76 The Cross Road (1/2)
”That day, during the day, I was at the base and doing what was standard. Again, I don't remember the specifics. I went out in the evening after spending all my day at the base, there were no flights, though.” Standard response. He didn't remember specific things. It was just a normal day.
”Do you remember what time you left the base?”
”Make note that the method of gathering pretext will be focused on the murder of the woman,” Sebastian added quickly. We turned back to the video and watched closely.
”I want to take you back to the day of the death of Miss Wright. Do you remember how you came to find out about the incident?”
”Yes, I do,” he said confidently. The detective had put the question out in such a way that there was no suspicion in his voice and he was giving the suspect a leeway to make an alternative answer, to make an alibi which the detective could pick apart later on. ”I remember receiving an email about the cruel incident and everyone was talking about it.”
'The cruel incident,' he had said. This was a common technique to distance himself from the crime and subliminally say that 'he' was not capable of such a heinous act.
”How do you know her?”
”I remember once that she was on the same crew as me. We exchanged pleasantries.” Richard went on to explain the encounter, giving details that he shouldn't have remembered from the single encounter they had.
It struck me. He was overcompensating for the answers he didn't have by giving too many details for something he did remember. But the only thing he was doing was establishing that the single passing meeting with the victim had left a mark on him and he vividly remembered it even though it had been months since it had actually happened.
”Do you remember roughly when that happened?”
”It was soon after I got to the base, so five or six months?” The number of months the break-ins and sexual assaults had been taking place in that region. How very convenient.
”Now, you received an email. Do you recall if there was anything scheduled that week? What was happening in your life?” The detective brought Richard back to the timeline of the crime.
”I can't remember in detail...” he repeated a few times. He sounded apologetic. In contrast to the vivid detail of the meeting, this paled in comparison. ”I can't even remember the day of the week.” He sighed. ”There was a whole bunch of activities going on...” he said at last.
The detective was trying to break into what little comfort Richard had left.
”So if we were to investigate into your background, is there anything you can think of that someone might have misinterpreted and say that you did this?”