Outside the post office, Hope sits in Brower’s car with Bo beside her as she holds her cell and waits for the suspect to be put on the phone. She hears a bit of muffled discussion, an insistent female voice, before a male voice gets on the line. The voice is younger than she expected. They’ve been referring to him as a man, but he doesn’t sound like much more than a teenager. This softens her a bit. Hope holds on to this scrap of sympathy mustered for this man she hated earlier when he had the women line up at the windows, crying and holding signs. Better to dwell in the sympathy than reach for the anger. Whatever she holds on to will come through in their conversation. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, as they say.
“Who am I speaking to?” she asks.
“Tommy,” says Tommy.
“It’s nice to talk to you, Tommy. I’m Hope,” she tells him.
“I know,” says Tommy. “She told me who you were.”
“And who is she?” Hope asks, thinking it would be good for him to have to say the name of one of his hostages. She needs to make them as human as possible.
“The old lady,” Tommy replies.
So, not the personal aspect she was hoping for. She tries again. “What is the old lady’s name?” she asks. Beside her, Bo raises his eyebrows. She rolls her eyes.
“I forget,” Tommy says. Hope is betting he hasn’t forgotten. She is betting, as much as he doesn’t want to, he knows every one of those women’s names. But now is not the time to push him. She lets it go, takes a different tack.
“So, Sylvie”—she uses the name he refused to say—“tells me that you’ve got a demand for us.” She cringes a little at her own choice of wording.Demandis a strong word, too forceful. She is rusty, but her training will come back to her the more she talks. It has to.
“I mean, it’s not a demand,” he says. “Just, um, something I’d like to—”
He is cut off by a voice in the background, another woman, who yells loudly enough that Hope can hear her perfectly. “Tommy!” she says. “This is not right! You shouldn’t be asking for this!”
That is probably the soon-to-be ex-wife, Hope surmises.
“I can ask for whatever I want,” Tommy retorts. His voice goes from shaky to surly, a switch flipped. “And this is what I want.”
“Tommy, Tommy,” says Hope, making her voice sound gentle as she redirects him. “Let’s just you and me talk right now.”
Tommy makes a scoffing noise. “Fine by me. I don’t care if I talk to that bitch ever again.” Hope knows that is not true or none of them would be here right now.
“So why don’t you tell me what you want?”
“Okay,” he says. There is a long pause. Hope waits. Most of negotiation is waiting. She looks around, notices that Bo has his own cell phone out, texting someone. He does not see her notice. She wonders if he is sending reports to Hank. Probably, she decides.
“I’d like to talk to my dad,” Tommy says finally. She can hear the weight of his words. There is a history there. This is not nothing to him.
“Okay,” says Hope. “We can work on making that happen. I’ll just need your dad’s name and address. And a phone number if you’ve got it. Then I can reach out to him and see if we can get him here. To talk to you.”
“Okay,” Tommy says. “I could send you a contact number from my phone, I guess. Then you could call that number?”
“Whatever works best for you,” Hope says. She has a creeping suspicion that Tommy’s father is likely in prison and that Nadine knows that. If so, he’s asking for something they cannot make happen in a reasonable amount of time. Nadine doesn’t want this to drag on any longer than it has to, and Hope doesn’t blame her. Still, Hope tells him her phone number so he can send the contact. Her phone buzzes as his text lands. It is a start.
“I got your text, and we will get right on this,” she says. “But before I do, I need you to make me a promise.”
On the other end, Tommy exhales in frustration, but Hope presses. “You’re asking me to do something for you—and I’m making you a promise that I’m going to do what you’re asking, right?”
“Yeah,” Tommy says.
“So isn’t it fair that I ask you to make me a promise in return?”Quid pro quo, Hope thinks, but she hears it in the voice of her old boss and mentor, Rich. He taught her this. He taught her many things. But sometimes all the lessons in the world don’t prepare you for what life dishes out. Everyone in that post office is aware of that fact right now.
“I guess,” Tommy says, annoyed.
“Okay,” says Hope. “It’s a pretty simple promise.” She smiles as she says it. You can hear a smile through the phone even if you can’t see it. She wants him to know this is a good promise, one that will benefit everyone.
“I’d like you to promise me that no one will be harmed today.”She waits a beat, lets that sink in. “Not any of those women you’ve got in there. Not Sylvie or Nadine or Morrow or Blythe. Not any of the law enforcement folks or any of the emergency personnel who are here for everyone’s safety. Not me or my partner here, Bo,” she continues.
At the sound of his name, Bo looks over, surprised to be included.
