Walk the Wire (Amos Decker #6)(60)

“Hal? A hooker? No way. Why the hell would you even think that?”

“We found some evidence that suggests it might have been the case,” said Decker vaguely.

Shane folded his arms over his chest and looked at them stubbornly. “Well, I’ll never believe that. Hal liked to hunt and fish and drink his beer. And that was about it.”

“When you saw Hal, was he worried about anything?”

“Not that he mentioned. He was upset about the lady and all, but that was it. We were planning on doing some hunting soon. He was excited about that.”

“I’m surprised you have time considering all the things you’re doing with your father,” interjected Jamison. “He seems to keep you pretty busy.”

“He’d keep me busy every minute of the day if I let him, but I got a secret weapon.”

“What’s that?” asked Jamison.

“I don’t give a shit about what he really cares about, which is making money from pulling oil out of the dirt.”

“You have a farm?” said Decker. “Near the Air Force station?”

“That’s right.”

“You know the Brothers?”

“Yeah, good folks.”

“You go out there at all?”

“Sure. They do metal fabrication. We use some of what they make in our fracking operations. Plus they have a lot of trucks, and we pay them to haul stuff for us.”

“Did you know Irene Cramer?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Jamison said, “Are you and Caroline friends?”

“We grew up together, me, her, and Joe Kelly. Went to high school together. We were sort of inseparable back then.”

“Right, Kelly told us some of that.”

“Joe and I were on the football team. He was the starting QB and I was his best receiver.” A grin slowly spread over Shane’s features. “I caught forty-five touchdown passes from him over two seasons and we won the state title both years. And not to sound boastful or anything, but we were really popular in high school. Best times of my life. Got up every day with a smile.”

“And now?” said Jamison.

“Now we don’t see each other much. Caroline’s busy with running all her dad’s stuff. And Joe being a cop, he doesn’t keep regular hours.” He added wistfully, “Sort of miss those days. Long gone now.”

“But you like Caroline?” said Jamison.

He looked down. “Hell, everybody likes Caroline. Used to have these fantasies that we got hitched and had a bunch of kids.” He paused. “She and Joe even dated in high school. Thought for a while that they were going to get married.” He grinned weakly. “Only thing I ever hated about the guy. Caroline seemed to like him more than me.” He paused. “Me and Joe used to be best friends, together all the time.”

“What happened?” asked Jamison.

“Life . . . life happened,” said Shane sadly. “We’re still buds. Just not like before. Nothing’s like it was before,” he added wistfully.

“That tends to be the case with everybody,” opined Decker.

“We just came from dinner with Caroline,” said Jamison.

“Is that right? At her newfangled place?”

“Yes, Maddie’s, named after her mom.”

“Damn shame what happened to her.”

“Yes, it was a real tragedy,” noted Jamison.

“So Joe became a cop, Caroline went to college, and you joined the Army,” said Decker.

“That’s right.”

“How long were you in?”

“Long enough to do and see things I’ll remember till the day I die,” Shane said sharply. “Don’t get me wrong. I was proud to do my duty, but I was glad to put it behind me. I had buddies who died or lost limbs. After that, I came back here.”

“You ever see any strange activity over at the Air Force complex?”

“Strange?”

“Just anything out of the ordinary.”

“Not really. They got a lot of security over there. Locals call the radar over there the eye in the sky. Used to look for nukes, so I heard. Thing’s been there since before my dad was born.”

“You ever been over there?”

“Nope. Why all the questions about them?”

“Just routine.”

“So what can I do to help find Hal?”

“You’ve helped us by telling us what you did.”

“So that’s it? Nothing more I can do?”

“Not unless you have any information about who might have killed Irene Cramer and Pamela Ames.”

Shane shook his head. “I guess I can see why not a damn thing gets done in DC.”

Jamison said, “We’re working hard on this, Shane. But it’s not easy.”

“Yeah, okay, I guess,” he said offhandedly. “Well, see you around.”

He walked off.

Decker said. “He was pretty certain that Hal Parker would never hire a prostitute. But I think that—”

Decker had stopped so abruptly and looked so out of sorts that Jamison snapped, “Decker, what is it?”

“We’ve got to go.” He turned and started hustling to the door.