The Last Mile (Amos Decker, #2)(106)

“What the hell do you want from me?” asked McClellan.

“That’s the thing, Chief. I don’t need anything from you. Nothing at all.”

Decker opened the door and walked out.





CHAPTER

61



SO WHAT DID you think you’d accomplish?” said Bogart to Decker.

The two sat in Bogart’s room at the hotel in the town square of Cain.

Decker drank down a Coke and wiped his mouth. “I told him what I told him. He’s not going to stand pat. He’s going to do something. Make a call. Send an email. Get in a car. Jump on a plane.”

“You really think he’s going to crack? He struck me as a pretty hardened guy.”

“I told him somebody even tougher is after him.”

“Roy Mars?”

Decker nodded. “And did you notice something about McClellan’s office?”

“What in particular?” said Bogart.

“On his photo wall of fame.”

“There were lots of pictures. I saw one of him and Thurman Huey, in fact.”

“I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about one that wasn’t there.”

“I don’t get that,” said Bogart.

“There was a picture on the wall that’s no longer there. You could see where the wall was darker.”

“Why would he take a picture down?”

“Only one reason,” said Decker. “We would have recognized whoever was in it.”

“Who the hell could that have been?”

“I don’t know.”

Bogart glared at him. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“And there’s something else. McClellan tried to act surprised, but he knew Roy was alive. I mean he really knew. Not just speculation.”

“How?”

“I don’t know, but McClellan is going to make a mistake. We just need to be there when he does.”

“And if, instead, he and his buddies get their acts together and stonewall us?”

“That’s always a possibility.”

“I wish that you had discussed your strategy with me before you went ahead and deployed it.”

“I was just trying to seize the moment. What do we know so far?”

“I put tracers on his phones and his Internet connections. I have local agents watching his movements. If he does snap and goes running or emailing to one of the other Musketeers, we’ll know about it. But so far, nothing.”

Decker checked his watch. It was late.

“I think we need to get some sleep.”

*



Melvin Mars was tossing and turning when his phone buzzed at two in the morning. He snatched it up and looked at the screen.

Out by the car in ten. We need to talk. Decker.

“Shit,” muttered Mars.

He struggled into his clothes and left his room. It was a short walk to the parking lot. He found the car and looked around.

“Mellow?”

Mars froze at the name. Then he slowly turned.

His father stood ten feet away, next to another parked car.

“How did you—” began Mars.

“I got your contact info off your buddy’s phone when I broke into his motel room before. He should really use a password. You just assumed the text was from Decker because I used his name.”

“Dad, what the hell are you doing?”

“Not here. Let’s take a ride.” He pointed to the car.

Mars took a step back.

“Come on, Mellow, if I wanted to hurt you I could have done it anytime I wanted.”

“Where are we going?”

“Just for a ride. Then I’ll bring you back here. I promise.”

“But do I get back breathing or not?”

“I promise, Mellow. I’m not going to hurt you. I figure I did a good enough job of that already.”

Mars looked around and then walked toward his father. They climbed into the car and Roy backed out, reached the main road, and accelerated.

There were no stars out, the clouds were gathering, and not another car was on the road.

Mars eyed his father. “You got a limp?”

“Yeah, getting old.” He glanced at his son as he drove. “You have to hate me, Mellow. If you don’t, something’s wrong in your head.”

“I want to try to understand why you did what you did.”

“I told the fat guy some.”

“Yeah, he told me some too, but not all. Probably to spare my feelings.”

Roy laughed. “I don’t have that problem.”

“You did with Mom.”

The smile vanished on Roy’s face.

“You killed her, didn’t you? Shot her in the face with my gun.”

“The cancer was going to eat her brain. We had no money for treatments. The doctors told us…”

“Where did you go to get the diagnosis?”

“Mexico. Your mom and me spent time there. And they had experimental stuff, but nothing to help her. And we didn’t want anyone in town to know. Just in case.”

“Decker said she might’ve been a slave in Cali. And that she stole that silver teapot when she got away.”