Long Shadows (Amos Decker, #7)(125)

“And your footprints?” asked White.

“I smoothed out the carpet on my way out and used the handkerchief to wipe out any marks on the hardwood floor.”

“I think you did go over there to kill her, Barry,” said Decker.

Davidson glanced at him. “She pleaded with me, you know. The woman who was always in control, always was right about every little thing, was on her hands and knees begging me not to do it, not to hurt her. But it was too late. And once I started…I couldn’t stop. Then I just looked down at her lying there.” He stopped and choked back a sob. “And…and maybe I did go over there to hurt her. But…now that it was over, I couldn’t believe what I’d just done. It was like somebody else had done it.”

“Why did you put the mask on her?” asked White.

“So…I thought the cops would think whoever killed her did it because she was a judge. You know…justice is supposed to be blind, but not really. I thought that would confuse everybody, especially since she had been telling people she needed protection.”

“So, again, you were thinking that clearly at that moment in time?” said Decker as he stared impassively at the man. “To try to throw suspicion off you?”

“I…I don’t know what I was thinking. I was scared. I’d just killed Julia, for God’s sake!”

“You might have been scared, after the fact, because of what you’d done. But Julia must have been terrified. You stabbed her ten times, Barry. You took your son’s mother away, in the most brutal way possible.”

Davidson composed himself and said, “But Tyler had nothing to do with this. I’ll say anything, sign anything, but only if nothing happens to my son. I’ve ruined pretty much everything, but he still has a life to live, and he’s going to get a chance to live it. If you can’t promise me that, then I’ll deny everything and fight you like hell in court.”

White looked at Decker, who kept his gaze on Davidson.

“I think we can promise you that,” said Decker quietly. “You must have been shocked when you found out your gun had been used to kill Lancer and Draymont.”

“‘Shocked’ is too mild a word,” he said dully.

“Did you go over there to kill yourself that night with the gun?” asked Decker.

“I thought if I did it where I killed her, it might, I don’t know, equalize things.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” interjected White.

“Do you have to tell Tyler what I just told you? I…I don’t think I can live with that.”

Decker said, “I’m not sure he can either, Barry. But I think I might know how to do it best. For him, not you.”





Chapter 95



S?HOULDN’T YOU BE IN CLASS?” Decker called out to Tyler.

Decker was leaning on the fence that surrounded the football field, and was watching Tyler run pass routes all alone.

“Teacher workday—thought I’d get in some reps.”

Tyler glided over to Decker and wiped down with a towel he pulled from his duffel. “You know they let my dad go, right?”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“I told you. You just wouldn’t listen. And now our neighbor said the same thing.”

“Right. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what?”

“Did you really want your dad to get away with it?”

Tyler slowly let the towel fall to the ground. “Wh-what?”

“Could you really live with the knowledge that your father murdered your mother?”

Tyler’s lips started trembling and he looked away. “What are you talking about?”

“He confessed, Tyler. He…he couldn’t live with the guilt anymore. So he did the right thing. He came in and confessed. He asked me to come here and tell you that. And that he was sorry for everything. He didn’t mean to do it. He just snapped.”

“He…my dad confessed?”

“Yeah. He’s in custody now.”

Tears slid down Tyler’s cheeks as he cried out, “Why couldn’t you just let it alone?”

“It’s not my job to let things like that alone. It’s my job to catch people who commit crimes. He used your electric bike, did you know that?”

Tyler slowly nodded. “I keep a really accurate record of mileage because it’s part of my training. It had four extra miles on it that morning.”

“Right, over and back from your mom’s. And ‘res ipsa loquitor’?”

“She was always saying that to him. I never really knew what it meant. When I found out it was on a note left beside her body…”

“But you knew what he’d done before that, right? The laundry? You spilled your dad’s drink on purpose so you’d have an excuse to run another load of clothes while we were there. The clothes he wore from that night were in the machine when you tossed in the clothes you spilled the drink on, weren’t they?”

Tyler shook his head, his eyes clenched tight. “He washed his clothes that night, which he never did. I heard the machine going from my room. But there were still some stains on them when I checked them early that morning. I…I didn’t know what they were.”