. A husband’s fingerprints in his wife’s car.”

“Gives us grounds for a warrant to test his clothes. That might be more interesting.”

“Assuming he hasn’t washed them yet.”

Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Every now and then we do get lucky. What are the odds of reconstructing the Glenlivet bottle? Testing for prints on that?”

Kevin gave him a look. “Now who’s been watching too much TV?”

“Fine, then. What do you think happened here?”

“How’d he get home?” Kevin asked.

“I don’t . . .” Wyatt stopped, drew up short, seeing Kevin’s point.

“In this scenario,” his detective continued, “the husband drives his wife out here in the middle of a storm. Then puts her behind the steering wheel and shoves her down the hill. At which point, he does what? Walks thirty miles home in the rain?”

“Or flags down a ride,” Wyatt murmured.

“Which gives us a potential witness. Assuming, of course, a driver is going to stop and pick up a stranger on a dark and stormy night.”

“Someone would,” Wyatt said, because it was New Hampshire and people did still hitchhike. In fact, many of the locals hitchhiked, as good cars were expensive and not everyone had the kind of job where they could afford to buy their own set of wheels.

“But something like that would stand out,” Wyatt continued, musing out loud. “Be a major weakness in the plan. I mean, all we have to do is hold a press conference. Anyone pick up a guy in this area, around this time, on this night? If it was Thomas, how could he explain away being at the site of his own wife’s accident? I don’t think he’d leave something like that to chance.”

“So maybe he left a car parked nearby,” Kevin said. “His ride home.”

“Where?” Wyatt asked. “Closest gas station is a few miles back, and even then, same problem. How does he get home after parking that car? One way or another, someone would have to give him a ride from here to his house. Either sometime during the day on Wednesday, or later, during a severe rainstorm.”

“Phone a friend,” Kevin suggested. “Claim to have a flat, need a lift.”

“He says he doesn’t have any friends.”

“That’s one way to keep us from questioning them.”

Wyatt frowned. “I don’t like it,” he said bluntly. “As accidents go, staged or otherwise, this leaves too much to chance. What if the Audi veers off the road before it gathers enough speed? Why put on the seat belt if the whole point is to kill the wife? And what does the suspect do, after pushing his own ride down the hill? Walk home in the pouring rain?”

“He would have to have access to another vehicle,” Kevin agreed. “An accomplice.”

“Which brings us to an important question: Why would a controlling husband suddenly seek to harm his wife?”