Long Shadows (Amos Decker, #7)(100)

Fellows took a sip of hers. “I don’t think I saw him after I got back to the hotel. I mean, I wasn’t a little child he needed to tuck in.” She paused and added, “Why do you think anything unusual happened that night?”

When she said this last part her gaze dipped, and her hand shook a bit, Decker noted.

White said, “That night a Secret Service agent saw something that, let’s just say, changed his life completely. He was never the same since.”

Fellows looked startled. “A Secret Service agent? You mean from Reagan’s detail?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not suggesting that the president—”

“No, of course not,” said Decker. “Reagan was in bed long before then, surrounded by his protection detail. And the agent in question was off duty. Some of his fellow agents went out for dinner and drinks, but he didn’t. He stayed at the hotel.”

Fellows looked thoughtful. “And that’s when you think he saw something unusual?”

“Yes.”

Decker watched her closely. “But since you never left your room and saw nothing, I guess you can’t help us…?”

White added, “And that means the recent murders we’re investigating, I guess the guilty people go free.”

Fellows shot her a stern look. “So now you’re trying to guilt me into talking, I guess?”

“We’re just trying to get to the truth,” replied Decker.

She took another sip of coffee and then looked down at her freshly done nails. “I was very excited that night. After meeting the president and all.” She glanced up, seemingly trying to read their reaction to this. “It made it difficult to sleep.”

Decker shifted his large bulk in his small seat as he perceived what she was trying to do. “And when you couldn’t sleep, what did you do?”

“I might have gone out into the hall and…walked around, gotten some fresh air.”

“And saw…something, perhaps?” interjected White.

“What did this Secret Service agent look like?” Fellows asked abruptly.

Decker took his phone from his pocket, pulled up a file, and showed her a photo of a far younger Kanak Roe from his company’s website.

She looked at it and nodded. “Yes, that looks like the man I saw that night. At least I think so. It was a long time ago, after all,” she added with a touch of defiance. “Memories are not infallible, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Decker, drawing a surprised glance from White. “What was he doing?”

Fellows suddenly became rigid, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “I really don’t want to revisit this. There’s no point in dredging up the past. No good can come of it.”

White leaned forward. “I know this is hard, Ms. Fellows. I really do. But there are some people who could unfairly be found guilty of murder and go to prison, or worse, if we don’t get to the bottom of this. And what you tell us will go no further. We just need some information, that’s all.”

Fellows pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. After a few moments she said, “I…I heard raised voices from a room.”

“Could you hear what was being said?” asked Decker.

She shook her head. “But the door was open a crack. I…I took a peek.”

“What did you see in the room?”

“This agent, and another man…and a woman. A young woman.”

“What were they doing?”

“The…” She looked away and rubbed at her eyes with the tissue. “I really had forgotten all this. And now you come here and stir everything back up again. It can’t possibly matter one bit now.”

“It does matter,” said Decker. “A great deal to some people. Enough to kill over, in fact. And I don’t think you ever forgot it. You just didn’t want to ever think about it again. Because the possibilities were too frightening.”

She shuddered. “Are there really innocent people who might go to prison, after all this time?”

“There is no statute of limitations on murder,” White pointed out.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe this has come back to bite me in the ass.” She looked out toward the Gulf for a few moments before turning back to them and saying in a low voice, “They were…wrapping her in…sheets.”

“Was she dead?” asked White.

“I…I don’t know, but I think so. She wasn’t moving. She looked…limp.”

“Who was the other man?”

“I…I think he might have worked on my…”

“On your father’s campaign?” prompted White.

“Yes, but I never knew his name. Hell, I’m not even sure he did work for my father. He just looked the type.”

“Didn’t they see you?” asked White.

“No. I was very quiet and just peering through the slight gap.”

“So they were wrapping up the body?” said Decker in a prompting manner.

She closed her eyes and dipped her head. “They…they put her in a suitcase. I…I ran away before…they could see me.”

“So you don’t know what they did with it?”