Redemption (Amos Decker #5)(50)

“Wait a minute, Decker. Will this get you in trouble? Aren’t you just supposed to be observing?”

“Well, when I go into the house, I’ll just be observing.”

Decker led Mars into the front part of the house.

“So, Richards packs a big bag and hightails it out of here after you bring her in for questioning on the Hawkins murder.”

“And we couldn’t confirm her alibi. The other neighbors weren’t home during the time in question. And the old lady across the street, the one who saw Richards leaving, can’t completely account for Richards’s movements when Hawkins was killed.”

“Which may explain why she ran for it. She killed the guy.”

“But how would she even know he was back in town?” Decker wondered.

“Maybe she ran into him. Or saw him and followed him back to the Residence Inn. That’s possible.”

“It is possible, but not probable.”

“Then what are we doing here?”

Decker led the way upstairs and into the woman’s bedroom. He went straight for the closet. It had been reconfigured and enlarged, he figured, because the house was old enough not to have originally had such a spacious closet. It was packed with clothes on hangers, sweaters and shoes on shelves, and purses and handbags on hooks. He stood in the middle of the space and looked around.

Mars said, “Harper has a closet about four times the size of this one. And it’s packed to the gills. Didn’t know one person could need all that stuff.”

“Society demands that women care more about their appearance than men.”

“Wow, that’s very enlightened of you.”

“It’s not me. My wife would always say that.”

“Well, looks like Susan Richards took that to heart.”

Decker noted several empty hangers, a space on a shelf where it looked like two pairs of shoes had been removed, and a hook without a corresponding bag.

He left the closet and went over to a chest of drawers. He went through each one. Then he walked into the bathroom and examined every inch of the space, including the bins under the sink.

He got up and opened the medicine cabinet and looked at the line of prescription bottles. He picked them up and examined each one in turn, holding one bottle for a beat longer before replacing it.

“Lady is on a lot of meds,” said Mars.

“America is on a lot of meds,” replied Decker.

They walked back down to the first floor and Decker headed over to the fireplace mantel. He looked over each of the photos lined up there.

“Her family?” asked Mars.

Decker nodded. “Husband and two kids. In an ideal world Susan Richards might be a grandmother by now.”

Mars shook his head. “There’s nothing ideal about this world.”

Decker looked around the room, his eyes taking in everything and then processing it.

“What are you seeing, Decker?” asked Mars as he too stared around the space. “Is anything missing?’

“Not really. And that’s the problem, Melvin.”





Chapter 30



IT WAS DUSK NOW and with the dropping of the sun, the temperature had lowered to a level where one could see one’s breath.

Decker had left Mars in the car parked at the curb. His rationale was that Sally Brimmer would not appreciate another person being in the loop of her possibly illegal action in giving Decker the records he needed. He strode through the small park to the pond that lay near its rear, which one reached by traversing a winding brick path. There was no one else there that he could see.

When he turned the last corner and the pond came into view, so did Brimmer. She had on a long trench coat, a hat, and gloves. She looked over at Decker and hurried past the pond, which had an aerator in its middle, throwing off streams of water and affording a pleasing sound. That was also good, Decker thought, because it would be difficult for anyone to eavesdrop on them.

She reached him, her hand in her pocket. Brimmer suddenly shivered.

“Winter’s definitely coming,” noted Decker.

“It’s not the weather,” she said, a trace of bitterness in her tone. “I’m nervous. What I’m doing could cost me my job.”

“No one will find out from me. And if it makes you feel any better, I’m only going to use the files to try to find the truth.”

“I know that,” she said, her voice now contrite. She looked around and pulled her hand out of her pocket. In her palm was a flash drive.

“How did you manage to scan all the files without anyone knowing?”

“I’ve been after the department to convert paper files to digital ones. I’ve actually been doing some of it myself, although it’s not technically my responsibility. But I had the time, and it wasn’t like some of the older people at the department had any interest, or would even know how to do it. I just included the files you wanted in a stack I was already doing.” She handed him the flash drive.

“Ingenious,” said Decker.

“High praise coming from you.”

“Captain Miller managed to get a meeting with the commissioner, with the result that I’m officially back on the case, as an observer.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“It’s better than nothing,” agreed Decker. “They found Susan Richards’s car and I was able to go over it.”