Redemption (Amos Decker #5)(84)

“Boy, close call for you tonight,” said Natty.

Decker nodded. “Mary really saved my butt.”

“And she nailed the bastard who killed Sally,” said Natty with a grim smile.

“Any word on Rachel Katz?”

“Still in surgery. Last I heard, she’s going to make it. Close, though, bullet nearly hit an artery. Your friend saved her life.”

“I know. Melvin’s over at the hospital now with her, probably adding another layer of protection.”

“Guy had a fancy sniper rifle with a sophisticated scope.”

“That laser scope gave me a bit of an advantage.”

“Yeah, well, the guy could have made that shot from triple the distance away and still nailed his target, easy. Or so my firearms guy tells me.”

“Any luck on identifying him?”

“We’re running his prints through the system.”

“He had pretty much the same tats as Karl Stevens had.”

“Yeah, Mary texted me and told me. You think there’s a connection, obviously.”

“We talk to Stevens and he’s dead. The shooter kills Sally and then tries to kill Katz. Yeah, I think we can definitely say there’s a connection. But the tats may help us narrow this down to a gang. They look to be some oddball collection of neo-Nazis and Klansmen.”

“Great combo,” said Natty sarcastically. “But the thing is, Decker, would that sort of gang have been operating here thirteen years ago? I mean, I don’t remember anything like that going on in Burlington then.”

“Neither do I. But keep in mind they could be muscle brought in now by the folks who were doing all this crap thirteen years ago.”

“Right.”

Decker eyed him. “How did your lunch go with your wife?”

At first, Natty looked like he might erupt in anger, but when he focused on Decker’s sincere expression, he said, “It went okay.”

“Did she know…anything?”

“No. I don’t think so. She might have suspected. But look, Decker. Sally and me, we never, you know. We were just friends. Okay, maybe more than friends.” He let out an exasperated breath. “It’s this damn job. It gets to you. I’m not trying to make excuses.”

Decker thought of Lancaster and her marriage. “The job gets to a lot of people, Natty.”

“So, what are we supposed to do? How do we handle it?”

“If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a consultant to cops. A rich one. But spending time with your wife is a good first step. You mind if I look around?”

“Help yourself. Just don’t keep your ‘observations’ to yourself.”

Decker nodded and went exploring.

He entered the bedroom and gazed around the space. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for. He doubted Katz would have left a box with the word Secret engraved on it for him to find, revealing all.

But Katz was an accountant with a precise turn of mind. She was organized, paid attention to the details. You just had to look around her home to tell that. So there might be something she had that she felt she needed to keep. If only for protection from someone.

He went through all of her drawers and then did the same methodical examination of her closet. She had a lot of clothes and shoes, like Susan Richards, but even Decker could tell that the stuff Katz owned was far more expensive than the items in Richards’s closet.

He dug back in the very rear of the closet and went through boxes and bags, but came away a half hour later with nothing to show for his efforts.

He went into the bathroom and searched. When he got to the medicine cabinet, he found that Rachel Katz was on prescription anti-anxiety medication. That was not unusual. Lots of people were on meds like these. But still. He wondered what exactly she was so anxious about.

Well, the fact that someone tried to kill her demonstrated that she was certainly right to be anxious.

He picked up her purse, which was on the nightstand. Inside were her wallet, a set of keys, and a building security access card. He pocketed those items and walked back into the main area to find that Natty had left to go back to the police station. The forensic team was finishing up and Kelly Fairweather was packing up her kit.

“Find anything of interest?” asked Decker.

“Just blood. And the bullet. It went into the couch.” She held up a small plastic container with a lid on top.

Decker took it and looked at the bullet, which was in pristine condition.

“Seven point six two,” observed Decker of the round’s caliber.

She nodded. “Right. It’s called the NATO round. Lots of military forces use it, including ours. If that had hit her in the head instead of the shoulder, she’d be in the morgue, not the hospital.”

Decker looked at her strangely.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I’ll be okay once we solve this case.”

He left and hit the street. He had another place left to check where Katz might have kept something of value. Her office. It was only a few blocks from her apartment, so Decker was just going to walk.

When he got there, he found the door to the building locked. He took out the key card, held it over the card reader pad, and the door clicked open. He checked the lobby marquee for Katz’s office number and rode the elevator up. He strode quickly down the hall to her office door. All the other offices he’d passed had standard metal doors. Katz’s office had a far more expensive solid wood door with matching trim. Knowing how she liked things just so, he wasn’t surprised.