Walk the Wire (Amos Decker #6)(24)

“Did he talk about his combat days?” asked Decker.

“Never, and I’ve asked.”

Decker said, “He was Special Forces. Fought in the Middle East. Got a bunch of medals. Was even wounded. But the ones who do the most in war don’t talk about it. That’s why Stan keeps quiet about it. He’s a straight-up guy.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

“I’m not sure he can keep up with you, though,” said Decker.

“We’re not looking to get married. We’re just having fun.” Dawson’s smile faded as she looked over Jamison’s shoulder.

Jamison and Decker turned to see what she was staring at. A short man, barely five-two, in his early sixties had come into the dining room. Despite the heat he was dressed in an expensive woolen three-piece suit and blue paisley tie with a matching pocket handkerchief. Decker thought he had never seen a pair of more intense eyes. Next to him was a good-looking, tall, well-built man about Caroline Dawson’s age.

“Let me take a wild guess,” said Jamison. “Is that Stuart McClellan?”

Dawson said, “Yes. And his son, Shane. I wonder what they’re doing here.”

“Do they not frequent places like this?” asked Decker, studying the two men.

“They don’t frequent any place owned by my father. At least Stuart doesn’t.”

“Well, from what we learned, that severely limits their options,” said Decker.

“Something my father takes delight in.”

Stuart McClellan spotted Dawson and headed over with his son in tow.

“Hello, Caroline,” said McClellan, his voice surprisingly low and baritone. So much so that Decker wondered if it was affected.

“Stuart.” She glanced at his son. “Hi, Shane.”

Shane broke into a grin and drew closer to the table. “Hey, Caroline. What’s up?”

His father aggressively elbowed him aside. “And these two are the FBI agents?”

“Yes,” said Jamison after glancing at Decker.

“Nasty business. I’m Stuart McClellan, by the way. You probably passed some of my fracking wells when you were coming in.”

“We did,” replied Jamison. “And I guess we also saw some of the neighborhoods where your workers live.”

“I had Shane oversee some of their construction, and for once he didn’t . . . I mean to say, he did a pretty good job.”

“Thanks, Pop,” said Shane, seemingly oblivious to the underlying meaning in his father’s “praise.” He seemed to have eyes only for Caroline, who would not meet his gaze.

Decker said, “Did either of you know Irene Cramer?”

Stuart shook his head. “Shane?”

He finally managed to draw his gaze from Caroline and said, “Nope. Didn’t know her.”

“Why is the FBI here?” asked Stuart. “I mean, don’t you people have anything better to do than investigate local murders? We have police to do that. Shouldn’t you be going after terrorists and the like?”

“We cover a lot of ground,” said Decker. “And we go where we’re told to go. So nothing else you can tell us about Cramer?”

Caroline Dawson said, “She lived in an apartment building. It wasn’t one of the nicer ones, but it was affordable.”

“But it’s also one of the few that your father doesn’t own, or at least we were told that,” Jamison pointed out. “So how did you know that she lived there?”

“I went there to drop off an offer to purchase the building this morning. Ida Simms, the manager, told me that she’d lived there.”

“So you’re looking to buy that building, huh?” said Stuart. “Why’s that? Your daddy’s been building like crazy the last two years.”

“Well, he can’t build fast enough to support all the people moving in to work at your fracking operations,” retorted Dawson. “So we want to buy that building, rehab it, and then rent it out. It needs a lot of work.”

“And you’ll charge a nice premium for it when all is said and done,” commented Stuart.

“That’s sort of the point,” Dawson said. “But it’s also not cheap to rehab, and it’s really hard to find workers. Everyone wants to frack. It pays a lot.”

“That’s not my problem,” said Stuart.

“We built those other tract neighborhoods for your workers as fast as we could.”

Stuart laughed, pulled a short cigarillo from his pocket, and stuck it in his mouth unlit. “Your old man went cheap on the materials like he always does. I’ve had complaints from my workers. That’s why I’m starting to build my own.”

Dawson looked at him sternly. “If they have complaints, they should take them up with us, not you. We have an entire department that focuses solely on matters like that.”

Stuart rolled his eyes. “Sure, sure, I bet that’s a priority for you all.”

Dawson apparently had had enough. She looked at Decker and Jamison. “Well, I hope you find who you’re looking for. If you’ll excuse me.”

As she turned to leave, Shane called out, “Bye, Caroline. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

She didn’t look back but merely waved.