Long Shadows (Amos Decker, #7)(6)

“How old are your kids?”

“Nine and twelve. Daughter and son, respectively. Calvin, named after my father. And Jacqueline, but she goes by Jacky.”

“Do you share custody with your ex?”

“I was still carrying Jacky when my ex decided marriage and fatherhood were not for him. I have full and permanent custody. Calvin doesn’t even remember his father and that’s a damn good thing.”

“You still live in Baltimore?”

“I was working in Baltimore until this morning.”

“Plan to move here?”

“If I can afford anything down here, which I doubt unless I want to live in the nosebleed seats. And I’ll wait and see. Sometimes new assignments don’t stick.”

“Yeah, sometimes they don’t.” Decker said a silent prayer on that one.

“What about you?”

“What about me what?” he said.

“Anything to share?”

“If you spoke to Alex, you know all you need to know about me.”

“But nobody tells it as good as the person himself.”

“I don’t tell anything remotely good about myself or anybody else.”

White took this shot and fired off one of her own. “You know, you’re smaller than I would have thought.”

He looked down at her. “I’m a wall, only not one you lean on.”

“It’s just that Alex made you out to be nine feet tall and eight hundred pounds. Compared to that description, you’re sort of shrimpy. I can’t help feeling disappointed. But nevertheless, are we good to go, partner?”

Decker said with all due candidness, “At this point, I don’t really give a shit.”

“You always this way with the people you work with?”

“Initially, yeah.”

“Well, let’s work quickly through initially then.”

Decker looked her over. “I’m sure you’re a fine agent. I have nothing against you. But change like this is not my thing. And I’ve had more of it in my life than most people.”

She glanced up at his head. “Football player? Cleveland Browns? I hate the Browns. I’m an Eagles girl through and through. Hate the Baltimore Ravens, too, and that’s all I see now.”

“I don’t really follow football anymore.”

She glanced at his head once more. “Yeah, I guess I can understand that.”

The door opened and there stood Talbott. His features grim, he did not seem remotely like the cheerful man from a few minutes ago.

“You two have your first case. You’re heading to Florida. Right now.”

“What happened?” said Decker.

“A federal judge and her bodyguard. They’re both dead.”





Chapter 5



T?HANK GOD FOR MOTHERS,” SAID White as she settled in her plane seat next to Decker. “Especially on short notice.”

“She takes care of the kids while you’re traveling?”

“Yep. Otherwise, I couldn’t do it. Childcare is outrageously expensive, even when you can find it. Lucky she was a young mother. Still got a lot of energy.”

“Five kids will age you fast.”

“She worked, too, as the assistant principal at the school where we all went. My dad was a cop in Philly. Never made that much money.”

“Is he retired?”

“He died in the line of duty.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“My mother got a big settlement from the city.”

“Why was that?” he said curiously.

“Because the dude that shot my father was also a cop, who didn’t like the color of my dad’s skin. And then the department tried to cover it up and make it look like an accident. This was twenty years ago, I was still in high school.”

“Civilizations don’t always progress, they sometimes regress.”

“Didn’t expect that from you.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“I don’t know, to tell the truth.”

After the jet lifted into the air, White said, “You read the email they sent about what happened in Florida?”

Decker nodded.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t think anything. Somebody else’s version of the facts in an email doesn’t mean anything to me. I need to see it for myself.”

“Well, what I got from it was this was an inside job, or at least the killer knew things he shouldn’t have.”

“You’re making assumptions that aren’t justified yet.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“That it was only one killer. And that it was male.”

“I was just speaking generally.”

“I like specifics much better. So explain why you think that,” he said.

“The person or persons knew the judge’s routine. No forced entry. Her personal security was killed without him fighting back. That tells me that he didn’t perceive what was happening as a threat. The judge was killed and there was no sign of a struggle. She didn’t try to call for help.”

“So she might have known whoever it was who killed her. The guard too.”