The Fallen (Amos Decker #4)(61)

“Because somebody tried to kill us while we were in Babbot’s trailer, Alex. Maybe he wanted to kill us, or maybe he wanted to get rid of some sort of evidence.” He tapped the graph paper. “Like this.”

“But evidence of what?”

Decker sat back. “I don’t know.”

“He could have just taken it. Why burn the place down?”

“He might have meant to do that, but we interrupted his search. He might have been afraid we’d find it or something else that Babbot might have had. So he torched the place with us in it. Two birds with one stone.”

Jamison folded her arms over her chest. “What did you find out about Frank’s accident?”

He told her what Ted Ross had said.

She shook her head and scowled. “A renegade robot, great. Makes you want to chuck all this technology and go back to hammers and shovels.”

She eyed her partner as he stared at the wall opposite him, obviously lost in thought.

“Decker?” He didn’t answer. “Decker, you’re not thinking that Frank’s death was something other than an accident, are you?”

He finally came out of his reverie. “Just because someone told us it was an accident doesn’t mean that it was an accident.”

“But the alternative would be…Decker, Frank had no enemies here. Why would anyone want to kill him?”

He looked over at her. “How do you know he didn’t have any enemies?”

“Why, because…he…They hadn’t been here that long. And he was such a sweet guy.”

“I didn’t know there was a certain time period one needed to create enemies. And even sweet guys can make an enemy of someone not nearly as sweet. What I do know is Toby Babbot had the plans for the FC in his trailer. Someone burned down that trailer. And now Frank dies at that FC because a robot arm that’s not supposed to be on suddenly went berserk and killed him.”

“How could those two things possibly be connected?”

“I don’t know if they are connected. But they could be.”

“But we already have six other murders we’re investigating.”

“I realize that.”

“And you have no proof that Frank was murdered.” She lowered her voice. “And you cannot go around telling people, especially my sister and Zoe, that Frank might have been murdered, Decker. They’re traumatized enough.”

“I have no plans to tell anyone that.”

“But then how are you going to investigate it?”

“The company that built the robot is sending a team in to see what happened. I’m sure they’ll give a copy of that report to the cops and we can get it from them. At the very least they’ll have to share it with Amber, so we could get it that way too.”

“How quickly will the report be done?”

“No idea. Which is why I’m not waiting. I’ll make inquiries.” He added hastily when he saw Jamison about to object, “I’ll discreetly make inquiries about the fulfillment center.”

“But you’re supposed to be helping Green and Lassiter, and now I guess Agent Kemper, with these murders.”

“I’m still going to do that. In fact, I’m going to work on it today.”

“So I don’t see why you’re adding in Frank’s death, which may simply be an accident. These sorts of robot accidents involving people have happened before.”

“Yeah, they have. I looked it up. The odds, I very roughly calculated, are about the same as dying in a plane crash.” He stared at her. “So, do you still think it was probably an accident or maybe worth investigating?”

When Jamison didn’t answer, he rose and headed for the door.

“Where are you going now?” asked Jamison.

“Back to high school,” replied Decker.





Chapter 37



IF THIS WAS the current state of education in America, Decker thought, the country was in serious trouble.

Baronville High School looked like it was nearly ready for the wrecking ball to come through. In fact, it wouldn’t have taken a demolition team to knock the place down, it appeared one guy with a sledgehammer and a six pack of Red Bull could do the job just fine.

The roof had holes in it, some windows were broken, and the front door stuck so much that Decker nearly wrenched his shoulder out of joint tugging it open.

When he entered the school and headed to the office he could smell mildew and damp everywhere. The linoleum floors looked untouched since they had been installed. The trophy cabinet outside the office had no trophies inside it.

He presented himself at the office and told them who he was and what he wanted. The assistant principal, a petite mousy woman with graying hair, a stiff gait, and a melancholy expression, escorted him to the library.

“Looks like the school has seen better days,” commented Decker.

“The whole town has seen better days,” she replied. “No tax base means no money for this place. And we’ve only got half the number of students we used to have. The great exodus is on. Actually, it has been for about thirty years now.”

“But things might be turning around. There’s the fulfillment center. That employs a ton of people.”

“And I understand that someone died there.”