The Fallen (Amos Decker #4)(72)

“Maybe. Have you made any progress?” asked Decker.

“We’re both working it, but nothing’s shaking loose.”

“Same with me,” said a voice.

They both looked up to see Agent Kate Kemper standing there with a gin and tonic topped with a lime.

Decker said, “So is this the local watering hole for all cops?”

Kemper sat down. “Not that many choices. So why don’t we share info?”

Decker said, “According to both of you, you’ve got nothing to share.”

“I tend toward hyperbole,” said Kemper.

He looked at Lassiter. “And do you tend toward bullshit too?”

“Depends on the situation.”

Decker sat back. “Michael Swanson was staying in John Baron’s potting shed and he knew it. Baron also was sweethearts with Joyce Tanner in high school and he was helping her out financially up until she died. He was also into mythology, which might tie into the Thanatos mark on Costa’s forehead, and Tanner taught Bible school, which might explain the biblical verse on the wall behind where she was killed.”

Lassiter looked surprised. “How do you know all this?”

He gave her a severe look. “I investigated.”

Kemper said, “I know my jurisdiction doesn’t extend to these local murders, but if they’re connected to my case I want to know about it. So this Baron guy knows two of the four dead vics. What about the other two?”

“He says he doesn’t know them.”

“He says he doesn’t,” noted Lassiter.

“Why didn’t he come forward when Tanner and Swanson were killed?” asked Kemper.

“If he killed them, the answer to your question is obvious,” replied Decker.

“Did he ever mention knowing my guys?” asked Kemper.

“I didn’t ask him, because I didn’t want to reveal that information,” said Decker.

“Since Tanner was found with Babbot and Swanson with Costa, that would mean if Baron was behind it, he killed all four,” observed Lassiter.

“And if he didn’t kill them?” said Kemper. “Why not come forward?”

Decker said, “The town hates him. I doubt he would want to get scapegoated for something he didn’t do.”

Lassiter snapped, “That’s not how we do things here, Decker.”

He looked at her. “I know about your father.”

Lassiter’s eyes widened.

“What about your dad?” said Kemper.

Decker looked at Lassiter. “You want to do the honors?”

“Why? What does it have to do with anything?”

Decker said, “He was convicted of burning down a home with a banker inside. A banker who’d foreclosed on his house after he lost his job at a company founded by the Barons.”

“Again, it’s not relevant,” said Lassiter.

“It is, because you and this whole town have a grudge against the Barons, so don’t try to sugarcoat it and say that no one here might have it in for him.”

Kemper was about to say something when Decker’s food arrived: a thick steak, rare, fries, and a small salad.

“Why bother with the salad?” noted Kemper wryly.

“Veggies are important, and technically fries are potatoes.”

As he ate Kemper said, “So do you have anything else to share?”

“Toby Babbot was injured on the construction site for the Maxus Fulfillment Center. And he had a piece of graph paper in his trailer. It had marks on it from the paper he’d made drawings on.”

“Drawings of what?” asked Kemper.

“The fulfillment center construction plans.”

“Wait a minute, where did you find that?” asked Lassiter.

“In his trailer.”

“And you didn’t tell us this why?”

“I didn’t know what it was until a short time ago.”

Kemper said, “Why construction plans?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was thinking of suing Maxus, although you’d think he would have done it by now. But I talked with Betsy O’Connor, his last roommate. She said Babbot had a beef with Maxus and talked about getting even with them.”

Lassiter took a swig of her beer and smacked the glass on the table. “I came to you for answers and now all I have are a ton more questions.”

“Anything else?” asked Kemper.

“The plane I saw on the night I found the bodies?”

“You’re not going to tell me that was a drug runner’s plane landing in western PA,” said Kemper.

“No, I’m telling you there was no plane that night.”

Both women looked puzzled.

Kemper said, “I don’t understand. Are you saying you didn’t see a plane?”

“No. I think it was a drone.” He explained his conversation with Dan Bond, and that he had confirmed no flights had gone anywhere near Baronville that night.

Lassiter looked chagrined. “When I went to interview him, I didn’t ask Bond about the plane you said you saw because I didn’t think it was important.”

“Neither did I. I just happened to mention it to him. Goes to show that simply assuming something is true is never good enough.”