so what?” Swenson asked, raising his voice. “Is it illegal to fuck a pastor’s daughter?”
“No, it’s illegal to blackmail her,” Tatum said. He folded his arms, his face imposing. Doing his job. Looking scary.
Swenson shook his head. “Are you out of your mind? I didn’t blackmail her.”
O’Donnell took out six photos from the case and laid them one next to the other. Swenson and Catherine standing close together. Swenson and Catherine kissing. Swenson holding Catherine as she tried to pull away. Swenson and Catherine—her crying, him almost smiling. Then, a photo of the cash found in Swenson’s house. And finally, Catherine’s body lying naked in a pool of blood.
“It tells an interesting story, doesn’t it?” O’Donnell asked. “Let’s summarize, and you can imagine how it’ll sound in court, with the jury listening. Three months ago you began to have sex with Catherine Lamb. I doubt it was ever a real relationship. Maybe she enjoyed the rush or the forbidden fruit; I don’t know. But after a few weeks, she decided to terminate your meetings. And then you told her that you were filming her the entire time. You had videos of your sexual encounters. You started blackmailing her. We saw steady withdrawals from Catherine’s bank account. We can match the serial numbers to the cash we found under your mattress—”
“They can’t do that, even if the numbers did match,” Nelson said.
“The police maybe can’t, but the FBI can,” Tatum said. “We’re willing to allocate a lot of resources to this case.”
Tatum had actually told O’Donnell he doubted they’d be able to do it, but he bluffed well. O’Donnell continued. “Maybe you even insisted she keep having sex with you. I wonder what a jury would think about that.”
Nelson bristled. “Detective—”
“But recently something happened. You bled Catherine dry. Her account is almost empty. She told you she couldn’t pay anymore and that she was about to tell her father. And you knew he would go to the police. Fortunately, you had an ace up your sleeve. Your good pal Rod Glover. As you know, we have Patrick Carpenter’s testimony verifying that you two were good friends. Glover told you it was okay. He was experienced in that sort of thing. You went to Catherine’s home and killed her together. You also raped her, for old times’ sake.”
Swenson shook his head. “That never—”
“Then you went and told Terrence Finch to delete any photos of you and Catherine. He can testify to it. What do you think, Swenson? If you were a juror, what would you rule? Guilty or innocent?”
Nelson turned to his client. “Don’t tell them anything. We’ll discuss everything later in private. They don’t have anything solid, and they’re trying to bully you.”
“Rhea Deleon is what we really care about,” Tatum said. “As far as we know, she’s still alive. But every second wasted she might die. If you come clean now, give us everything you have, help us find Glover and Rhea, you might not spend the rest of your life behind bars.”
“Their case hinges on inadmissible evidence,” Nelson said, ignoring them.
“Really, Mr. Nelson?” O’Donnell asked. “Would you bet your client’s life on it? Because it really depends on the judge. Besides, even without the DVDs, we have a pretty compelling case.”
“Not to mention we still have the computer,” Tatum said. “What will we find in there once we crack your password? And I promise you the bureau can crack your dumb password.”
They wanted to confer again. O’Donnell stepped outside, Tatum following her.
Zoe was waiting for them out the door. “Nice work.”
“What do you think?” O’Donnell asked.
“Your explanation is full of holes, of course,” Zoe said. “It doesn’t fit the pattern or the evidence, not to mention the profile. It doesn’t explain Rhea Deleon or Henrietta Fishburne.”
“Yeah.” O’Donnell couldn’t argue.
“But it did the job—he’s scared.” Zoe pointed at the monitor, where Swenson was whispering fervently with his lawyer. “Swenson doesn’t have a criminal record, and it’s probably his first time in a police station. He’s freaked out, and his lawyer won’t be able to calm him down. He’ll give us something.”
O’Donnell nodded. “Let’s just hope that it leads us to Rhea.”
“Or to Glover,” Zoe said darkly.
The door opened again, Nelson standing in the doorway. His client wanted to make a deal.
CHAPTER 63
It took some convincing, but the state’s attorney eventually agreed. The deal stipulated that Allen Swenson would give them everything he had on Catherine Lamb and Rod Glover. In return, they would not press charges unless he had participated